Christopher Ayres has been working professionally in theatre, television and film since the age of 6. His work has been seen Regionally, Nationally and on Broadway. He currently works as a voice actor for ADV FILMS and FUNimation ENTERTAINMENT, and has recently started working as an A.D. R. Director for ADV FILMS. His first project for the studio is the hit anime musical comedy THE NERIMA DAIKON BROTHERS. In addition to that he is also the director for XENOSAGA: The Animation, and MAGIKANO. Some of the roles as a voice actor Chris is best known for are Kei Kourono in Gantz, Suitengu in Speed Grapher, Von Kampher in Trinity Blood, Hayashimizu in Full Metal Panic? Fummofu, Nakamaru in Maburaho, Yaminami in Peacemaker, DJ Plugman in Air Gear Yusuf Ali Mesa in Yugo the Negotiator, Koji in Godanner, Murato in Hakugei - Legend of the Moby Dick, Sawadust in A Tree of Palme, Dr. Pluto in BASToF Syndrome, Akimoto in Sakura Diaries, Multiple Villains in Gatchaman, Kenji Kurata in Diamond Daydreams, Oshodani in Pappuwa, Jimpachi Arishiama in Nanka 6/17, and Woogy in Michel. His voice can also be heard in Elfin Lied, Gravion Zwie, Utwararerumono, Coyote Ragtime Show and Desert Punk to name a few. Chris is also one of the Anime industry voice actors who sings on Voices for Peace. He is very proud to be a part of the "Voices For..." oganization. Chris also works as a professional fight director and has enjoyed bringing his workshop "Mock Combat for Cosplay" to many conventions.
www.christopherayres-va.com
Chuck Huber has been an actor and teacher for 20 years including a recent six year stint as Principal of St. Bernadette Academy. His ongoing credits include the voice of Hiro Nohara on Cartoon Network’s Shin Chan, as well as hundreds of other voices on dozens of shows. Android 17-Garlic Junior on Dragon Ball Z, Emperor Pilaf on Dragonball, Hiei on Yu Yu Hakusho, Shou Tucker on Full Metal Alchemist, Hector on Glass Fleet, Father Vaclev Havel in Trinity Blood, Seamus Han in Blue Gender, Adashino on Mushishi, Metal Face on B’tX, The Royal Envoy on Samurai 7, Tanaka on Kodacha, Mohji on One Piece, six different killers on Case Closed, Wong on Burst Angel, Nomura on Grappler Baki, Eishun Konoe on Negima to name a few. He is also on the writing team for One Piece and directs for various shows as needed including Sasami, One Piece, and Ouran Host Club. He began acting in Chicago on stage at the Goodman Theater in Marvin’s Room as well as working at the Steppenwolf, Court and Bailiwick theaters. TV/Film credits include The Untouchables (TV) for Fox, Missing Persons for NBC and Going All the Way for Lakeshore Productions. His latest film, The Fragility of Seconds, fragilitythemovie.com, which he produced, wrote and starred in won the Gold Remi Award (3rd place) at the Houston International Film Festival as well as premiering to rave reviews at the USA Film Festival. Chuck is the Southern Regional Director of Pinnacle Performance Company, www.pinper.com, which teaches performance based communication skills to fortune 500 companies. Chuck speaks and gives workshops on the subject of education innovation and curriculum development at various colleges around the country and writes children’s books with his wife. They have five children named Joshua, Sebastian, Gabriel, Sophia and Max. Their first book, Zak and the Three Tree, sold over 5000 copies. His next projects are an educational kid’s show, Twisted History, and a related children’s book entitled The Hippo of Hope.
Vic
is a professional music composer/producer and veteran actor most well
known as the voice of Edward Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist.
Currently he is playing roles that include Fai in Tsubasa Chronicle,
Ikkaku in Bleach, and Yukito in Air. Vic is also known
for such roles as Dark in DN Angel, Kurz in Full Metal
Panic, Broly in Dragonball Z, Kougajai in Saiyuki,
Tatsu in Peacemaker, Virgil Walsh in Trinity Blood,
Mamoru in Raxaephon, Hiroki in Princess Nine, Goemon
in Legend of the Mystical Ninja, Shougou in Megazone 23,
Gawl in Generator Gawl, and Hikaru in Macross.
Vic has appeared in more than eighty titles including Streetfighter,
Sin, Spriggan, Gasaraki, Noir, Steel
Angel Karumi, Orphen, Excel Saga, Evangelion
(director's cut), A.D. Police, Aura Battler Dunbine,
Rune Soldier, Neo Ranga, Yu Yu Hakasho, Gamera,
Those Who Hunt Elves, Nagica, Dirty Pair,
Nuku Nuku Dash, Nuku Nuku TV, St. Seiya,
Kino's Journey, Dragonball GT, Angelic Layer,
Gravion, Bastof Syndrome, Aquarian Age, Kaliedastar,
Case Closed, Kitty Grade, Princess Tutu,
Shadow Skills, Moby Dick, and many others.
Vic's
World
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 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, 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 a whole lot 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
of doing 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.
www.GregAyres.com
FUNimation Entertainment is a brand management company and one of the nation's leading independent home video entertainment companies. FUNimation has a proven formula for launching and advancing brands, and manages a full spectrum of rights for most of its brands including broadcasting, licensing, production, internet, and home video sales and distribution. Assistant Brand Manager Jonathan Brands has been with FUNimation over two years and is responsible for multiple series which include Black Cat, Black Blood Brothers, Aquarion, BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad, Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles and Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid. Mr. Brands has been an active member of the anime community for more than six years and is making his second appearance at Anime Mid Atlantic.
FUNimation
Entertainment
While still a young college student and part-time hacker in 1998, Steve got
his first job at an anime company as a digital animator. It was a dream come
true for any fan who grew up on Robotech and Macross to be working somewhere
in the anime industry. After slaving away through 80 hour work weeks and one
really bad 100 hour work week where he started hallucinating from being
awake too long, Steve called it quits and went back to Riverside where he
got his B.A. in Creative Writing. Stay in school, kids!
Soon afterwards, Steve joined Harmony Gold, where he slept and ate and even
showered at the office while under grueling deadlines to put Robotech.com
together in time for its February 2001 launch. After being caught working
overtime after being told not to, Steve has been allowed to keep a cot at
the office ever since.
Since becoming part of Harmony Gold, Steve Yun has had fansites and fanclubs
devoted to him, as well as internet stalkers, convention stalkers, petitions
to get him fired and websites devoted to exposing the "real"
Steve Yun. Steve has co-produced and associate-produced several other
projects as well, including the Macross restoration, the Robotech:Battlecry
video game, the Robotech: Invasion video game, Robotech Remastered and
Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles. Steve has also been featured in an anime
documentary called Geeks, which he has still not had a chance to see.
Since its launch, Robotech.com has constantly been one of the busiest
anime-related destinations on the internet, being the subject of a Slashdot
article, a Conan O'Brien feature and mentioned on countless anime websites.
You can email Steve at info@robotech.com to send him Robotech-related fan
mail, complaints, constructive criticism and suggestions.
Robotech.com
Chris "Kilika" Malone is a humble surfer hailing from the east coast. He is best known for his surfing webcomic, Blue and Blond, but has started getting into animations as 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 couldnt tell a surfboard from a kickboard. He prefers long boards to short ones and hates jellyfish.
Recently Kilika has just launched his second webcomic, titled Futureboarding. Set in the future, it uses a similar cast to the original Blue and Blond, and is about an android without a soul but has the "Aloha Spirit" within him.
Blue and Blond
Robert
DeJesus - Writer, Story Creator, Illustrator, Story Board Artist, and
Character Designer.
Robert is no stranger to the anime and manga community. An Indiana born,
self-taught artist, who got his first art career break when he sent
an eight page short story to comic publisher, Antarctic Press in February
of 1990. He has drawn manga inspired art for well over 18 years and
has been published nearly all over the world. He has worked for many
companies like Playstation Magazine, Marvel, Hasbro, and now his most
recent work with Harper Collins Publishing, just to name a few.
Emily DeJesus - Writer, Editor, Story Creator and Manager.
Robert and Emily met at a convention called Anime Central and haven't
been apart since that day. Emily has always enjoyed manga and anime,
but never thought it could be her job. Emily has worked with Robert
for over 6 years now. She helps write the web comic "How to Loathe
Drawing in the Manga Style" and has just finished writing her first
children's book. She enjoys the business side of working for Studio
Capsule very much and is grateful that she has an opportunity to work
in the comics business.
Studio Capsule
Studio Capsule is involved in creating a line of low print run doujinshis,
portfolios, animated shorts, and other projects expanding Studio Capsule.
Find out everything that's new with either Studio Capsule or Robert
and Emily DeJesus at www.robertdejesus.com or view more current information
on live journal under user banzchan.
Studio
Capsule - AiCandy
Douglas Smith is a Voice Actor/Artist personality in the anime industry.
He's voiced in several of ADV's shows like Bubblegum 2040,
Those Who Hunt Elves, & Sorcerer Hunters to name
a few. Doug is most recognized for his role as Kintaro Oe in GoldenBoy.
You can see his latest voice over roles in Steam Detectives,
Moyo Ken and Funimation's: Case Closed, Baki The
Grappler as well as Dragonball Z. Stop by Doug's table
and check out his art.
Doug
Smith Art.com
Haze Studios is the personal creation of the Haze-man, a comic book artist from New Jersey. Haze-man is on a mission to ensure that comics take their rightful place in the world of communication. Haze-man works for an era where comics are regarded as a medium and not a genre and are enjoyed by people from all walks of life. Welcome to Haze Studios Workshops! The Haze-man has been traveling from con to con since 1998 giving his presentation on Manga Drawing. Some of the conventions he has presented at include: Otakon, Katsucon, Nekocon, A-kon, and Ani-Magic. He'd be happy to come you YOUR con and give his presentation, free of charge.
Haze
Studios 
Tired of sub-par Hollywood video game movie adaptations? Who isn't really?
For far too long Hollywood has churned out embarrassments of everyone's
favorite video games. Enter X-Strike Studios, an independent movie company
out of Western New York, destined to make quality, live action, video
game parody films. They are committed to making these video game movies
to excite and inspire the fan and the general viewer alike. As one of
the first to take on this incredible mission, they find their duty is
to stay true to the source material while expressing their own twist
of humor. Between full length parodies and short videos, X-Strike Studios
has taken on such titles as River City Ransom, PaRappa
the Rappa, Rampart, Final Fantasy, Eternal
Darkness, Silent Hill, and Metal Gear Solid.
Come check out their table, panels, and join in the discussions on their
online forum, all for an inside scoop on what makes X-Strike unique.
X-Strike
Studios The artists from the online webcomic Chisuji will return to Anime Mid-Atlantic in 2008. Check out the work of these talented artists at their website.
Chisuji
Robert
V Aldrich was born in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in the questionable year
of 1980. Growing up around the entire Southeast, with a short stint
in Salt Lake City, Utah, he now calls Raleigh North Carolina home. He
was briefly educated at North Carolina State University before pursuing
other educational avenues. An avid martial artist and toy collector,
Aldrich spends most of his days torn between writing, training, and
playing too many video games.
Growing up on shows such as Transformers, Robotech, Voltron,
and even the short-lived Dragon Warrior cartoon, Aldrich became
a huge anime fan very early on. But while the remarkable story-telling
and worlds of anime existed and endured through innumerable art forms,
there was never any 'real' attempt at an original anime story within
the literature world. Starting as a simple story to keep in touch with
friends, Crossworld soon became the first anime-style novel published
in the United States.
Taking inspiration from anime greats such as Yukito Kashiro and Yoshiyuki
Sadamoto, as well as more traditional western writers like Robert Heinlein
and Colleen Doran, Aldrich has fused the anime story-telling style into
western-style writing. With the rerelease of Crossworld, as well
as the launch of the weekly serial Teach the Sky, Robert V Aldrich
hopes to contribute to the anime world by leading the way for an anime
genre of literature.
www.teachthesky.com
more guests to be announced . . .