Actors

Chris Cason

Mr. Popo and Tien Shinhan in "Dragonball Z", Holy Roman Empire in "Hetalia", Gluttony in "Fullmetal Alchemist", Face McShooty and Mal in "Borderlands 2", Jack the Ripper in "Soul Eater", Miyamoto and M1 in "Yu Yu Hakusho", Taruru in "Sgt. Frog", Boo and Whitey in "Shin Chan", Hanai in "School Rumble", Ukyo in "Ouran High School Host Club", Chamo in "Negima", Babbit in "Kodocha", Siegfried in "Kenichi", and Hanbei in "Sengoku Basara" represent some of Chris's favorite and best known roles.

You may have also heard him in: Case Closed, Gunslinger Girl, Basilisk, Suzuka, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles, Black Cat, Darker Than Black, Bamboo Blade, Kaze no Stigma, Aquarion, One Piece, Big Windup!, D. Gray-Man, Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad, RIN, Speed Grapher, Oh! Edo Rocket, Summer Wars, Initial D, and Deadman Wonderland.

As an ADR Director, Chris has had the pleasure of casting/directing/asst. directing such titles as: Dragonball Z Uncut, Dragonball, Dragonball GT, Yu Yu Hakusho, Negima, Kodocha, Galaxy Railways, Baki the Grappler, School Rumble, Hell Girl, Kaze no Stigma, Bamboo Blade, Birdy the Mighty: Decode, Initial D, and Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations.

He has also had the opportunity to be a part of many popular video games. Some of his favorites were: voicing random ghouls and specters for Ghostbusters: The Video Game, as a contributing guitarist in Guitar Hero 3, and as Mega Man in Street Fighter X Tekken.

For additional information, visit “Chris Cason’s Anime Chuckle Hut” on Facebook and @Casonworld on Twitter.

Eriko Nakamura

A personal message from Eriko Nakamura:

"Greetings to everyone in Canada. My name is Eriko Nakamura and I am a voice actress in Japan. I always thought there was a lot of potential in the voice acting industry before it got this popular. What I like about being a voice actress is that you can be so many different types of people and things at once. I can be an ordinary girl who wants to become an idol (Amami Haruka from “THE IDOLM@STER”), or a girl who likes her big brother (Belgium from “Hetalia”), or a girl who is a little bit selfish but is a little bit of a coward when it comes to love (Chisato Sumiyoshi from “Love, Election, and Chocolate”), or someone who is very considerate of her friends (Haruka Katō from “I Don't Like You at All, Big Brother!”), or a woman who follows her dead parents’ path as a warrior (Sierra from “Record of Agarest War: Mariage”), or not even a human being at times (Hamuzou from “THE IDOLM@STER”). I feel very excited and very happy that I can do this for a living. I have always been helped and encouraged by my characters, so my next goal is to grow as a voice actress as much as my characters did in the various anime. I am also working hard right now as a radio personality and it has a very different feel from any of my other regular voice acting jobs, but it helps on brushing up on my speaking skills. Anime North is going to be a big part of my career and I send lots of love from Japan and am very excited to come to Canada. I hope to see all of you soon!"

J. Michael Tatum

Nurtured on anime classics from the tender age of Star Blazers, et al, this reclusive fanboy-turned-voice actor/writer/ADR director/flake extraordinaire spent more years than he cares to remember in what might charitably be described as freefall before landing, mostly by accident, smack dab on the industry of his dreams. To this day, some believe the small crater made by the impact remains the source of his power.

Discovered by Funimation warhorse and visionary ADR director Christopher Bevins, who cast him as Rikichi in 2005’s Samurai 7, Tatum’s inexplicable luck has held long enough to see his flag hoisted on a slew of dream roles, most notably Kyoya Otori in the hit English language dub of Ouran High School Host Club and suave, demonic Sebastian Michaelis in Black Butler.

Read more: J. Michael Tatum

John Stocker

For over four decades, John Stocker has been a recognized force in the voice industry. Still very active as a voice actor, he started out as both an on- and off-camera performer, but then settled comfortably into solely the voice world.

John has diversified his career to also include voice casting, voice coaching, demo production (animation and commercial) and the discipline that keeps him busiest, voice direction.

His voice performance work spans the gamut, from classics like Beastly in Care Bears, Basil in Babar, Longarm in C.O.P.S., and Bugsy in Dog City to current works like Mayor Swifty in Sidekick, Mr. Owl in Franklin, Mission Control in Rob the Robot and both Naga and King Zenoheld in Bakugan.

On the directing side, John had been at the helm for many, many productions. They include Totally Spies, Caillou, Redakai, Mike the Knight, Ella the Elephant and some of his favourites, the anime productions - Medabots, Beylade and the one that started it all for him, Sailor Moon.

This will be John's first guest appearance at Anime North, and he looks forward to meeting a lot of new enthusiasts. Check out his website at www.johnstocker.ca.

John Swasey

John started down the road of anime in 1997, when he landed his first role in the Golden Boy from ADV FILMS. Since then, John has gone on to voice numerous shows and characters with ADV FILMS, FUNimation, and ILLUMITOONS. Being more of the character actor type has given John the freedom to voice bazillions of characters such as Gendo in Evangelion, the Captain in Halo (VG), Lord Death in Soul Eater, Kogoro in Sgt. Frog, Huang in Darker than Black, Vulcan in Orphen, Ken in Kaleido Star, Captain Ahab in Hakugei The Legend of Moby Dick, Rikudoh in RahXephon, Karl Haushofer in Fullmetal Alchemist, Sir Crocodile in One Piece, Mister in Coyote Ragtime Show, as well as roles in the live action films 2009 Lost Memories, Conduct Zero, Yesterday, Jungle Juice, and the Gamera trilogy. In 2004, John jumped to the other side of the "mic" to direct. Some of the shows he has directed include Welcome to the N.H.K., AirGear, Wandaba Style, St. Seiya, Shadow Skill, E's Otherwise, Michel, Jinki Extended, and Shinobi (live action co-directed with longtime pal, Kyle Jones). John loves working in the world of anime as a director and voice actor! Recently, John voiced the evil villain, General Disdain in the animated feature, Last Flight of the Champion. In addition to anime, John has voiced thousands of radio and tv commercials - even a few films. But the coolest acting job was being the Beer Delivery Guy in Dazed and Confused.

Katie Griffin

Toronto native, Katie Griffin, has been a professional actor, voice actor, and singer for over 20 years. Having worked with acting powerhouses such as Nicole Kidman, Glenn Close, Matt Dillon, and Rob Lowe, Katie's film and television career has been colourful to say the least. Her true strength and success, however, has come in the form of voice-over. She's voiced hundreds of radio and television commercials, sung on numerous radio jingles, and continues to star in popular cartoons. Although best known as Raye/Sailor Mars on the hit show "Sailor Moon", she's also known for her portrayal of "Alex" on "Totally Spies", "Yoko" on "Team Galaxy", "Zair" on "Redakai", as well as voicing "Julie" and "Sellon" on "Bakugan Battle Brawlers", and "Hikaru" on "Beyblade". She was also "Nina Harper" on Emmy award winning "Braceface", "Ruby" on "Max and Ruby", and "Laugh-a-lot Bear" in "Care Bears: Journey to Joke-a-lot". She has also had numerous guest starring roles on shows such as "6-teen", "Stoked", and "The Dating Guy".

Linda Ballantyne

For the past 20 years, Linda has worked professionally on stage, screen and television, and has been heard in hundreds of radio and television commercials worldwide. Her extensive animation career consists of a wide variety of characters including series leads in Sailor Moon, Mia and Me, Toot and Puddle, Will and Dewitt, Disney’s Yin Yang Yo, Gerald McBoing Boing, Meteor, Cyber Chase, Mischief City, Corduroy, Timothy Goes to School, Air Master, Bakugan, Beywheelz, and Animal Shelf, as well as various characters in The Cat in the Hat knows a lot about that, Totally Spies, 6Teen, Time Warp Trio, Carl Squared, Bob and Margaret, Girl Stuff Boy Stuff, George Shrinks, etc. She has also voiced characters in the feature films Care Bear’s Journey to Joke-A-Lot, Care Bear’s Big Wish Movie and Thomas and the Magic Railroad.  Linda was contracted as the “voice” of the Comedy Network for 13 years and is currently creating and writing an animated series entitled Simply Wicked. Linda is also the host of the edgy new radio show I’m Just Sayin’ with Ballantyne and St.John on SiriusXM satellite radio.

Linda is the happily married mother of 3 perfect teenaged daughters.

Ryo Horikawa

Performing in film and television since grade-school, Ryo Horikawa has over 28 years experience as an voice actor, and over 45 years experience as an actor. His credits include Andromeda Shun in Saint Seiya, Hattori Heiji in Detective CONAN, Reinhard in Legend of Galactic Heroes, Kou Uraki in Mobile Suit Gundam 0083 STARDUST MEMORY, Karasu in YuYu Hakusho, and most notably Vegeta in Dragon Ball Z. Beyond being a voice in animation, and his work on stage, in voice dramas, and for video games, Horikawa is also a singer. His latest tune, Saiyan Brad, is the theme song for Dragonball Kai.

Susan Roman

For Susan Roman, working in the wild and wacky world of animation for most of her adult life has been nothing short of a dream come true. Let's be frank, some of her projects didn't exactly go on to become household names. Piggsburg Pigs, with LA director Stu Rosen at the helm, comes to mind. But it was during that series (recorded ensemble, which hardly ever happens anymore) that Mr. Rosen introduced the concept of “the key phrase” - possibly the best tool ever invented to keep a voice actor on track, and something which she has never forgotten.

And there were projects that kept generations of kids tuned in: like the original Care Bears series – where she got to play a boy (Champ Bear) for the first time - and another Nelvana co-production, Tin Tin, in which she yipped and yapped her way through 43 episodes as a little white dog named Snowy. And how could she forget the joy of finding her inner princess (The Berry Princess in Strawberry Shortcake Meets the Berrykins)... not to mention her inner bird (Eddie Storkowitz in Birdz.) Then she got to play a little boy AND a little girl in the same series (Sara Lynn and Eddie in Fisher-Price's Little People.) But before that, she was cast in the gritty, totally-ahead-of-its-time major motion picture, Rock & Rule – where she played Angel, the speaking voice of rocker Debbie Harry. Then came the cult classic, Heavy Metal, in which she played 'The Girl in the Harry Canyon Sequence' – a character whose cup size magically ballooned to epic proportions by the time she got knocked off, but hey, the animator decided to be a little creative. (Check it out...)

And so it continued: Melissa in The Raccoons, James the Red Tank Engine in Thomas and the Magic Railroad, Hannah Dundee in Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, Jess in Redwall, Miss BG's mom in Miss BG, Tika in Barbie as the Island Princess, Tinsel in The Miser Brother's Christmas...

But, after all of that, and hopefully many more to come, there is one part that will always remain at the top of Susan's list: Sailor Jupiter in Sailor Moon. When something is such a perfect fit, she says, you really have to thank your lucky stars – which she does, almost every day.

Sail on...

Trina Nishimura

Trina Nishimura has become more and more involved in the anime scene over the past few years, primarily working with FUNimation Entertainment. Trina was first cast in Desert Punk as the little hungry girl Namiko and has refused to leave the FUNimation property ever since. Her most notably awesome credits include: Black Cat (Tanya), Claymore (Flora and Sophia), Jyu Oh Se (Tiz), Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple (Shigure Kosaka), Speed Grapher (Yui), season one and two of Negima!? (Lingshen Chao and Motsu), Sasami: Magical Girl Club (Ayane), Baldr Force Exe (Tsukina Sasagiri), School Rumble and Yurippe
School Rumble: 2nd Semester (Akira Takano), Baccano! (Rachel), Sergant Frog (Ghost Girl), Case Closed: The Last Magician of the Century the Movie (Natasha Kosaka), Nabari no O (Juji Minami), and the ever popular Witchblade (Shiore Tsuzuki).

 Having completed work as Nadie in El Cazador de la Bruja, the final installation in BeeTrain's "girls with guns" trilogy, Trina has finally been able to leave the FUNimation premises having proven her voice acting abilities.

Since her departure she has been called back as Meifong Liu in Blassreiter, Kaaya in Tower of Druaga, Akeno in My Bride is a Mermaid, Karen Nishiyama in Bamboo Blade, Luna in Cashern Sins, Lia Dragonell Sands of Destruction, Mizune in Soul Eater, Francesca Lucchini in Strike Witches, Oriku in Oh! Edo Rocket, Suzuri in Rideback, Capella Titus in Birdy the Mighty Decode, Lan Fan in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Sakuya in .hack//Quantum, Sohara in Heaven’s Lost Property, Hisca in Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike, Milly in Trigun: Badlands Rumble, Mari Makinami Illustrious in Evangelion 2.22, and her favorite role to date Kurisu Makase in Steins;Gate.

For more, check out her Anime News Network Profile.

Tyson Rinehart

Tyson Rinehart: Voice Actor. Musician. Comedian. Amateur Historian. Superhero.

A relative new-comer to the Voice Acting community, Tyson has appeared as hacker extraordinaire "Itaru 'Daru' Hashida" in Steins;Gate. Other notable roles Tyson has played (and that have been announced) include "Byard" from Fairy Tail, "Nozomu Tamaki" in Dance in the Vampire Bund, "Bobby" in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and the Head-Irish-Thief-That-Throws-Dynamite in episode 10 of Black Butler. Tyson has played additional roles in such shows as: Baka and Test, Black Butler (I & II), Darker than Black, Deadman Wonderland, Hetalia, a guy getting his face stepped on in Sengoku Basara, and in Rosario + Vampire Tyson voiced a guy looking up the skirt of an anime resin statue.

As a Musician, Tyson provides rhythm guitar and vocals in the punk bands The Tommyguns, and Bullet Machine. He is a vocalist and harmonica player in Blues-Rock influenced Smokestack Lightning.

As a Comedian Tyson can be seen performing with the veteran improvisational troupe Ad-Libs, as well as writing, performing, and storyboarding various projects with PostHollywood.

As an Amateur Historian, Tyson looks to the past for lessons, such as: Having listed Superhero along with his other credits, Tyson's secret identity is compromised.