Samantha Inoue Harte
Samantha Inoue Harte is the quintessential Renaissance woman in the Anime Industry: she is an Anime voice actress, an Animation Instructor, and currently President of her own Animation Studio. She began her career teaching animation at various locations throughout the Austin, Texas area and continues to do so at the Austin Community College and the Austin School of Film. She then started animating at a studio called Little Wolf Entertainment under the tutelag of Director Sam Fleming, she then turned to HorsebackSalad Entertainment, and Powerhouse Animation Studios. At those three studios, Samantha was able to work on projects for Warner Brothers Classics (Jetsons, Speedy Gonzalez, Roadrunner Online), Disney (lilo&Stitch2: Stitch Has a Glitch), and View Askew Productions (Clerks: the Lost Episode from the Clerks 10th Anniversary DVD), Chuck E. Cheese, Mattel Interactive, a smidge of work on the King of the HIll pilot, and too many others to list. She recently opened and became President of her own animation studio, Saiko Studios LLC, where she was head animation/art director for SpikeTV's Fresh Baked Video Games. Saiko's various clients include Nick Jr, Johnson&Johnson, H-E-B, AT&T, Playboy etc. It is at Saiko Studios that Samantha also began producing her own projects including a pilot for Adult Swim and a project for Disney. While her life is mostly consumed with Animation, Samantha also dabbles in Acting. She has acted for ADV's Monster Island Studios since 2000 and has since done voice acting for ADVFilms, Funimation Entertainment, and New Generation Pictures in Birth, Cosplay Complex as Delmo, Dai-Guard,Daphne in the Brilliant Blue, DearS, Devil Lady, Eden's Bowy, Final Fantasy: Unlimited as Chocobo, Gatchaman, Getbackers, Gun Crazy (Live action), Happy Lesson, Jing: King of Bandits, Lost Universe, Magical Play as Pipin, MazinKaiser, Moeyo Ken, Nadia - Secret of Blue Water tv series and movie, Negima! as Tsukuyomi, New Fist of the North Star, Petite Princess Yucie, Princess Blade (Live action), Sakura Diaries, Sakura Wars, Samurai X: Reflection, Samurai X: The Motion Picture, Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal, Shuten Doji-The Star Hand Kid, Soul Hunter as Shinyoh, Steam Detectives, Trinity Blood, Wedding Peach, Zone of the Enders, and the upcoming ADV title Blade of the Phantom Mask. Samantha has also been acknowledged as being one of ADV's only voice actors to fluently speak Japanese. She's also acted in live action films such as Mike Judge's Idiocracy, Robert Rodriguez's Sin City, Robert Rodriguez/Quintin Tarantino's Grindhouse, acted with Sarah Michelle Gellar in The Return, acted with Tommy Lee Jones in Man of the House, with Mary Steenburgen in Elvis & Annabelle which premiered at SXSW, with David Carradine in HomoErectus which will be out in theaters this summer. She is also going to be on a new online television show called Gamebot HD where she plays the roles of two 3D animated hosts, this show will air on www.OnNetwork.org. Be sure to check it out when it airs! Her main hobbies include doing Special FX makeup for horror films such as Shores of Another Sea and the Austin Audition episode of American Idol. She enjoys playing her Nintendo Wii, giving big hugs, Cafe mochas with lots of whipped creme, and collecting pets (1 dog, 1 chinchilla, 1 ferret, 2 cats that have lion cut hairdos)

Kyle Hebert
(Gohan, Dragonball Z)
Kyle Hebert is an LA-based voice actor currently heard on Cartoon Network as Sosuke Aizen and Ganju Shiba on "Bleach", as well as Kiba on "Naruto". He is best known as the Narrator and teen Gohan on "Dragonball Z". Other credits include Megaman Star Force (Omega-Xis), "Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society (Munei), "When They Cry" (Tomitake), "Fullmetal Alchemist" (Falman), "Fruits Basket" (Takei), "Eureka 7" (KenGoh), "Yu Yu Hakusho" (Karasu), "Ergo Proxy" (MCQ), and many more. Video game voiceover credits include "Devil May Cry 4", ".hack GU Part 2-3", "Digimon Data Squad", "Desperate Housewives", "Baten Kaitos: Origins", "Dragonball Z", and "Naruto". Kyle will be presenting his "Dubbing 101" workshop, where volunteers can attempt to match mouth flaps with random anime clips. You can also download his internet radio show dedicated to news on everything geeky ("The Big Bald Broadcast") from his official

http://www.kylehebert.com/

George Manley
(Francesco, Bertonie-NOIR)
George Manley is in his fourth year of voice acting for ADV Films in Houston and has spent the last 12 months writing for projects such as Coyote Ragtime Show, Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid, Gantz and Super Dimension Fortress Macross. Due to his tendency to sound like "everyone's dad" or the "the general of a thousand undead armies," George has often been cast as the nameless, faceless minions eagerly destroyed by some of your favorite anime heroes! However, some of George's marquee roles of have been narrating the definitive re-dub of Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman, playing the twisted Hyugi Zeravire in Super Heavyweight God Gravion Zwei, the giant robot Impact in Legend of the Mystical Ninja, the rocked-up Moukaku in Godannar, the tattoed giant Barba in Hakugei: Legend of the Moby Dick, Viktor in Yugo the Negotiator, the Masked Takenouchi in Cromartie High School, Gustav in the Area 88 TV series, Lord Kozan in Samurai Gun, and he has appeared in ADV Films' titles such as Neon Genesis Evangelion (Director's Cut), NOIR, Aura Battler Dunbine, Chrono Crusade, Gantz, Divergence Eve and Misaki Chronicles, All Purpose Cat Girl Nuku Nuku DASH!, Slayers Great, Kaleido Star/New Wings, Maburaho, Hello Kitty's Animation Theatre, Those Who Hunt Elves II, Ghost Stories, The Original Dirty Pair Movies, Megazone 2-3, Panyo Panyo Di Gi Charat, Madlax, Es Otherwise, Saint Seiya, Cyberteam in Akihabara, Parasite Dolls, Puni Puni Poemy, and a large number of ADV's live action titles from Korea and Japan. Additionally, George is also lending his time and talent to Houston's Taping For The Blind organization, has acted in video games such as Kohan II: Kings of War and Atari's RPG version of Axis and Allies, and he is currently the ring announcer for San Antonio-based Texas Wrestling Entertainment. His voice can also be heard in the upcoming fan film Return of Pink Five and as the title character in Captain Capitalism.

Lisa Furukawa
(Pianist, Singer, & Songwriter)
LISA FURUKAWA is a Japanese-American pianist, singer, educator, and songwriter. Utilizing her talents in contemporary and classical music, Lisa's performances and recordings display a fusion of Japanese folk, alternative pop, and electronica. Since she began touring on the anime convention circuit 2-3 years ago, Lisa has personally arranged over 30 anime and video game theme songs for piano, electronica, and voice. She has performed diverse selections from Yoko Kanno's repetoir in Russian and Japanese to fun upbeat tunes from well known series such as Fruits Basket, Naruto, or Inuyasha. Her latest original recording, Reaching the Dragon was released in April, 2006. Lisa composed, produced, and performed all of the songs on the new CD. The new work displays a subtle combination of electronic arrangements, piano, and vocals in Japanese and English. Reaching the Dragon is ambient and lush, and remains hopeful even through the most melancholy moments. Always fascinated by myth and history, Lisa looked to the Eastern myths and folklore of dragons for inspiration. Lisa says, Reaching the dragon is about tapping into the yang spirit, strong basic life force, and accepting change and transformation. Lisa has three CDs of original songs published through her Yume label. Her first recording, This Moment is the Show, is an intimate CD of solo piano and vocal arrangements. Her second CD, Pearl Diver, is a collaborative piece that originated from Lisas piano and vocal compositions, but was realized and recorded with cellist, Deborah Shields and percussionist, John Metcalf. Her CDs are available for purchase at http://www.lisafurukawa.com. Lisa has performed at various events and festivals, and has entertained audiences in large and small atmospheres. Currently, she is enjoying her appearances and performances at various anime conventions and cultural events around the US and Canada. She is exploring the electro/dub sound while composing for the multi-art and multimedia dance troupe -The Wandering Star Project. When she isn't performing or teaching, she contributes her time and efforts to helping several charitable organizations. She was the director of events such as the annual Tori Amos Tribute Show/RAINN Benefit and the Triangle Asian-American Music Festival/Asia Society benefit. Lisa is currently working on several new projects, one of which is an instructional children's album in Japanese and English. Originally from Tokyo, Japan, Lisa began studying the piano at the age of three. She has BAs in Music and Asian Studies from UNC-Chapel Hill, and is an educator and translator as well as a performing songwriter. She has translated everything from pop tunes to state songs into Japanese, and hopes to promote cultural understanding and diversity through music.

Elektra Knight
(Model & Spokes Model for Convention)
Born in Oahu, Hawaii, Elektra lived her childhood life there and when she became a teenager she moved to California with her parents. Soon her dreams of becoming a pro-surfer were replaced by her growing career in modeling. At a very early age Elektra learned about fitness and combined it with modeling and with the help of her agent, Elektra has become the most famous and downloaded fitness model in the world. Elektra is a certified personal trainer and aerobics instructor. She has a great love for horses and raises money every year to help save the wild mustang and retired race horses from slaughter. She is also a martial artist. Elektra has been blessed to be one of the lucky "petite" models to actually break into fashion modeling.

akai SKY
akai SKY stands as the premier American Jrock band in Northern California.
The San Francisco-based band fuses Japanese pop lyrics, heavy rock sounds and punk beats to create a unique sound. With val's powerful vocals,
Hayashi's intense guitar, Umi's dynamic bass and J's aggressive drums, the
band tours all across California, as well as throughout the country,
including Nevada and Texas.

In January 2007, val and J joined with founders Hayashi and Umi. The band
played at venues celebrating Asian culture, such as Fanime's MusicFest
with bands from Japan, as well as Anime Expo, the largest anime convention
in the United States. With a plethora of shows under their belts, akai SKY
strives to share their distinctive sound with the international music scene

Stephanie Château
Stephanie Château (aka Stephanie Celeste) is an artist and entertainer who works extensively with both Universal Studios and Star Souls. She is also the owner of Galaxy Productions, a company that specializes in comic books, conceptual art, costuming, and character design. Stephanie is an avid enthusiast of a wide range of interests, including anime, gaming, and cosplay conventions. She regularly appears at conventions selling her popular manga series "Oh, Captain!" and "Chaos In the Outer Region", as well as teaching art panels and special classes on costume design, character creation, make-up design, and improvisational acting. Stephanie has also made appearances at many special events and trade shows representing the "unusual entertainment" company, Star Souls. These events and shows include the illustrious trade show for IAAPA (International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions), and at these events she modeled her well-known costume designs, most notably the nefarious Captain Caribbean Blue. Capt. Blue is the principal character of her self-published manga "Oh, Captain!", and originally appeared as the hostess for Star Souls' venues at Universal Studio's "Halloween Horror Nights" ("HHN") XIV. In addition to the professional cosplaying done for Star Souls, Stephanie is also an award-winning "scare actor" for Universal Studios theme park, playing the part of "Granny" in "The Scream House". "The Scream House" is Universal's most popular haunted house to date--reviews and promotional footage of the house can be seen regularly on the Travel Channel's specials on the world's best theme parks. Stephanie has also played "Guderelle", a member of the Queen's Black Guard for "HHN" XV, and has recently been filmed playing said character for Universal Studio's future promotional films.