Kan'ya is also known for his early postwar film career, and as the adoptive father of Bandō Tamasaburō V, the most famous and popular onnagata (specialist in female roles) of today.

Previous bearers of the name were managers (zamoto) of the Morita-za kabuki theatre in Edo (later Tokyo) until 1894.

He would later take the name Bandō Shūka III and, following the death of his adoptive father in 1932, became Morita Kan'ya XIV in 1935.

In the early postwar years, Kan'ya acted in a number of films, including Surōnin Makaritōru (1947), Otomi to Yosaburō (1950), and Edo no Hanamichi (1953).

He also often performed alongside his adopted son Bandō Tamasaburō V. Kan'ya made his last Tokyo stage appearance in December 1974, in a production of Kanadehon Chūshingura at the National Theatre, and his final stage appearance the following month, at Nagoya's Chunichi Theatre.