SacAnime Guests
Rebecca Forstadt
Steve Blum
Mari Iijima
Ali Hillis
Liam O’Brien
Billy Martinez
Katie Bair & Jodon Bellofatto
STEVE YUN Robotech.com webmaster / screenwriter
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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! Fresh out of college and eager to work in the anime industry again, Steve joined Harmony Gold to build the Robotech.com website, and has since 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. |
REBECCA FORSTADT
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www.rebeccaforstadt.com It’s hard to believe that Rebecca Forstadt has been a voice over actor for over 30 years, because her voice still sounds like a kid. This is very convenient when telephone solicitors call. All she has to do is say, “Sorry, my Mommy is busy right now.” Rebecca has voiced radio, TV Commercials, background voices for film, but is particularly infamous for her portrayal of hundreds of anime characters. She fell into the anime genre because she happened to be quite good at dubbing. This is a skill that not all actors can do very well. Once she started she never stopped. Rebecca is best known for playing the part of Lynn Minmei in the cartoon series Robotech. She has played every type of character imaginable from a zombie to a cockroach. However, her specialty is little girl’s voices. Her voice timber is extremely natural as opposed to sounding like a squeak toy. She is often asked to replace children’s voices in film who either have an accent or weren’t available to do ADR. The advantage of using Rebecca in these roles is that she doesn’t require a studio teacher and is potty trained. Rebecca has fans all over the world and is occasionally invited to appear at anime conventions. Although, she is not on the convention circuit, because seriously, she has a life, she enjoys those mini vacations and would gladly take trips to Paris, Australia, Rome or London. Surprisingly she very much enjoyed visiting Columbus Ohio. Who knew? |
STEVE BLUM
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www.steveblumvoices.com With literally hundreds of voice-over credits to his name, VO veteran Steve Blum is best known as the voice of “Spike Spiegel” from Cowboy Bebop, “Wolverine” from several incarnations of X-Men (animated movies, games, the Wolverine and the X-Men TV Series and the Super Hero Squad Show), “Tom” (the robot) from Toonami, “Green Goblin” from the Spectacular Spiderman series, “Heatblast,” “Vilgax” and “Ghostfreak” from Ben 10, the voice of 7-11, “Guilmon” and dozens of other characters from 3 seasons of Digimon, “Zabuza” and “Orochimaru” from Naruto, “Roger Smith” from The Big O, “Kazuma” from S-cry-ed, “Jamie” from Megas XLR, “Vincent Valentine” from Final Fantasy VII (movie) and Dirge of Cerberus, “Blunk” from Disney’s “W.I.T.C.H”, “Ares” in God of War, “Yakky Doodle” from Harvey Birdman, “Leeron” from Gurren Lagann, “Grunt” from Mass Effect 2, “Oghren” from Dragonage and multiple characters from Billy and Mandy, Scooby Doo, Afro Samurai, Lilo and Stitch, Chowder, Call of Duty, Madworld, Halo 3, Transformers, Star Wars and Pirates of the Caribbean games, G.I. Joe Resolute and way too many more to fit here! |
MARI IIJIMA
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www.marimusic.com Mari Iijima is an accomplished singer and songwriter who has released numerous top 10 albums through Victor Entertainment Japan and Warner Music Japan. She wrote all of the music for her critically acclaimed debut album “Rosé”, which was produced by renowned composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. Throughout her career Mari has worked with the music industry’s greatest musicians including Alan Parsons Project, Toto, and members of the John Mayer Band. Her 2004 release, “Wonderful People” was a smash hit and stayed on the top of an Indie album chart for over 5 consecutive weeks. Mari has won several awards including the FM Osaka Best New Artist Award and the Japan Audio Society Golden Jubilee Award 2 years in a row, which is voted on by both Japanese & American judges. She was also nominated for the 2000 Los Angeles Music Awards Best Pop Artist Award for her first independently released album “No Limit”. At the 2006 Just Plain Folks Music Awards Mari won a Best Song Award for her song “Unspoken Love” from her album “Wonderful People”. In addition to singing and songwriting Mari has also appeared in film, television, and on radio in both Japan and the U.S. In 2004 Mari starred in the short feature film “Green Tea-r” and also wrote and performed the film’s theme song, “Petal”. “Green Tea-r” won the top honor of Grandprix at the Takarazuka Film Festival in Japan, Silver Screen Award at US International Film & Video Festival, and was shown at the Berlin Film Festival. Mari played Lynn Minmay in the animated series “Super Dimension Fortress Macross”, making her the first actor to voice the same character in both English and Japanese. In November 2006 Mari released her 20th studio album, “Uncompromising Innocence”, which she wrote, arranged, and produced, with collaborative contributions from David LaBruyere (John Mayer Band, Sugarland), Michael Chaves (John Mayer Band, Low Millions, Mandy Moore), and Mick Karn (Japan, Dali’s Car). In 2007, Mari has received proof of entry for the 50th Grammy Awards provided entries for ‘Swim’ a track on her 2006 album “Uncompromising Innocence”. Her listed entries are for the “Best Female Pop Vocal Performance” category and the “Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s)” category. On Sept. 21, 2009 Mari released her 21st studio album “Echo” through her own label MARIMUSIC worldwide. |
ALI HILLIS
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http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0385029/ With an innate combination of beauty and charm, actress ALI HILLIS has built an impressive list of credits since moving west. Though the streets of Hollywood can be merciless for a majority of actors, Hillis’ talent has helped her land a succession of diverse and memorable film roles beginning with the acclaimed independent KISS KISS BANG BANG as Robert Downey, Jr’s tweaky tryst. The romantic comedy MUST LOVE DOGS as Diane Lane’s smart-talking younger sister, the Farrelly Bros. HEARTBREAK KID as Ben Stiller’s would-be bride, and the comedy OVER MY DEAD BODY with Eva Longoria and Paul Rudd soon followed. Recently she’s kept audiences of all ages smiling with her performances in Disney’s BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA with Jaime Lee Curtis and Piper Parabo, and SPACEBUDDIES with Deidrich Bader Additional film credits include Oscar nominee Abigail Breslin’s strong-willed mother in Twentieth Century Fox’s drama THE ULTIMATE GIFT, Ali starred alongside Eric Dane in ADRIFT: OWII, the suspense filled drama which bowed at Cannes, and the ensemble comedy THROWING STARS premiering at the Las Vegas Film Festival. Born in Huntington Beach, CA, Hillis ultimately settled in Charlotte, NC via Wisconsin at age 13. It was there where she graduated with a theater degree from East Carolina University. Hillis took her regional stage experience to New York City where she further honed her craft off-Broadway and in various indie films; culminating with a guest-starring role on LAW & ORDER which gave her the confidence to move cross-country to Los Angeles. The transition proved a successful one as it wasn’t long before she garnered a recurring arc on NYPD BLUE and FELICITY, as well as guest-starring roles on the likes of JAG, LESS THAN PERFECT, BOOMTOWN, HEARTLAND, MY BOYS, NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE, and Jerry Brucheimer’s latest hit show, MIAMI MEDICAL. Only recently did she stumble into the world of video gaming and anime, finding fast friends in a world of controllable characters. The XENOSAGA series was her first experience with voicing video games, but her role in Biowore’s MASS EFFECT as the beautiful blue Dr. Liara T’Soni, has earned her new fans across the globe, and she is looking forward to the release of her next international phenomenon: STARCRAFT II. She also played the voice of Lightning in the recently released FINAL FANTASY XIII. More undisclosed characters on high profile games and anime TV series are in the works! Hillis currently lives in Los Angeles with her two Boxer dogs and hedge fund manager husband, who is also part owner of the NYC hot spot Brother Jimmy’s where the two met. |
LIAM O’BRIEN
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http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1240448/ Liam is an American voice actor and voice director best known for his role as Gaara of the Desert on Naruto, War, the Horseman of the Apocalypse on Darksiders, Nightcrawler on Wolverine and the X-Men and Captain Jushiro Ukitake on Bleach. He is married to fellow voice actress Amy Kincaid. O’Brien is also one of the English adaptation writers for the popular series, Naruto. O’Brien is usually cast in some of the most unusual roles, as such he tends to play characters that show signs of insanity or are complete evil geniuses. Some of those include: Gaara from Naruto, Lloyd from Code Geass, Isaac from Castlevania: Curse Of Darkness, and Dist from Tales of the Abyss. He’s been honored with a nomination for “Best Voice Actor in an Anime Comedy” by the American Anime Awards for his work in Comic Party, DNA Squared, and Girls Bravo. |
BILLY MARTINEZ
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Billy Martinez has been working in comics for almost two decades. His credits include Wildflower- his landmark title that started it all and his critically acclaimed series- Kickass Girl. Billy is currently working on his new book titled, The Deepest Dark which will debut right here at SacAnime. Currently he runs his own art school, Neko Press Art Studios in San Diego. On his spare time he enjoys doing live art shows and is currently working on his Girls series of paintings. He is slated to complete 1000 and is currently on number 370 of that series. Be sure to check out the Neko Press booth this year where Billy will be signing copies of his art book, The Works, and The Deepest Dark, in addition to celebrating the 10 year anniversary for Neko Press Publishing, Billy will be performing a few live art shows at his booth during this convention. Be sure to check it out and join in on the celebration.
For more information about Billy and Neko Press – www.nekopresscomics.com |
KATIE BAIR AND JODON BELLOFATTO
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Grizzled con veterans and creative team behind manga titles Oasis Destiny, Ninja High School: Hawaii, the webmanga Aesir Corp, and soon to be released book ‘Katie Bair’s: World of Wigcraft.
Katie is also the official artist of SacAnime! |
MORE GUESTS TO BE ANNOUNCED |
