FanCons.ca Press Releases


May 10, 2011

News for Otakon 2011:

Otakon announces three new guests

Baltimore, MD (May 9, 2011) - Voice Actor, producer, director and writer Tony Oliver to appear at Otakon 2011.

Tony Oliver began his career over 25 years ago as an actor on stage and on camera, performing in several feature films and dozens of plays. His first foray into television was as the lead voice in the popular animated series Robotech.

In 1992 Tony was tapped to help create a new kind of children's television show. The result was the mega children's hit, The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Tony not only served as the development producer but also wrote the pilot episode, produced the network presentation and story edited the first season. As Supervising Producer, Tony took on the additional responsibilities of writing, producing and directing the Power Rangers live appearances including the February 1994 appearance at Universal Studios, Hollywood, which drew an estimated 50,000 people on a single day. Later in the year he co-developed and wrote the script for the international sensation Mighty Morphin Power Ranger - Live Tour and spent several months in Sydney, Australia consulting on the 20th Century Fox summer release Mighty Morphin Power Rangers - The Movie. Before leaving Saban Entertainment, Tony wrote, produced and directed a Power Rangers retrospective special, which earned significant Saturday morning ratings among kids and was the top rated program on FOX Kids the day it aired.

In 1999 Tony left Saban Entertainment but has continued to develop, produce, voice and direct numerous projects for TV, Film, Video Games, and New Media. More recent projects include .hack//GU a multi-player online video game; Daigunder, an anime series for ABC Family/Disney, Gurren Lagann a breakthrough anime series airing on the Sci Fi Channel, and Eureka Seven: Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers which premiered on screens nationwide.

Tony's many voice acting credits include Lupin in Lupin the 3rd, Hibiki in Vandread, Gojyo in Sayuki Reload, Harry in Gun Grave, Ranmaru in Tokko, Shinbo in Chobits, Ulquiorra in Bleach, Lancer in Fate/Stay Night and Saba in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers as well as voices in video games such as Dynasty Warriors, World of Warcraft, Everquest, Neverwinter Nights, Xenosaga, Magna Carta II, Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight, Basara 3 and BlazBlue. He is currently directing the English dub of K-ON!


Baltimore, MD (May 9, 2011) - Voice Actor, Producer, and Director Tom Wayland to appear at Otakon 2011.

Tom Wayland is proud to have made a long and successful career out of his most favorite things - acting, directing, and making raucous, loud rock and roll music. Tom has produced and/or directed hundreds of anime programs such as Now & Then, Here & There, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Alien Nine, The World of Narue, Ichi the Killer, Mew Mew Power, Magical Do Re Mi, and GI Joe and currently serves as the voice director on the hit series Pokemon.

Tom is also a very busy voice actor having appeared in hundreds of titles currently airing on Cartoon Network, Fox, WB, Nickelodeon or available on DVD including Yugi-oh 5Ds as Crow, Lester, and Nervin, GI Joe as Stormshadow, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as Jammerhead, Pokemon as Flint, Reggie, Arceus, and numerous creatures, Ikki Tousen as Kakuton, Three Delivery, Yugi-oh GX, Chaotic, One Piece, Mew Mew Power, Knight Hunters, Genshiken, Gokusen, and keep an ear out for his latest work as one of the lead characters - Finn in Tai-Chi Chasers.

Most recently Tom is proud to say that he's cornered the Indian animation market as the go-to slacker/stoner character and is also conquering the world of ESL teaching the masses how to be talking some good English.


Baltimore, MD (May 9, 2011) - Voice Actress, Producer, and Director Lisa Ortiz to appear at Otakon 2011.

Lisa Ortiz is a veteran voice actress holding a BFA in theatre from Hofstra University. She began her career as the high elf Deedlit in Record of Lodoss War and since then she has gone on to record dozens of anime, series, audio books, video games, and films as well as eventually moving behind the microphone as a Producer, Director and Adapter.

She is known in the anime world for her works as Lina Inverse in Slayers (a role she reprises in Slayers Evolution), Amy in Sonic the Hedgehog and Serenity Wheeler in Yu-Gi-Oh. She has also appeared in a number of other anime including Pokemon, Revolutionary Girl Utena (Shiori), Magic Users Club (Nanaka), Animation Runner Kuromi (Kuromi), and One Piece (Tony Tony Chopper).

Her work has appeared in Film festivals as well as on television, and she can currently be heard as Oshawott in Pokemon Black and White and as Patina in Magical DoReMi.

Otakon 2011 will be held July 29 - 31 at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland.

ABOUT OTAKON AND OTAKORP, INC.: Now entering its eighteenth year, Otakon is an annual celebration of Japanese and East Asian popular culture, and also one of the largest gatherings of fans in the United States. Otakon celebrates popular culture as a gateway to deeper understanding of Asian culture, and has grown along with the enthusiasm for anime, manga, video games, and music from the Far East. Since 1999, Otakon has been held in Baltimore, Maryland; currently, Otakon is one of Baltimore's few large, city-wide events, drawing over 29,000 individual members for three days each year (for a paid attendance of over 80,000 turnstile attendees). Otakon is a membership-based convention sponsored by Otakorp, Inc., a Pennsylvania-based, 501(c)3 educational non-profit whose mission is to promote the appreciation of Asian culture, primarily through its media and entertainment. Otakorp, Inc. is directed by an all-volunteer, unpaid staff - we are run by fans, for fans.

For more information about Otakorp, Inc., see http://www.otakon.com/otakorp/index.asp
For more information and the latest news on Otakon 2011, see http://www.otakon.com/

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