Past Guests: 2013

Leif Gantvoort

Leif Gantvoort is best known as Uncle Ben's killer in "The Amazing Spider Man." He has also starred in the feature films; "Last Stop," "Dream in American," "Welcome to Dongmakgol," "Black Tar Road," "The Nevsky Project," and "Lunatics Lovers and Poets" for which he received a Best Lead Actor nomination. He has appeared on "Bones" for FOX, "Criminal Minds" and "CSI:NY" for CBS, “Desperate Housewives” and "Revenge" for ABC, "Justified" for FX, "Death Valley" for MTV and "First Years" for NBC. He also writes, directs and performs sketch comedy for the weekly on-line show, “Hollywood Saturday Night.” He and his wife, Amy, are the proud parents of Gabrielle, who appeared regularly on the hit web series "The Guild" which Leif also helped launch.

Chris Patton

Chris Patton has been Voice Acting in Anime for thirteen years for ADV Films, FUNimation Entertainment, Sentai Filmworks, and Okratron 5000. Some of his more well-known roles are Sousuke Sagara in all the Full Metal Panic series, Greed in Fullmetal Alchemist and Brotherhood, Asura in Soul Eater, Akuto Sai in Demon King Daimao, Keima in The World God Only Knows, Ikki in Air gear, Sho in Guyver, Fakir in Princess Tutu, Nishi in Gantz, and Turles in Dagonball Z: The Tree of Might. Other Anime credits include: Inu X Boku SS, Phi Brain: Puzzle of God, Hajime in Ghost Stories, Ayato in RahXephon, Daley Wong in Bubblegum Crisis 2040, Ranmaru in The Wallflower, Eiji in Gravion and Gravion Zwei, Haruka in Tactics, Graham Spector in Baccano, Komyo Sanzo in Saiyuki, Gintoki in the Gintama movie, Hiroki in The Place Promised in Our Early Days, and tons and tons more! Chris is also a stage performer, a music freak, a horror film nerd, a roller coaster guru, and a huge fan of Sharon Needles, Freddie Mercury, and Aleister Crowley.

Chuck Huber

Chuck Huber started acting in Anime in the roles of Garlic Jr. and Android 17 in DBZ. Since then he has voiced hundreds of characters including Hiei in YuYu Hakusho, Stein in Soul Eater, Kululu in Sgt. Frog, Mohji in One Piece, Shou Tucker in Full Metal Alchemist, Han in Blue Gender, Hiro in Shin Chan, Ashe in Black Butler, Reever in D. Gray Man, Hector in Glass Fleet, Yuichi in Initial D., Akai in Oh Edo Rocket, Melt in The Tower of Druaga, Adashino in Mushishi, Eric Nishijima in Darker Than Black, Havel in Trinity Blood, Austria in Hetalia and many more. He has been a writer on Hetalia, Sgt. Frog, Baccano, Spice and Wolf and others. As a filmmaker Chuck has acted, produced, written or directed for Arbor Day - The Musical, The Troubadoors, The Fragility of Seconds, The Mechanical Grave, Odd Man Out among others. He began acting in Chicago at the Goodman Theater, Court Theater, Steppenwolf Theater after graduating from DePaul University and continues to work on stages in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Most recently he played Hugh Jameison in the movie Parkland, produced by Tom Hanks and starring Billy Bob Thornton and Paul Giamatti.

Sonny Strait

Sonny Strait is a prolific voice actor, known for roles as Maes Hughes in Fullmetal Alchemist, Krillin in DBZ, and Lupin III in, well, Lupin III. Sonny is also known as an illustrator for one of the most famous, independently published comic book series Elfquest. Sonny Strait has over 20 years of experience in the arts.

Besides Krillin, Hughes, and Lupin, Sonny has worked on many popular animated characters including Usopp from One Piece and Cartoon Network’s laid back, robot host Toonami Tom. He has also worked as a writer and director on several TV series including Dragonball Z, Case Closed and Lupin the Third.

YTCracker

YTCracker is a rapper, former cracker, and Internet entrepreneur. YTCracker began producing rap music in 1998 in the genre that has since become known as nerdcore hip hop. YTCracker is a self-proclaimed “jack of all trades”, also making a name for himself as a professional disc jockey, computer programmer, graphics designer and webmaster.

Steam Powered Giraffe

The robots of Steam Powered Giraffe are like nothing you've ever seen. The malfunctioning joke-spewing metal men play a collection of original Vaudeville inspired tunes fused with modern flare and executed in a super-sleek, one-of-a-kind performance. More than just a band, Steam Powered Giraffe is an experience that must be seen and heard by the entire family.

The artists behind the robots started street busking as these quirky characters in January 2008 at Balboa Park, California, and instantly drew the attention of Southern California. Since then they've performed at such venues as The San Diego Fair, The San Diego Zoo, The Wild Animal Park, Legoland, Ontario Mills, and numerous Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Steampunk Conventions.

The act combines the visual of robot pantomime with sketches, pop culture references, improvised comedic dialogue, and of course, original music. From their heartwarming nostalgic melodies to their funky cabaret rock, Steam Powered Giraffe's songs are memorable, infectious, and as unique as the robots themselves.

Lewis "Linkara" Lovhaug

Lewis "Linkara" Lovhaug has had the misfortune of being cursed to review comic books on the internet. Somehow this has made him popular on the website That Guy With the Glasses, though many suspect it’s more so people can stare and laugh at the weirdo. On his show, Atop the Fourth Wall, he regularly contends with the surreal, the stupid, and the senseless books that the comic industry has produced over the last eighty years. If that wasn’t sad enough, he also has done a retrospective on Power Rangers (released on the schedule of when a blue moon rises on the 13th hour of the 13th day of the 13th month), actually attempting to grant serious analysis to a series about guys in spandex punching rubber-suited monsters. It’s best not to make direct eye contact with him.

Airship O'Reilly

Long ago a young, or perhaps freshly painted, airship christened the Brazen Beauty set off her first journey from the far-away city of Tennesbury. After years of adventures too far-fetched to repeat, she found herself and her crew lost in a much stranger land... this one. Now renamed Airship O'Reilly, she and her crew come to Meta Con to... well... probably steal something.

Started back in 2007 as the Brazen Beauty, the Champaign, IL based Airship O'Reilly has since evolved beyond just a group of kids who wanted to make movies and have fun. Bringing together several slightly insane individuals, O'Reilly has become a force of entertainment, hosting events in their hometown, making costumes and accessories, and bringing the madness and chaos with them wherever they go.

Terry Pavlet

Terry Pavlet is an award winning RPG/CCG/Comic Book Illustrator who has done work for White Wolf, Wizards of the Coast, Fantasy Flight Games; comic work for DC, Image, Disney; Sketch cards for Unstoppable Cards UK (RPG Fantasy); Cult Stuff Cards (War of the Worlds); book work for publishers like Ballentine Books, Baen Books, and Transfuzion Publishing (Deadworld Sourcebook); designing and illustrating MOTU & TNMT action figures for Astonishing Toys; T-Shirt licensing properties for Warner Brothers (Looney Tunes), Lucasfilms (Star Wars), Hanna Barbera (Flintstones, etc.) and much more.

Terry is an Wisconsin native who lives with his wife and two daughters. Terry will also be making the official Meta Con 2013 program guide cover and selling exclusive signed print copies.

Jason Faunt

Jason Faunt was born outside of Chicago, IL. After years of playing college and then a brief stint in pro baseball he hung up the cleats and decided to move out to L.A. to pursue a longtime dream of becoming an actor.  Initially having some success on the commercial and print side Jason started doing bit work on soap operas which led to his role of ‘Kane’ on Port Charles and ‘Carson’ on Passions. Soon after he booked the lead as the Red Ranger on Power Rangers Time Force, playing two different characters, one from both the present and the future.

Since Power Rangers Jason has had continued success on both the commercial and print side; along with co-Producing and starring in  his own film that appeared and received festival acclaim in several national festivals. The film is entitled 'Pact'.

The past year Jason has been working in the motion capture world as the Leon S. Kennedy, lead character in Resident Evil 6. Jason resides in Newport Coast, CA with his wife Stephanie and two daughters Keira and Makayla. Ages 6 and 4.

Nakia Burrise

Actress, singer, dancer, writer, model…When you take a look at Nakia’s career, it becomes crystal clear that she is a triple threat and entertainment is her passion!

Growing up in Stockton, CA, Nakia was introduced to musical theater and performance in elementary school.  She began performing acrobatics by the age of five and later ventured into theater, musical theater, dancing, singing and modeling.  After graduating from Edison High School in Stockton, California, Nakia auditioned for UCLA’s prestigious theater department.  She was the only African American female freshman accepted into the theater department that year.  By the time she was a junior at UCLA, her professional career had begun.  She booked her first role as a series regular on Power Rangers, as Tanya Sloan, the yellow ranger; while simultaneously recording her first pop album with her singing group Divine.  After Power Rangers Nakia took a break from acting full-time to begin a family. After the birth of her second child she began pursuing acting again and was diagnosed with a lung disease that again took her away from her passion, acting.  In 2008, Nakia was blessed with a clean bill of  health (as her illness was now in remission) and she once again pursued her dream of acting.

She has played an array of characters in such shows as 90210, The Middle, Rules Of Engagement, Melissa and Joey, Bones, Samantha Who, Boston Legal, Nash Bridges, Moesha and even found time to film a sitcom pilot that she wrote, produced and starred in titled, Crazy Daze.  She is currently working  as a series regular on an internet series for Mattel, due to premiere in 2012. Nakia plays the role of Nikki. Along with her television credits, she has appeared in numerous films, national commercials, and print ads.  In addition, her stage performances continue to thrive.  She has starred in musicals such as Bye-Bye Birdie, The Wiz, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Cinderella and the list goes on.  Her resolve to be successful in the entertainment business is relentless.  And her will to overcome life’s obstacles are incessant.  But, her desires do not begin and end with performing. She is determined to reach where it counts the most, the children.

In 2006, Nakia, founded a non-profit corporation, “A Day in the Life”.  The corporation’s mission is to reach inner city children by giving them the opportunity to explore careers, life options and community possibilities through field trips, presentations and field work; opportunities that are not readily accessible to many inner city youths.

In 2012, she partnered up with a dear friend to launch a new Christian t-shirt line "Eternally His Design." Their hope is "that through a simple word or phrase (written on our shirts) offered in love, guided by the wisdom of God, will have eternal consequences in someone's life.

Nakia has learned that with every hurdle, God gives her the will power to leap.  It is her decision to continue the battle or lie in defeat! She chooses the battle!

Michael Copon

Michael Sowell Copon is an actor, model, producer, and singer, known for his role of Felix Taggaro in the television series One Tree Hill, playing Vin Keahi in the television series Beyond the Break, and starring in Power Rangers: Time Force.

Michael has also starred as the lead in numerous films, including Night of the Demons, All You've Got, Dark House, Music High, and Bring It On: In It To Win It. He has also starred as the lead while producing or co-producing on Killer Holiday and Boyband.

Michael Copon has also played recurring characters on Beyond the Break, Greek, and That's So Raven, in addition to guest starring on Hawaii 5-0, CSI: Miami, and Reno 911.

StarF

StarF is an amateur hip hop artist from Maple Grove, Minnesota who primarily functions within the nerdcore community. He occasionally yells at a microphone and calls the results music. Once in awhile he likes to go out in public and shout at groups of people much to their confusion, calling it a performance of this aforementioned music. If you've ever wanted to experience the excitement of some guy who likes to LARP as a rockstar yelling words at you in rapid succession over wonderfully bass-laden instrumentals it would be in your best interest to see StarF perform.

Mattari 2600

Mattari is a nerdcore hip-hop artist who makes music for the love of music. Mattari is proud to stand by making free music that will always be free. Mattari started making music after listening to a bunch of old-school and nerdcore hip-hop for years, and realizing a natural talent for decent writing and hip-hop flow. Mattari will perform anywhere or collaborate with anyone for the love of making music.

Samurai Dan & Lady Jillian

Samurai Dan and his wife, the beautiful Lady Jillian (also attending), are full-time martial arts instructors, specializing in 16th century Samurai arts. When not teaching at their dojo, the Kojokan, they travel across the country performing and teaching the ancient ways of the most famous warriors in history. Their shows and demonstrations uniquely blend history, combative skill, and humor, in a way that will both educate and entertain audiences both large and small. The dynamic duo also collaborated to write, direct, host, and star in a 12 episode TV series entitled "The Way of the Samurai," and Daniel is also an author with several martial arts articles published, and he is currently working on his second full-length novel.