Guests

Guest of Honor - Michelle Ruff

Michelle is excited to be here from Los Angeles and is looking forward to meeting all the anime fans from her home state of Michigan! Most recently, Michelle won the SPJA 2009 Best Actress Award for her role in Cartoon Networks “Bleach” as Rukia Kuchiki. She began her acting and voice studies in Chicago, where she worked and studied at the legendary Second City, as well as at Player’s Workshop and the renowned ImprovOlympic. Ruff relocated to Los Angeles to focus on her voice career, and has been working non-stop in the VO industry ever since. She also enjoys doing theatre and recently appeared in a show called Friday Night Quickies at the Whitefire Theatre in Sherman Oaks, CA.

Having the ability to bring to life to a number of characters, Ruff can voice any age. A specialist in young voices, she has mastered babies to teens: girls and boys, as well as twenty to thirty-somethings. She also is exceptional at character voices of those in their forties and fifties, and can adeptly handle most any accent. She lends her voice to original animation, video games, dubbing, commercials, television shows and feature films. Michelle’s lent her voice to many favorite anime Characters including Rukia in Bleach, Yoko in Gurren Laggan, Yuki Nagato in Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumia, Tsukasa in Lucky Star, Chi in Chobitz, Etna from Disgaea, and Aoi-Chan in Ai Yori Aoshi as well as lending her voice to many fan fav video games. You have heard her voice in animated features including Kung Fu Panda, Biohazard: Regeneration, Monsters vs. Aliens, Madagascar 2, The Tale of Despereux, Polar Express, Through the Moebius Strip, What the @#$! Do We Know, and the animated TV Show Tutenstein. Television shows Ruff has done voice-over for include CSI, Greek, The Mentalist, The Sarah Silverman Show, Smallville, Battlestar Galactica, Melrose Place, Supernatural and Eureka. http://www.voiceofmichelleruff.com/

 

 

Tiffany Grant

Tiffany Grant is pleased to attend Shuto Con :o) Best known as the English voice of Asuka in NEON GENESIS EVANGELION, Tiffany was the first anime voice actor hired in the state of Texas [Feb. 1994!].

She has now voiced characters in 1000+ TV episodes, OVAs & movies including AZUMANGA DAIOH (Kaorin), CHRONO CRUSADE (Satella), BLUE SEED (Kome), GOLDEN BOY (Madame President), FMP? FUMOFFU (Bonta-kun), GODANNAR (Shizuru), FULL METAL ALCHEMIST (Marta), MABURAHO (Kuriko), ONE PIECE (Nojiko), THE WALLFLOWER (Auntie), KURAU: PHANTOM MEMORY (Ayaka) and TSUBASA RESERVOIR CHRONICLES (Ashura). Video game credits: UNLIMITED SAGA, DEUS EX II: INVISIBLE WAR. Recent projects include FMA: BROTHERHOOD, LINEBARRELS, BLUE DROP and TEARS TO TIARA.

Ms. Grant has adapted English dubbing scripts for 200+ TV episodes such as ANGELIC LAYER, HELLO KITTY'S ANIMATION THEATER, TEARS TO TIARA, AH! MY GODDESS 2, THE WALLFLOWER and the live-action Korean film JUNGLE JUICE. She also penned English subtitles for projects including MIYUKI CHAN IN WONDERLAND and the live-action TOKYO - THE LAST MEGALOPOLIS.

Additionally, Tiffany contributed to the albums "Voices for Peace" and "Voices for Tolerance" www.voicesfor.org. CDs and downloads are available at www.cdbaby.com and iTunes. All profits benefit charities like Doctors Without Borders.

Non-anime work includes ARLINGTON ROAD (with Jeff Bridges) and independent films LAUGHING BOY (buy the DVD!) and DEAD OF KNIGHT. Tiffany has many years of experience in theatre and commercials and an incurable Hello Kitty addiction. For more, please visit http://tiffanygrant.eva-r.com

 

 

Doug Smith

Doug Smith is an accomplished freelance artist and voice actor who has performed many roles for ADV and Funimation, including the lead, Kintaro Oe, in "Goldenboy".

His artwork has been used for CD album covers, magazines, comics, posters, anime con program guides, badges, DVDs, TV and is currently working with Meta 3D Studios illustrating and assisting in the creation of their online video game, “Fantasy Kingdoms”. Doug is also the Art Director for non-profit Voices For, an organization which works with talented people in the anime/manga industry to create products, the profits of which are donated to charity. Be sure to stop by Doug's table, view his art and say hi!

For more information:

http://www.dougsmithart.com

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0808008/

Voices For: http://www.voicesfor.com

Meta 3D Studios: http://www.meta3dstudios.com

 

 

 

Year 200X

Year 200X is a heavy metal video game cover band from Lansing, MI. Y2KX was formed in early 2006 by Tim Lydon and Tony Oliver. Joined by friends Rance Tatroe, Ian Whiters, Jake Bryan, and occasionally Kyle Hoke, they came together for two purposes: to have fun, and to play the awesomest guitar-driven video game covers that they can. Almost immediately, they were featured in Nintendo Power Magazine (June, 2006). Their debut album "We Are Error," a compilation of 13 tracks from games for the Nintendo Entertainment System, was released in August 2008 to great reviews by the video game community and fans of metal alike.

The band is currently working on new material, which will broaden their game selection by including music from systems other than the NES.

http://year200xband.com/

 

 

 

 

Hobocon

Hobocon follows three fun loving friends as they journey through one of their most epic adventures of all time, or as they like to call it, their best worst idea ever! Dr. Boxcar (Jason Slingerland), The Pixie (Wilhelm Rumpf) and Benny (Rob Couch) let the cameras roll as they chronicle what it is really like to be a hobo at a convention from a gamer’s point of view. Watch them as they stave off sleep and forage for food, while trying not to get discovered and thrown out.

Hobocon is not like other notable gaming themed documentaries. Hobocon “gets it”. We did not make a movie just for the hard core gamer nor did we set out to make a stare–at–the–freaks exposé. Hobocon is for everyone from the non-gamer to your over-the-top cos-player. Throughout the movie, we take the time to interview a wide cast of characters and let them voice what this culture is all about. Simply put, Hobocon is more than just a fun look at GenCon, it is ‘gaming convention 101’ for everyone!

http://www.hobocon.com

http://www.screenhead.com/reviews/hobocon-review-the-best-worst-idea-ever/

 

 

 

 

 

 

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