, professionally known as , was a Japanese voice actress. She was affiliated with Haikyō and was married to Japanese actor .

Biography Katsura was born in Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture on February 8, 1937.

Ever since she was a young girl, she loved to perform in front of others. During her junior high school years, she was particularly passionate about Shin-buyo (neo-classical Japanese dance), and during the Hakata Dontaku festival, she would get her own props and costumes to dance on streets from corner to corner with her father.

During her time at Kyushu Girls' High School, now known as Fukuoka University Wakaba High School, Katsura performed in a wide variety of productions as a member of the drama club.

In 1958, after she graduated from high school, she joined the local Kyushu Asahi Broadcasting Drama Troupe. Katsura briefly served as a hostess of a radio show with her husband under the stage name "Reiko Shiratori".

In 1963, she moved to Tokyo when her husband Kikuo traveled to join Bungakuza at Hiroshi Akutagawa's invitation. During the audition, he asked her, "Why don't you try taking the test too?" She passed the audition and entered as a third-generation trainee, staying with the company for a year.

After joining Bungakuza, Katsura started her voice acting career. By turning down jobs requiring traveling far from home like location shoots for live-action productions, voice acting became her main profession.

In 1964, she started being affiliated with Haikyō.

Death Katsura died of respiratory failure caused by aspiration pneumonia on February 22, 2026, at the age of 89. Her death was announced by her agency Haikyō a month later on March 4 of that year.

Personality Katsura's vocal range was mezzo-soprano.

While she primarily voiced young child and baby character roles as a voice actress, she also frequently voiced older characters on stage, showing her versatility.

Her personal specialty was nihon-buyō and she was a certified practitioner of the Fujima school.

Sazae-san In Sazae-san, Katsura voiced the characters of Ikura Namino, Rika Nozawa, and Kaori Ōzora from the 1970s until she stepped down from the roles in 2025. She initially joined the series a semi-regular cast member, but their specific signature parts naturally emerged from that experience, with acting rarely being a struggle for her, with her saying, "I've been doing this since I was young and fearless, and I just have a great time performing."

Ikura's voice was originally a sound effect, but once the character started saying "hāi", Katsura was cast in the role. Although the production team later considered having him speak normally, they ultimately decided to stick with Ikura expressing himself using only three variations: "hāi," "chān," and "babūn". Since there were only three lines of dialogue, Katsura once considered speaking in the exact same pattern every time, but felt the reactions from the people around her were poor, so after that, she would make sure to vary her speech based on the situation and the surrounding lines.

In 1997, Katsura left Sazae-san for a period of time, with voice actress Taeko Kawata serving as her substitute.

She revealed around 2022 that when she returned to voice Rika after a year, the more she tried to remember how to play the role, the harder it became. Relying too heavily on technical skills made the performance lifeless, leading to a rare slump.

Filmography Television animation + List of voice performances in television animation Year Title Role Notes Source 1964–1965 Wolf Boy Ken Dorothy, Mama "Women’s Section". "Encyclopedia of Voice Actors" (2nd ed.) (in Japanese). Kinema Junpo Sha. p. 379. .狼少年ケン (in Japanese). allcinema.net. 1968 Cyborg 009 Additional voice 1968 Sally the Witch Kanna 1969 Attack No. 1 Deko 1969 GeGeGe no Kitarō Additional voice 1969 Sabu to Ichi Torimono Hikae O myō 1969 Ninpu Kamui Gaiden Gomame 1969 The Genie Family Additional voice 1969–1970 Mōretsu Atarō Additional voice 1970 Akakichi no Eleven Yoko 1970–1971 Star of the Giants Michi 1971–2025 Sazae-san Ikura Namino, Rika Nozawa, Kaori Ōzora, Suzuko Siota First voice 1971 New Little Ghost Q-Tarō O-Jirō Second voice 1971 GeGeGe no Kitarō Additional voice 1971 Tiger Mask Yoko Takaoka 1971 Tensai Bakabon Additional voice 1972 Astroganger Additional voice 1972 Akado Suzunosuke Namino Daisuke 1972 Pinocchio: The Series The Granddaughter, Nīna 1972 Sarutobi Ecchan Additional voice 1972–1974 The Gutsy Frog Shūsaku, Additional voice 1972 Hazedon Tamii 1973 Jungle Kurobe Aka-bee Main role 1973–1974 Dororon Enma-kun Harumi Main role 1973 Mazinger Z Ayuko Kitō Ep. 51 1973–1974 Aim for the Ace! Additional voice 1974 Calimero Priscilla Second voice 1974 New Honeybee Hutch Additional voice 1974 Samurai Giants Additional voice 1974 Jūdō Sanka Erika Tatewaki 1974 Kōya no Shōnen Isamu Additional voice 1975 Ikkyū-san Sayo-chan Main role 1975 Getter Robo G Maria 1975 Time Bokan C-robot, Mimi Main role From the booklet accompanying the VHS release of "Time Bokan Series: Time Bokan Vol. 1" (in Japanese). 1975 Dog of Flanders Alois Second voice 1975 Reideen the Brave Miho 1976 Gowappa 5 Gōdam Mako, Yoshiko Credited as "Reiko Katsura" (桂令子) 1976 Chōdenji Robo Combattler V Roboco 1976 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother Peter 1976 Paul's Miraculous Adventure Princess, Aria 1976 Beeton The Robot Beeton First voice 1977–1979 Yatterman Omotchama 1977 Tenguri, Boy of the Plains Additional voice Television film 1978 Her Majesty's Petite Angie Harrison 1978 Majokko Tickle Mako Credited as "Reiko Katsura" (桂れい子) 1979 Cyborg 009 Flora Ep. 8 1979 Zenderman Kepepe, Anne, Momotaro 1980 Dracula Lilas 1980 Space Warrior Baldios Girl 1980 Mū no Hakugei Mu Lead role 1981–1985 Dr. Slump – Arale-chan Chivil Debuts in Ep. 34 1982 Hello! Spank Additional voice 1982 Boku Patalliro! Madeline Ep. 9 1982 Fuku-chan Kiyoshi Shimizu 1984 Oyoneko Boonyan Aunt 1984 Little Memole Barbara 1994 Tsuyoshi Shikkari Shinasai Washino's mother 2011 Nichijou Nano's Little Toe, Narration Ep. 1 2018 Layton Mystery Tanteisha: Katori no Nazotoki File Mittaly Mitara Ep. 21 2019 The Helpful Fox Senko-san Kuroto Nakano's grandmother Debuts in Ep. 1

Theatrical animation + List of voice performances in theatrical animation Year Title Role(s) Notes Source 1970 Chibikko Remi to Meiken Kapi Liza 1976 Ikkyū-san Sayo-chan

Original video animation (OVA) + List of voice performances in original video animation Year Title Role(s) Notes Source 1994 Time Bokan Royal Revival II - Alumni Reunion in the Tatsunokon Kingdom Omotchama

Dubbing Television + List of dub performances in overseas television productions Title Role Notes Source Bewitched Tabitha Stephens (Erin Murphy)

References

External links Official agency profile