Christopher Ayres

(Voice Actor)

Chris started as a performer working professionally on stage and television at the age of 6. As an actor he has worked on Broadway, Off-Broadway, with both National and Regional Touring companies as well as many professional regional theaters. In 1991 he made a semi career shift and started working professionally as a Director, Choreographer and Fight Director in Houston Texas. Only performing occasionally, Chris was delighted to get picked up with A.D.V. Films just under two years ago.

He has had an amazing time tapping into his "Inner Jerk" as Kei Kurono in GANTZ, which is one of his favorite roles to date. Other Roles include Yamanami in PEACEMAKER, Nakamaru in MABURAHO, Class president Hayashimizu in FULL METAL PANIC? FUMOFFU, Yousef Ali Mesa in YUGO: THE NEGOTIATOR, Dr. Pluto in BASToF SYNDROME, Sawadust in A TREE OF PALME, Murato in MOBY DICK, and a few others that he's not allowed to talk about at the moment. Some of the other shows he's provided voice work for include: KINO'S JOURNEY, MEGAZONE 23, MEZZO, E'S OTHERWISE, CHROMARTIE HIGH, HELLO KITTY ANIMATION THEATER, ELFIN LIED, MADLAX. As well as providing voices for the live action dubs including DARK WATER, MARRYING THE MAFIA, PUBLIC ENEMY, JUNGLE JUICE, GUNS AND TALKS as well as this SHINOBI series.

Chris is really excited to be here and hopes everyone has a great time at the convention.

Greg Ayres

(Voice Actor)

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. To find out even more information visit Greg's web site at www.gregayres.com.

Josh Grelle

(Voice Actor, Artist)

A native Texan, Josh was raised on stage and in the art studios of Central Texas. He performed on stage for over 15 years prior to starting work for A.D.V. Films at the start of 2004. Since then he has worked for ADV and Funimation on numerous projects.

Josh is known for playing the outrageous Taishi in Comic Party: Revolution, Kyohei in the Shinichi Watanabe (AKA Nabeshin) comedy The Wallflower, and Kyoushiro in Shattered Angels (AKA Kyoushiro and the Eternal Sky). He can also be seen as Admiral Voda in Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid, G-6 and various Villians in Gatchaman, Suonkasu in Utawareumono, Kyoushiro in Innocent Venus, Kosuke Sawamura in Moonlight Mile, Guy in Venus Vs Virus, Viscount Wolkins in Pumpkin Scissors, and Hammer in Xenosaga-The Animation. Josh has also lent his vocal talents to such shows as Project Blue: Earth S.O.S, Coyote Ragtime Show, Nerima Daikon Brothers, 009-1, One Piece, Kiba, Air Gear, Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pich, and many more. Josh has also written for ADV, with his first project being the magical harem comedy Magikano. He was also assistant writer on Moonlight Mile.

Aside from the anime industry Josh has worked in the comic book industry as a freelance colorist doing "the grunt work" for Marvel and a few other studios around the world. He also works on his own comic whenever he has the time (or inspiration) as a hobby…perhaps his "lack of time" wouldn’t be so surplus if he didn’t play MMO’s all the time!

James Hatton

(Webcomic Author)

James Hatton is the creator of the popular webcomic "In His Likeness" (In His Likeness) and recently just started a new comic entitled "Rorschach" (Rorschach). His ability to come up with ways to get around having no artistic ability is only rivaled by his ability to write amazing bios for himself for convention websites. James Hatton is a King amongst Kings and deserves your undying loyalty and respect.

Dan Hess

(Comic Artist)

Dan Hess is the creator of the popular and long-running magical-girl comic, "Angel Moxie" (angelmoxie.com); the fantasy/comedy webcomic "Realms of Ishikaze", now in its fifth year at wirepop.com; and his newest webcomic endeavor, "Weesh" (weeshcomic.com), the hilarious adventures of a green rodent/thing that grants wishes to a trio of kids. He's also a freelance illustration and design guru specializing in web development, and part-owner, designer and programmer for one of the hottest up-and-coming sites for the Disney fan community, mouseguest.com. Those few hours a week he's out of the office he spends sleeping or watching episodes of Mythbusters.

Brittney Karbowski

(Voice Actor)

Brittney is a newcomer to the world of anime, having made her debut last year with Gantz, but she was already an experienced stage performer and singer at the age of 19. She developed her love of the theater while still in high school, and made her professional debut at the age of 17 with Houston's Playhouse 90. While performing there, under the direction of Chris Ayres, Brittney caught the attention of ADV's Matt Greenfield, who cast her for bit parts in Gantz. She immediately followed up with a much more substantial role, that of Momoko Momozono in Godannar. She also played Reiya Ohshima in Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok, as well as parts in Gilgamesh, Chrono Crusade and Diamond Daydreams. Brittney is featured as Aoba Tsuzaki in the new release Jinki: Extend, and she plays the role of Himeko Katagiri in Pani Poni Dash!.

You can hear Brittney's vocals on the Voices for Peace benefit CD.

Jan Scott-Frazier

(Anime Industry Veteran)

Jan worked in the animation (anime) industry in Japan for almost 14 years. She attended animation school and later went on to work at a number of studios in including Artland, Production IG and Atelier BWCA on shows including RikiOh 2, Locke the Superman (OVA), Shurato (OVA), Bubblegum Crash (OVA) and Tottoi (feature). She become an expert in many different aspects of animation production, such as cel painting, animating, backgrounds, camera and directing. In 1991 she founded an animation studio - TAO Corp. Ltd. in Bangkok, Thailand. TAO did work on Moldiver, Diary of Mikan, Genocyber and SWAT Kats amongst others. In 1994, Jan moved into consulting work, freelancing for Cambridge Animation Systems, the developers of Animo (a computer assisted (2D) animation production system). Also in 1994, Jan co-founded GENESIS Digital Publishing Company with Izumi Matsumoto(Kimagure Orange Road) where they created the best-selling Comic ON, a CD-ROM manga compendium in which Jan debuted as a manga artist. In 1999 Jan directed episodes of Susie-chan & Marvy (TV) and spent most of the year working on the development of original TV series projects. In 2000, she moved back to the USA to work at Celsys USA on the development of the next generation of the RETAS digital production system.

Jan has traveled extensively throughout Asia and the US teaching animation techniques and speaking at tradeshows and conventions. She has also translated videos and manga, written and co-written magazine articles and created extensive training materials for cel painting, animation and computer animation.

In 2006 she produced the album Voices for Peace as a charity benefit. She currently produces albums for Voices For, a non-profit corporation and is writing her memoirs.

Doug Smith

(Manga Style Artist and Voice Actor)

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, Dragon Knight, and Steam Detectives to name a few. Doug is most recognized for his role as Kintaro Oe in GoldenBoy. Be sure to swing by his table and check out his art.

Richard and Shannon Townsend

Studio O.N.Y. (www.otakunoyen.com)

Studio O.N.Y. is the creative force behind the web comic Otaku –no- Yen, (Geeks Without Money), updating every Monday.

Richard

(Writer, Story Creator)

After a stint writing for the RPG TFOS: The Landing, Richard decided to try his hand at working alongside his wife Shannon. Richard's main focus is now the web comic "Otaku -no- Yen" (aka. Geeks Without Money). He also occasionally speaks at libraries and conventions to help educate parents and kids alike in Anime and Manga and runs numerous panels at conventions each year. Richard is also an avid gamer, and plays a mean round of Rock Band.

Shannon

(Artist, Character Designer, Illustrator)

Shannon has been drawing almost her entire life, but a chance channel-surfing incident when she was 16 turned her on to Anime, and she's never been the same since. Aside from numerous freelance projects, Shannon is the artist and colorist for the web comic "Otaku –no- Yen." Self taught in the art style of Anime and Manga, Shannon has worked on numerous projects, including the Manga "Otaku Antics" due out in 2008, "Fire and Snow" from Stone Arch Press, and of course "Otaku –no- Yen Book 1: As Seen On The Intarwebs." Shannon is also a professional speaker and lectures at numerous libraries, colleges, and conventions each year, educating teens on the art style she has grown to love so much.