Guests
We are currently working on our more guests for AnimeNEXT 2008. If you would like to express interest in having a certain guest attend, please use the Contact page to send in your guest requests or indicate your preferences on our forum. Here are the confirmed Guests for AnimeNEXT 2008 so far.
Guests of Honor
Musical Guests
RENTRER EN SOI
Come and experience Rentrer En Soi at their first East Coast concert! Hear their newly released single "Stigmata" and other rock hits that have made this band an audio and visual treat. Get their autograph and ask the questions you've always wanted to ask the band IN PERSON! Go to rentrerensoi.com and jrockhouse.com for information on everything from VIP tickets to dinner with the band! You don't want to miss this!
Industry Guests
Steve Bennett
| Steve attended his first anime convention as a guest--Katsucon 1. He started up Studio Ironcat, a Manga publishing company, in 1997. Ironcat ran until 2004. Although Steve enjoyed his time with Ironcat, the job kept him too busy to focus on his own art. With the close of Ironcat, Steve was finally free to create his own comics, and get back into the artistic side of the industry. Today, Steve is busier than ever at conventions, has FOUR webcomics on-line ("Shakespeare Rodeo" , "Aliens of Extraordinary Ability," and "Life With Steve" and the brand new "Angel of St. Thomas" - www.angelofstthomas.com) and is finally letting his creative juices flow! Steve has also lent his talents to other venues, such as Loyola University in Louisiana, the Smithsonian Institution, and the DC Cherry Blossom Festival. He travels to numerous international anime conventions throughout the year. When you see him at a show, feel free to engage him in his two favorite past times--drawing and sharing stories about his anime adventures! |
Dallas Middaugh
| Dallas Middaugh is the associate publisher for Del Rey Manga, an imprint of Random House. He has worked in entertainment publishing for thirteen years at companies such as Viz, Prima Games, and Seven Seas. He is the author of the original manga Last Hope, which was written under a pseudonym. |
Mari Morimoto, dvm
| Mari Morimoto, dvm A woman of many hats, Mari Morimoto is a big city veterinarian by day, freelance manga translator by night, and a panelist, industry guest, and interpreter at several northeast anime and manga conventions throughout the year. She got her foot in the door with VIZ Media through luck and circumstance 14 years ago, and since then has been blessed with the opportunity to work on many of VIZ's top titles, including Maison Ikkoku (her first assignment) and Dragonball, and current titles Naruto, Inuyasha, and Knights of the Zodiac. Since the middle of last year, she has also been working on Del Rey Manga's new title Dragon Eye by Kairi Fujiyama. In addition, she has contributed several articles to the English Shonen Jump and was recently a research assistant on Del Rey and Jason Thompson's Manga: The Complete Guide. At Anime Next 2008, Dr. Morimoto will be participating on several manga-related panels. |
Joe DiGiorgi
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Joe DiGiorgi has been working in the Anime Dubbing business since 1998, when he was approached to work on the Record of Lodoss War OVA. Since then, he has gone on to produce, mix, and direct several titles for Right Stuf International, Media Blasters, and Central Park Media. Joe directed the English version of the surrealistic thriller BoogiePop Phantom and the recent futuristic sci-fi release The Third: The Girl with the Blue Eye. He owns Headline Studios where he has been involved in 5 Grammy nominated music albums and has worked with many well known artists such as Vanessa Williams, Jonathan Demme, Ritchie Blackmore, Deep Purple, and a long list of others. He is currently overseeing work on the Genshiken OVA combined with the Kujibiki series. Anime credits also include Gravitation, Gokudo, His and Her Circumstances, KO Beast Century, Comic Party, and many others. When not working, he is always looking for good sushi. |
Chris Malone
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Chris “Kilika” Malone is a humble surfer hailing from the east coast. He is best known for his surfing webcomic, Blue and Blond as well as being the mediator for the truce between sharks and surfers, which didn’t end too well. He’s been surfing and cartooning ever since he was a wee little grommit, but only started to combine the two around 2002. One of the few comics about surfing, Kilika wants to share the surfing lifestyle and experience with everyone, especially those who couldn’t tell a surfboard from a kickboard. He prefers long boards to short ones and hates jellyfish. |
Kensuke Okabayashi
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Kensuke Okabayashi is an award-winning illustrator whose work is seen from storyboards to graphic novels to game illustrations and toy packaging. His advertising clients include Allstate, Diet Coke, Diesel Clothing, All Nippon Airlines, Wendy’s, Marvel Comics, Sam’s Club, Absolut Vodka, and Timberland. In addition to working full-time at his private studio, Kensuke’s strong interpersonal skills and his ability to deliver projects on time under pressure has led him to work on location on a regular basis with major ad agencies such as Agent 16, Young and Rubicam, DDB, 21Boom, and GSW Worldwide. Working in both digital and traditional illustration styles, Kensuke has had clients that include major entertainment companies and book publishers. Gaming clients include Magic the Gathering (Hasbro), Takara USA, Atari, and SkyZone Entertainment. His book publications include Carl Fischer Music, Kensington Books, and John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Kensuke is currently working on his sixth and seventh major book publication, (Five Dysfunctions of a Leadership- Manga Version) and (Figure Drawing for Dummies) while teaching figure drawing studio classes on the side at The Educational Alliance Art School in New York City. |
Onezumi (and Harknell)
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Fans say that Onezumi’s comic, "Stupid and Insane Defenders Against Chaos" , and artwork is evocative of the D.I.Y. attitude of Ani DiFranco and the off-beat humor of Jenny McCarthy coupled with a passionate devotion to nurturing creative talent in the artistic community. This spirit is summed up in the motto for her site: "The Art. The Comic. The Insanity."
Besides featuring her comic artwork the site hosts art creation tutorials, business tutorials, and video tutorials. She also has a blog where she talks about all things Metal, funny animals, stupid videos, and has large galleries filled with her non-comic artwork and photos. Her interactive community forum site, that features a free web-based Oekaki art creation program and areas for art critique and website development, is located at Harknell.com; her self-produced store is located at OnezumiStudios.com. Harknell is the webmaster and tech-guru of the Onezumi Studios family of websites, but fans know him best for his literary contributions to the Onezumi.com news posts and the Harknell.com support community for artists. He occasionally contributes ideas to Onezumi's popular webcomic, and implemented the Harknell.com community. Including the web-based drawing program (Oekaki) that members of the community use for free. He is currently writing for the AWSOM.org, which is a website devoted to making it easier for Artists and Webcomic creators to set up an art or comic portfolio website without the hassle of learning programming code. |
Michael "Mookie" Terracciano
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Michael “Mookie” Terracciano is the author and artist of the fantasy manga webcomic, Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire. Since its humble beginnings six years ago it has received acclaim for its unique characters, addictive storylines, painful puns, awful alliteration and (gasp!) reliable update schedule. With over seventeen-hundred strips in the archive and updates every day it’s no wonder people are talking about this cult webcomic! Want to know what’s so interesting about a grumpy seer, his deformed girlfriend, his angelic little brother, his talking cat, his archmage mother and rock-star father? See for yourself at dominic-deegan.com! |
Tom Wayland
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Tom Wayland is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts with a degree in acting. Tom got his start performing in theatrical productions ranging from Hamlet to Jesus Christ Superstar to Stomp. After a stint as a rock star roaming the East Coast’s rock clubs, Tom ran out of money and had to get a job - so he started work at Central Park Media. In 4+ years at CPM, Tom produced more than 200 different anime programs before moving on to voice directing on such titles as Alien Nine, The World of Narue, Shootfighter Tekken and Ichi the Killer. In 2004, Tom founded TripWire Productions and has gone on to direct numerous dubs including Mew Mew Power, Magical Do Re Mi, Animation Runner Kuromi, Kakurenbo, and currently is voice director on the hit animated series Pokémon. Tom is also a very active voice actor with recurring roles in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as Jammerhead, GI Joe Sigma Six as Stormshadow, Pokémon’s Reggie and numerous adorable little creatures, Yugi-oh GX as Abidos, Chumley and others, Chaotic as Cerbie, Mipedian, and Drew, Magical Do Re Mi, One Piece, Mew Mew Power, and several straight to video releases including Knight Hunters, Gokusen and Shura no Toki. Tom is also currently working on several audiobook projects for Audible.com. |
Panelist Guests
Voice Guests
Greg Ayres
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Greg Ayres is not your average voice actor. The once “fanboy” turned VA started working for ADV Films just a few years ago and in that short time has managed to snag two of his favorite roles in anime. He was thrilled to voice the role of his favorite character Son Goku in Saiyuki, then just one year later Kaworu Nagisa in the Director’s Cut of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Other roles include Chrono in Chrono Crusade, Negi Springfield in Negima!, Heihachi in Samurai 7, Satoshi Hiwatari in DNAngel, Pope Alessandro XVIII in Trinity Blood, Tsuyoshi in Kodocha, Leo in Ghost Stories, Tsujido in Speed Grapher, Koyuki in BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad, and Gau Ban in Shadow Skill. He can also be heard in other anime titles such as Super Gals, Spiral, Macross, Mythical Detective Loki, Burst Angel, Gravion, Godanner, Pretear, Full Metal Panic, E’s Otherwise, and many more.
When he’s not in a booth with headphones on, you can usually find him sporting headphones of another variety behind “the decks.” A veteran nightclub DJ of many years, Greg has really enjoyed the opportunity to do something else that he truly loves. From packed rooms at anime conventions to the legendary stage of The Knitting Factory (NYC), Greg never misses an opportunity to share his love of music with anyone who will listen. |
Leah Clark
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A seasoned theater performer, Leah joined Funimation in 2004 earning starting roles in such series as Spiral, Case Closed, Burst Angel, and Samurai 7. Her first "break out" role was Nodoka Miyazaki in the Negima! anime, Leah went on to portray the integral role of the gypsy Noah in the Fullmetal Alchemist movie. Other credits include the titular role in Suzuka, Akane Suzumiya in Rumbling Hearts, Maru in xxxHOLIC, Coby in One Piece, Maron in the re-release of Dragonball Z, Kotaro in Black Blood Brothers, Paris in Shin Chan, and many more. In February of 2008, Leah Clark was honored to receive the Voice Actress of the Month award from AnimeonDVD.com for her work as Eri Sawachika from the anime School Rumble. Besides voice acting, Leah has had the pleasure to assume many different roles on the production side of anime dubbing, including ADR scriptwriting episodes of Suzuka, One Piece, and Peach Girl, AND ADR Directing episodes 5-8 of Shuffle!. Leah wrote and directed her current project, the Tenchi Muyo! spin-off TV series Sasami: Magical Girls Club. She also performed a role in the show. Leah is THRILLED to be premiering Sasami: Magical Girls Club at AnimeNEXT, and hopes that all of you will come out to not only enjoy the show, but meet her as well! She'd like to give a shout out to her dog, Rex and her cat, Rhett Butler. |
Aidan Drummond
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It was obvious that Aidan was eager to see the world, born two months early at barely four pounds in Vancouver, BC on June 20th 1995. At the age of five Aidan did a number of commercials for fun and decided he liked this acting stuff.
His first film role was a small part opposite William H. Macey in the critically acclaimed TV movie Door to Door. At the age of six, after many auditions, Aidan was very excited to be cast as the son of “the dad from Spy Kids” in the Vancouver filmed action-feature Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever. Though the movie was a flop Aidan was thrilled to stay up late and watch cars blow up, have his own trailer and to meet Darth Maul from Star Wars (Ray Park). Aidan has since filmed a few television roles including the TV movie The Colt, a recent episode of Stargate Atlantis and three seasons as a lead in the Canadian sci-fi series The Collector. In the past few years Aidan has been drawn to the animation and voice acting world. His traditional and CG animation credits include guest roles on Krypto the Superdog and Fantastic Four as well as lead roles on Tony Hawk’s – Boom Boom Sabotage (Jesse), Noddy (Noddy) and the new Marvel feature Next Avengers (Pym). Since Aidan is a big anime fan, (especially of Hayao Miyazaki’s work). He has had a number of guest roles on series such as DeathNote (young Mikami), Shakugan no Shana (Sorath), Tetsujin, Inuyasha-Movie 4 (Shion), Powerpuff Girls Z, Mixmaster and the lead role (Marty) on the popular WB series EON KID. As an anime fan (his entire room is covered in anime posters) Aidan is excited to participate in his very first Anime Convention. Outside of acting Aidan spends the majority of his time doing regular kid stuff like school and homework! He loves music, dancing, swimming, singing, and playing with his friends as well as his two younger sisters. |
Brian Drummond
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Brian Drummond began his acting career at one of Canada’s foremost theatre schools, Studio 58 of Vancouver. After three years of exciting acting work with less than exciting paychecks, Brian began working in the more lucrative areas of film and television. Brian has been seen (albeit briefly) in numerous television series, such as: X-Files, Stargate, Tru Calling, Smallville, Dark Angel, Taken, Traffic, DaVinci’s Inquest, and Dead Zone as well as a number of films, among which are 3000 Miles to Graceland, Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever, Edison, and Clive Barker’s Saint Sinner.
Unfortunately, Brian wasn’t allowed to “talk” as much as he would have liked to on these shows so he directed his attention toward the booming animation industry. Brian’s first role was Ballistic/Eagle Eye on a G.I. Joe series called G.I. Joe Extreme, followed by the cranky Saiyan Prince Vegeta on Dragonball Z, his first dubbing role. Fifteen years later and Brian is one of the busiest voice actors in North America, lending his voice to hundreds of animated characters. He can be heard in many traditional and CG animated series voicing characters such as: Garu (Pucca), Witch Doctor (George of the Jungle), Streaky (Krypto the Superdog), Floyd and Baby Elmer Fudd (Baby Looney Tunes), Sonic Sumo and Buena Dad (Mucha Lucha), Jetstorm (Beast Machines), Twobad and Stinkor (He-man and the Masters of the Universe), Venom (Spider-Man Unlimited), Matau and Onewa (Bionicle), and Spike (My Little Pony). Brian has also lent his voice to many popular anime characters, including Ryuk (DeathNote), Vegeta and Yajirobe (Dragonball Z), Zechs Merquise (Gundam Wing), Allen Shezar (Escaflowne), Blurr, Shockblast, Jetfire and Jolt (Transformers Armada, Energon and Cybertron), Benny (Black Lagoon), Renkotsu (Inuyasha), Hambeard (Hamtaro), Andy Waltfield (Gundam Seed), and Skullman, Snakeman and Heatman (Megaman NT Warrior) to name a few. Brian hopes to continue getting “lines;” not to write, but to voice for animated characters yet to be revealed in stories yet to be told. |
Michele Knotz
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A native of the Jersey Shore, Michele Knotz has always had a passion for acting. She was cast in her first animated voice-acting role as Hajime Yagi in The World of Narue in 2003. Since then she has also voiced Takako Kawashima in Shootfighter Tekken, Matsumoto and various additional characters in To Heart, and Razali, Cindy, Greta, and The Fairy in The Third. In 2006 Michele landed the lead roles of Jessie, May, Misty and Nurse Joy for the Pokémon 10th Anniversary Special, The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon and continued to voice these characters throughout Season 9 of Pokémon, the Battle Frontier. She has also voiced the characters May, Jessie, and Manaphy for Pokémon Movie 9, Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea. She voiced Chikorita in the Pokémon Special, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, Team Go-Getters Out of the Gate. Along with human-speaking characters, she has voiced various Pokémon in the series such as Squirtle, Bulbasaur, Chimecho, Beautifly, Masquerain, Dustox, Cacnea, Mudkip and many others. You can catch Michele as May, Jessie, Misty and Nurse Joy at pokemonlearningleague.com; an interactive web site dedicated to educating children in Math, Science and Language Arts. In Seasons 10 and 11 of Pokémon, Diamond and Pearl, she returned as Jessie and Nurse Joy as well as the Pokédex, Piplup, and many other Pokémon characters. Michele voiced the Pokémon Trainer, Squirtle and various other Pokémon for the Nintendo Wii video game: Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Recently released, Michele voiced Ogiue Chika in the Genshiken OVA’s and Koyuki Asagiri in Kujibiki Unbalance. Michele is extremely excited and happy to be a guest at AnimeNEXT this year and can’t wait to meet all the fans throughout the weekend! |
Rich McNanna
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A teacher, father, and stage actor by craft, Rich McNanna has garnered a high-profile list of fan-favorite credits to his name over the past few years. Rich met and befriended fellow voice actor and ADR director Bill Timoney while performing in a show at Seton Hall University. A year later, Bill called Rich in for an audition on a hysterical fantasy farce series called Gokudo. Rich nailed the audition and brought hilarity and energy to the role of the magician Issa. From there, Rich got his big break in Gravitation as (prepare to swoon fangirls and boys) Shuichi Shindou! Rich’s take on the hyperactive, pink-haired homosexual rock star ranged from laugh-out-loud funny to tearjerkingly tender, and quickly won him many fans. Rich has also brought to life the fan-favorite role of Hiroyuki Fujita in classic harem series To Heart, numerous small roles in Pokémon (for which his children are most proud of him), and can currently be heard as Chihiro Enomoto in the popular Genshinken spin-off series, Kujibiki Unbalance, being currently released by Media Blasters. Rich McNanna is ecstatic to be making his first appearance at AnimeNEXT and cannot wait to meet you all! |
Bill Rogers
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Back in 2001, a crazy actor/fanboy named Bill Rogers found his way into a dubbing studio and worked on a show called Assemble Insert. Luckily people seemed to like his work and he ended up doing more. His voice can be heard in KO Beast, Madara, His and Her Circumstances, Gokudo, Comic Party and To Heart. His more notable characters include Touma Seguchi in Gravitation, Yamamoto in Boogiepop Phantom, Tanaka Souichiro in Genshiken, Kanata Mouken in Shingu and more recently Kevin in The Third. He can also be heard on Saturday mornings as the voice of Brock in Pokémon (as well as various creatures that appear in that show). Outside of the anime field, Bill has worked on the children’s show Tarchin and Friends and the series of Universal Safety Squad educational films. In the world of video games, Bill has lent his voice to the games Bullet Witch and M&M’s Kart Racing. He hopes that one day the phrase “Approaching sound barrier!” is as popular in the video game lexicon as “All your base are belong to us!” |
Brad Swaile
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Vancouver-born and raised, Brad began acting in elementary school and, once in high school, had his first audition for an animated series. This first voice acting gig took the form of a pony named "Ace" in My Little Pony Tales and soon afterwards, he landed his first anime role as "Mousse" in Ranma 1/2. Some of his more notable characters include Amuro, Quatre, Dearka and Auel (on their respective Gundam series'), Gohan (from Dragon Ball Z UK & Canada), Kicker (Transformers: Energon) and Lan (Megaman: NT Warrior). As well as voicing the role of "Nightcrawler" in X-men Evolution, Brad has worked on several anime series' including Inu-Yasha, Hikaru No Go, Hamtaro, Maison Ikkoku, Infinite Ryvius, Tokyo Underground, Soul Taker, Project Arms, Boys Over Flowers, Kimba the White Lion, Shakugan No Shana, Dokkoida, Saber Marionette J, Video Girl Ai, Arjuna, Zoids and Dragon Drive . Along with voice acting, Brad continues to work professionally as a Graphic Designer/Illustrator and, when not at the hockey rink or on the baseball field, enjoys playing drums in his band "in.ovo"
Most recently, Brad can be heard as "Light" in Death Note, "Rock" in Black Lagoon, and "Ryuki" in The Story of Saiunkoku. |
Alison Viktorin
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Alison Viktorin is a name well known among Anime fans. A sample of the projects she has lent her vocal skills to include: Sasami, Case Closed, Juy-Oh-Sei, Negima, and Burst Angel. While a diverse talent, Alison’s specialty is the ‘young voice’; she considers little boys and obnoxious girls to be the most fun! She can also be heard in numerous types of other projects– interactive games (Bop It!), corporate narrations (Mary Kay Cosmetics) and is also the voice of “Drew” in the Boz the Bear cartoons.
While passionate about voice work, Alison also has years of experience in front of the camera - she’s been seen in commercials, industrials, episodic television and more. She is a graduate of California Lutheran University and resides in Dallas, TX with her husband. She loves to travel and tries to combine her love of athletics and the great outdoors as often as possible. Alison Viktorin is repped by The Mary Collins Agency. (214.871.8900) |