Featured Guests
Erica Mendez
Chicago native Erica Mendez is longtime anime and video game fan who put in the work and became a voice actress. She has been fortunate to play some fan-favorite characters, including: Retsuko in Aggretsuko, Ryuko in KILL la KILL, Gon in Hunter x Hunter, Aladdin in Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic, Yuuki in Sword Art Online II, Sailor Uranus in the new Viz Media dub of Sailor Moon, Megumin in Konosuba, Akko in Little Witch Academia, Diane in Seven Deadly Sins, Nico in Love Live, Mash in Fate/Grand Order, Bernadetta in Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and Raphtalia in The Rising of the Shield Hero.
You can also hear her in OK K.O. Let’s be Heroes, Re:ZERO, Fate/Apocrypha, My Hero Academia: Two Heroes, Your Lie in April, Anohana, Erased, Tales of Berseria, Fire Emblem Warriors, Fire Emblem Heroes, Puyo Puyo Tetris, Danganronpa Ultra Despair Girls, Danganronpa V3, Chocobo Mystery Dungeon: Everybuddy, Radiant Historia, Kakegurui, Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry, Gundam: IBO, Gundam Build Divers, Yuki Yuna is a Hero, A Lull in the Sea, Fairy Fencer F, Soul Calibur VI, BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, Street Fighter V, Dead or Alive 5: Last Round, Detective Pikachu, Trails of Cold Steel II, Pokemon Masters, Battle Chef Brigade, and more.
Voice acting isn’t the only way she keeps herself busy: She’s ventured into script adaptation and has done work on Little Witch Academia, Sailor Moon SuperS, Dragon Pilot, and Fate/Apocrypha. She also directs from time-to-time, and took the helm of the feature film, I Want to Eat Your Pancreas and the Netflix series, Carole & Tuesday; both of which she also adapted.
You can keep up with Erica’s role announcements and incoherent rambling by following her on Twitter @tsunderica.
Caitlin Glass
A voice actress and ADR director, best known for the role of Winry Rockbell in the Fullmetal Alchemist franchise, Caitlin has been working in the anime industry since 2004. Caitlin was the ADR director for the English dub of the fan-favorite, Ouran High School Host Club, as well as the voice of Haruhi Fujioka. In video games, Caitlin also lends her voice to Mathilda in Fire Emblem Echoes, Rose in Tales of Zestiria, Elma in Xenoblade Chronicles X, Thorn in Battleborn, and, most notably, Cammy White & Decapre in Street Fighter IV & V.
Other well-known anime roles include Vados in Dragon Ball Super, Mina Ashido in My Hero Academia, Vivi in One Piece, Evergreen in Fairy Tail, Petra in Attack on Titan, Diancie in Pokémon, Maki in Love Live! School Idol Project, Lilia in Yuri!!! on Ice, Hannah in Black Butler II, Miria in Baccano, Kimi in Tokyo Ghoul, Satellizer in Freezing, Kirigiri in Danganronpa: The Animation, Miho Amakata in Free!, Kim in Soul Eater and Mélie in Radiant.
In recent years Caitlin has added roles in Absolute Duo, Alderamin on the Sky, Assassination Classroom, Black Clover, Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card, Fuuka, Gangsta, Hundred, Hyouka, Juni Taisen, Lord Marksman and Vanadis, Masamune’s Revenge, New Game, Noragami Aragoto, Orange, ReLIFE, Show By Rock, Space Dandy, Tokyo Ravens, Yurikuma Arashi, ZOMBIELAND SAGA, and more to her already prolific list of anime voices.
You’ll also hear her as Hitomi in Funimation’s dub of Escaflowne and Kyoko in Skip Beat!, both graciously funded by passionate fans via Kickstarter.
Caitlin is currently directing the new Fruits Basket dub (in which she voices Machi Kuragi) Other directing credits include, Radiant, Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card, Love Live! Sunshine!!, Free!! (season three and all movies), Fuuka, Sakura Quest, Fairy gone, Show by Rock, Noragami Aragoto, the animated Garo series, Prince of Stride: Alternative, Lord Marksman and Vanadis, One Piece, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, and many more, all as an ADR Director for Funimation Entertainment. She has also lent her adaptive writing skills to Bang Zoom! Entertainment for such titles as Love Live! School Idol Project, Durarara x2, Yuki Yuna is a Hero, A Lull in the Sea and The Asterisk War.
For a complete list of her work, check out www.animenewsnetwork.com
You can follow Caitlin! @caitlinsvoice on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube!
Katelyn Gault
Katelyn Gault grew up with her mother and older sister near Seal Beach, California. She began her artistic endeavors as a kid studying piano and eventually classical voice. In high school she sang and performed in the Show Choir (yep. ‘High School Katelyn’ basically lived the TV show Glee), but found an even greater passion for acting in her drama class. Katelyn went on to study theatre and earned a B.F.A. in Theatre Performance from Chapman University. She then moved to Los Angeles, and has been pursuing her passion for acting and storytelling ever since.
Katelyn works in film, television, voiceover and theatre. Most notable VO credits include: Fenneko in Aggretsuko, El Hoshino in Dragon Pilot: Hisone & Masotan, Aya Tsuji in Jo Jo’s Bizzare Adventure, Ferrier Blancheur in Valkyria Chronicles 4 and more!
She currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband (and fellow voice actor) Kyle McCarley, a snow beast named Simon, and a judgmental ewok named Chloe. For more information about Katelyn you can visit her imdb page, or her website: www.katelyngault.com. You can also follow her on Twitter: @katelyn_gault.
Kyle McCarley
Kyle McCarley grew up (but not really) in Kansas and moved to Los Angeles at age 18 to study acting. After getting hooked on playing World of Warcraft with his buddies, he co-wrote, co-directed, and voiced several characters in a fan-made online radio play loosely set in that universe. Once he finished his Theatre degree at the University of Southern California, he decided to further pursue that passion in the form of a career in voice acting. Kyle can now be heard in anime, video games, cartoons, audiobooks, live action dubs, TV and radio commercials, industrial ads, and even a talking toy plunger.
Notable anime credits include Mikazuki Augus in Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, Shigeo “Mob” Kageyama in Mob Psycho 100, Koku in B: The Beginning, Ryo in Devilman Crybaby, Joe Shimamura, a.k.a. 009, in Cyborg 009: Call of Justice, Aoba Kuronuma in Durarara!!x2, Shinji Matou in Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, Ryota Watari in Your Lie in April, Helbram in Seven Deadly Sins, Claudia Hodgins in Violet Evergarden, John Steinbeck in Bungo Stray Dogs, Iruka Umino in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Gran in Granblue Fantasy: The Animation, Kirii in Blame!, Joichiro Nishi in Gantz: O, Silas Norman in The Asterisk War, and Ikuya Ogura in Ajin: Demi-Human.
Kyle’s video game credits include Android 9S in NieR: Automata, Alm in Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, Harry Potter in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, Zeke in God Eater 3, Hyde from Under Night In-Birth in BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, Zeroken in Disgaea 5, Haruto Higurashi in Zanki Zero, Daniel in Unepic, Seilong and Kir in Summon Night 6, Oz, the Trickster in Atlas Reactor, and various characters in Final Fantasy XV, Tales of Berseria, God Eater 2: Rage Burst, Grand Kingdom, and Omega Quintet.
A full list of Kyle’s credits is available at KyleMcCarley.com, and if you follow him on Twitter (@kylemccarley), Twitch (twitch.tv/kylemccarley), or like his Facebook page, you can keep up with all his excitement (or lack thereof).
Billy Kametz
Billy is an actor from Hershey Pennsylvania who now lives in the Los Angeles area. He came out to CA 4 years ago to play Aladdin in the Aladdin Musical Spectacular in Disney’s California Adventure for the final year of the show’s 13 year run. Since that time Billy has been fortunate enough to lend his voice to anime, video games, cartoons, live action dubs, and commercials. You can hear Billy as Josuke in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Naofumi in The Rising of the Shield Hero, Metal Lee in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, White Blood Cell in Cells At Work, Osomatsu in Mr. Osomatsu, Anai in Aggretsuko, and Takuto Maruki in Persona 5 The Royal!
Keep up with Billy on Twitter and Instagram @billykametz
Guests from Previous Events
2018 Voice Actors
Monica Rial
Bryce Papenbrook
Vic Mignona
SungWon Cho
Luci Christian
2017 Voice Actors
Brina Palencia
Jad Saxton
Cherami Leigh
Ian Sinclair
Jeff Nimoy
2016 Voice Actors
Marisha Ray
Matt Mercer
Micah Solusud
Austin Tindle
Chris Patton
2015 Voice Actors
Jamie Marchi
J. Michael Tatum
Jerry Jewell
Fire Lily Cosplay
Fire Lily is a veteran craftsman who has been cosplaying since 2004. She has made over 120 costumes to date and has won numerous Best In Show and Best Overall awards for her quality and attention to detail in her craftsmanship. Fire Lily has been a cosplay judge, panelist, and guest at Otakon, AnimeUSA, Anime Mid-Atlantic, Tekko, T-Mode, and has served as Head Judge for Katsucon’s Masquerade since 2010. When she isn’t making costumes, she loves playing video games, reading, and binge-watching her favorite shows. She is very excited to share her knowledge and experience this year at Tekko!
Indra Rojas
Indra Rojas is an artist and cosplayer who, for many years, has worked behind-the-scenes in the cosplay community. A few years ago, she was part of the cast for Syfy’s television series “Heroes Of Cosplay”, and was the first U.S representative in China’s International Cartoon and Animation Festival (CICAF). More recently, she began working with Cosplay Fabrics to bring cosplay focused fabrics across the globe, as well as became the official manager and coordinator for both CICAF and ICL international cosplay competitions.
Her professional work includes costuming and makeup artistry for theme parks, theater productions, and video game companies, as well as working independently for her own costuming and art business.
Through cosplay, Indra has been able to travel the world and share her passion for geek culture, as well as push to be a positive and inspirational force in the community.
SITE: www.indrarojas.com
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/FantasyNinja
TWITTER: @TheFantasyNinja
INSTAGRAM: @indra_rojas
Jez Roth
Jez Roth started sewing at the age of 13 on small crafts at a local dance studio before falling in love with the art of cosplay at Katsucon 1998.
After many years of competing at convention masquerades, winning Best in Show with tailored costumes and heavily choreographed skits on 16 separate occasions, Jez moved to Las Vegas to work for The Venetian designing opera gowns. Before long he found himself building costumes for Cirque du Soleil’s Water Spectacular. Since leaving Cirque, Jez freelances out of his own studio – creating everything from mermaids that shoot water, Mirrorball Men, and Golden Fairies that contort through the air. Aside from costuming, Jez has also designed for events with A-list celebrities such as; Kim Kardashian, Eva Longoria, Snoop Dogg, and DJs such as Benny Benassi and Dash Berlin – his jewelry has even been worn on the red carpet at the Billboard Awards.
He has represented the United States at the IOEA Otaku Expo in Japan as a Cosplay Guest and in Canada to choose the Canadian World Cosplay Summit representative for 2016. He believes that the world of costuming is an endlessly fascinating pursuit—from armor to gowns, giant puppetry to monsters. He shares unique events that educate and involve the community (Lip Sync For Your Cosplay) and has restructured and organized cosplay events for conventions in his goal to make the competition scene more mainstream.
His artistic journey came full circle in 2015 when he was hired as an Artistic Consultant for the One Piece: Gold film, working with Toei Animation to give their film a fully realized Las Vegas feel.
Jez will be hosting, “The Evolution of Cirque du Cosplay’s costuming and Kaleidostar feature” and “I AM JEZ ROTH aka How to survive as a freelance designer.” Also, stay tuned for additional information on, “Lip Sync For Your Cosplay”.
DizzyLizzy
From Maryland, DizzyLizzy is no stranger to the world of Costuming. For over 20 years, she has been creating costumes for herself and others. During those years, Lizzy has been awarded several Best in Shows for her craftsmanship and performance skills. When she is not creating costumes, you can find Lizzy still behind her sewing machine creating Bridal gowns for K&B Bridals. Lizzy believes in Cos-Positivity and stays active in the community by hosting workshops, judging, running Cosplay Departments such as Zenkaikon and AnimeNEXT, and being the curator of The Magic of Cosplay Exhibit. She is very excited to be attending Tekko this year and looks forward to meeting everyone! Flynn Lives!
Insta: @DizzyLizzyCosp
Minjee Kay Cosplay
Steve Rudzinski
Steve Rudzinski has two halves to his life. The first is being a film director whose credits include the tokusatsu Super Task Force One, the family comedy Meowy Christmas, and the multi-award winning slasher film CarousHELL which will be getting its world wide release in 2018. The other half for Steve is also working as Marvel’s official Spider-Man for all of the meet n’ greets & stage shows, making children smile over the entire world!
On the side Steve enjoys cosplaying from time to time. Between his entertainment life and his spandex wearing life, Steve has plenty of hands on experience when it comes to costuming. He is excited to put some of this experience to work to judge a contest again at his very first Tekko!
To check out Steve’s film work head over to www.SilverSpotlightFilms.com & facebook.com/SilverSpotlightFilms. To check out how he looks in spandex, head over to facebook.com/TheAmazingSpiderSteve!
