2010

Yasuhiro Imagawa

Yasuhiro Imagawa is a master of one of the cornerstone genres of anime: The Giant Robot Show. In the 1980s, he worked on such hits as Aura Battler Dunbine, Heavy Metal L-Gaim, and a little show known as Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. In the 1990s, he returned to the Gundam world with Mobile Fighter G Gundam. Some other noteworthy 90s shows he worked on include Violinist of Hameln, and a certain show known as Giant Robo the Animation: The Day the Earth Stood Still, which just happens to be one of the best things ever. (Really, it's certified as such.) Not ready to stop there, in the 2000s he worked on Seven of Seven, Fist of the Blue Sky, with his most recently aired work being Shin Mazinger Z Shougeki! Z Hen - and if he's got the chops to work on retelling the story that started the whole super robot thing, you know he's gotta be good!

Perhaps best known as an anime director, Mr. Imagawa has fulfilled many roles on the production side, including production, storyboarding, scripting, and series composition. Mr. Imagawa is a native of Osaka, Japan, which is widely known as where delicious Takoyaki comes from. In addition to loving robots, Mr. Imagawa is a fan of Star Trek and the manga of Terumitsu Yokoyama, whose works Giant Robo is based upon.

 

Barbara Goodson

Barbara Goodson was born in Brooklyn, New York, the youngest of three sisters. She lives in Santa Monica, CA and has been happily married to her husband Bruce for 25 years. Their son Andrew is an English Major in his senior year at UC Berkeley.

She became aware of her mimicry skills early while imitating friends and family and quickly got wise to the positive attention she received. The camaraderie and connection that her antics sparked in others filled her heart with joy.

Barbara delights in the task of putting her own stamp on a character, whether it be dramatic, musical, comedic; in film, cartoons, V/O, nightclubs, theater, TV, the supermarket, you name it.

Being stuck in a tiny woman’s body has always been a challenge for her since she experiences herself as being much bigger than her under 5 foot stature. Among other talents, Barbara has been recognized for her powerful vocal range, playing many nasty, humorous and/or sinister “bad ladies” on screen and off.

She is what you would call a “lifer” in Show Biz. Barbara has no intention of ever retiring and continues to focus on working with more of the Industry “heavyweights” and being cast in meaningful, well received projects that also make her oodles of dough!

She truly believes acting is a blessed career that can move mountains. It’s not for sissies and contains a community of (mostly) evolved, concerned humans. Barbara is proud of the successes she has achieved and is still awed and inspired by the magical unfolding of this wild and crazy business.

Some of her earlier work includes Marie Crystal and Sera in Robotech, Doris in Vampire Hunter D, Apple in Zillion, Pazu in Castle in the Sky, Queen Regina in Space Pirate Captain Harlock, Takashi and Kaori in Akira, and Star in Tekkaman Blade. Her more recent voices include Naota in FLCL, Granny Chiyo in Naruto, Laharl in Makai Senki Disgea, Masaru in Kikraider, Lacan in Ergo Proxy, Lynn Jackson in Yukikaze, Coda in Eureka Seven, Mitsune Konno in Love Hina and Mother Talzin in Clone Wars. She also can be heard on several interactive games, such as Lady Vashj in World of Warcraft, Silva in Suikoden V and Ryoko Leingod in Star Ocean: Till the End of Time.

Related Links: 
Barbara's Website
 

Christopher Bevins

Since 2001, Christopher Bevins has recorded, directed, produced, acted in and/or written script adaptations for over 70 anime series, movies and specials. His directing credits include BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad (with Taliesin Jaffe), Witchblade, El Cazador de la Bruja, Samurai 7, Speed Grapher, Shigurui: Death Frenzy, Burst Angel, Spiral and Dragon Ball GT, as well as episodes of Gunslinger Girl, Case Closed, Jyu-Oh-Sei and Big Windup! He was excited to return to the Case Closed world last year, script-adapting and directing the feature-length movie The Last Wizard of the Century. Chris’ most recent work includes script adaptations and voice direction for the upcoming Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings.

Chris has numerous voice acting credits, including Japan in Hetalia: Axis Powers, Apollo in Aquarion, Mercutio in Romeo x Juliet, Tamotsu in Rin ~Daughters of Mnemosyne~, Kenji in Initial D, Johnny Gil in D.Gray-man, Nicholas Wayne in Baccano!, Shishi Wakamaru in Yu Yu Hakusho, Lafitte and Shu Shu in One Piece, Bee the Puppy in Dragon Ball Z, and Beck the Dog in BECK. You also may have heard him in various roles in Dragon Ball, Sgt. Frog, Shin chan, Soul Eater, Fruits Basket, Fullmetal Alchemist (both series), Ouran High School Host Club, Desert Punk, Kodocha, School Rumble, Case Closed and many more. Recently, Chris reprised his video game role as the English-language voice of Dhalsim in Super Street Fighter IV.

Outside of anime, Chris' interests include TV, movies, crosswords and comic books… But mostly the comic books. In fact, his comics collection is old enough that it should’ve gotten a job and moved out of the house by now.

 

Jerry Jewell

Jerry Jewell can be heard as: Kyo Sohma (Fruits Basket), Jimmy Kudo (Case Closed), Taira (Beck:Mongolian Chop Squad), Barry the Chopper (Fullmetal Alchemist), Happiness Bunny (Shin-Chan), Rin Tsuchimi (Shuffle), Zellman Clock (Black Blood Brothers), Tony Frost (Blue Gender), Suzaku (Yu Yu Hakusho), Jin (Yu Yu Hakusho), Vino/Claire Stanfield (Baccano), Akito Hayama (Kodocha), Odin(Kenichi), Dio (Casshern Sins), Russia (Hetalia-Axis Powers).

His voice can also be heard in Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball GT, Black Cat, One Piece, Tsubasa, Trinity Blood, and a lot of other things that he may or may not remember or admit.

Jerry is very honored to have had the opportunity to work with a very talented and dedicated group of people at FUNimation that take the quality of what they do very seriously. Well... seriously enough. 

 

Kevin McKeever

A graduate of the lighting design program from Emerson College, Kevin has been working in the entertainment industry for nearly 15 years. He has worked in theater production at world class venues such as the Goodspeed Opera House, the Emerson Majestic Theater, Foxwoods Casino, and the Mohegan Sun Resort which he helped open in 1996.

His television production credits include Jackass, Kids Say the Darnedest Things, Guinness Book of World Records, Krypton Factor, Farmclub.com, The 60's as well as various television commercials. His film credits include Mystery Men, For Love of the Game, and Billy Frankenstein. Kevin has also served as Assistant VP of Production for feature film producer and New York Times best-selling author Lynda Obst.

Kevin's first official assignment in the Robotech universe was as an audit of Robotech's television ratings and viewer demographics during its original run in the 1980s. Kevin's analysis of the ratings in a cost effective manner along with his years of production experience made him a natural candidate for the Robotech team.

 

Rebecca Forstadt (Reba West)

It’s hard to believe that Rebecca Forstadt (aka Reba West) has been a voice over actor for over 30 years, because her voice still sounds like a kid. This is very convenient when telephone solicitors call. All she has to do is say, “Sorry, my Mommy is busy right now.”

Rebecca has voiced radio, TV Commercials, background voices for film, but is particularly infamous for her portrayal of hundreds of anime characters. She fell into the anime genre because she happened to be quite good at dubbing. This is a skill that not all actors can do very well. Once she started she never stopped.

Rebecca is best known for playing the part of Lynn Minmei in the cartoon series Robotech. She has played every type of character imaginable from a zombie to a cockroach. However, her specialty is little girl’s voices. Her voice timber is extremely natural as opposed to sounding like a squeak toy. She is often asked to replace children’s voices in film who either have an accent or weren’t available to do ADR. The advantage of using Rebecca in these roles is that she doesn’t require a studio teacher and is potty trained.

Rebecca has fans all over the world and is occasionally invited to appear at anime conventions. Although, she is not on the convention circuit, because seriously, she has a life, she enjoys those mini vacations and would gladly take trips to Paris, Australia, Rome or London. Surprisingly she very much enjoyed visiting Columbus Ohio. Who knew?

If you are a fan, you are welcome to join Rebecca’s Facebook group. Rebecca is a Facebook junkie. She is also more than happy to give actors tips on how to break into the voice over field.

Step 1: It really helps to be an actor
Step 2: If you live in Podunk, it might be harder than if you lived in Los Angeles.
Step 3: Keep your day job. It is much more fun if you have money to eat with.

Related Links: 
Rebecca's Website
Rebecca's Facebook
Rebecca's Twitter
 

Richard Ian Cox

Richard Ian Cox has been acting in film and television since the late 1700s. Understandably, work was hard to come by in the early days before the invention of either medium. It wasn't until the release of the first talkies in 1927 that Richard's career started to show signs of life. He first became known to the viewing public with the airing of "The Adventures of the Black Stallion" in 1990. Richard's modern career has included regular stints on "Cold Squad," "Beggars and Choosers," "Breaker High," as well as guest starring roles on "Stargate: SG1," "Stargate: Atlantis," "Eureka," and films including "Alive," "R.V.," "Battle in Seattle," "Ghost Rider."

Richard has also enjoyed a varied career in animation... well not the animation part, the talking part. Roles in "Ranma ½," "Inuyasha," "Botsmaster," "Trouble Chocolate," "First Gundam," "Mega Man," "Gundam Seed," "Hamtaro," "Gundam 00," "Being Ian," "X-Men Evolution," "Will and Dewitt," "Care Bears"... and a bunch of other stuff has earned Richard a reputation as a guy who knows which end of a mic to speak into. These days Richard is hard at work trying to solve the current economic crisis. He's pretty sure it involves jelly beans. Check Richard out on Facebook, Twitter, and on his website.

Related Links: 
Richard's Official Site
Richard's Blog
Richard's Twitter Account
Richard's Facebook Page
 

Patrick Seitz

Patrick Seitz is a Los Angeles voiceover actor, script adapter, and ADR director who has lent his efforts to over 100 anime and video game titles over the last eight years.

With most of his resume occupying that odd point where zany, evil, and ethically ambiguous converge, Patrick's roles include Germany in the upcoming Hetalia dub, Grimmer in Monster, Nekozawa in Ouran, Isshin Kurosaki in Bleach, George in Paradise Kiss, Hazel in Saiyuki Reload Gunlock, Dhaos in Tales of Phantasia, Koshiro in Koi Kaze, Lee Linho in ROD the TV, and Luke Valentine in Hellsing and Hellsing Ultimate.

On the video game side of the ledger, you can hear him as Ragna the Bloodedge in BlazBlue: Continuum Shift and Calamity Trigger, Silverbolt in Transformers: War for Cybertron, Scorpion and Deathstroke in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, Arthas Menethil and Garrosh Hellscream in World of Warcraft, Dracula in Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, Chopin in Eternal Sonata, and Radi Jaeger in Valkyria Chronicles.

In addition to the voiceover work, Patrick has done script-adapting and/or ADR direction for Monster, Romeo X Juliet, Naruto, Blue Dragon, Honey & Clover, Hell Girl, Girls Bravo, Kamichu!, Tales of Phantasia, The Melody of Oblivion, Zegapain, Guardian of the Spirit, and Rumiko Takahashi Anthology.

Patrick has a BA in Creative Writing and an MFA in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts, both of which he received at the University of California, Riverside. Before falling down the voiceover rabbit hole, he spent two very Welcome Back, Kotter-esque years teaching English at his old high school.

 

Chris Cason

For over ten years, Chris Cason has participated in almost every facet of anime production. He has been associated with numerous projects (exclusively for FUNimation Entertainment) in a voice acting, ADR directing, or scriptwriting capacity. Some of his work has been featured on Spike TV, The Independent Film Channel (IFC), Nicktoons, The Cartoon Network, and The CW.

Chris’s best known voice credits include: “Gluttony” in Fullmetal Alchemist, “Tien Shinhan” and “Mr. Popo” in Dragonball Z (and returning as “Mr. Popo” in Dragonball Z Kai), “Holy Roman Empire” in Hetalia Axis Powers, “Jack the Ripper” in Soul Eater, “Boo” and “Whitey” in Shin-Chan, “Miyamoto” and “M1” in Yu Yu Hakusho, “Fumihiro” in Initial D, “Chamo” in Negima, “Hanai” in School Rumble, “Babbit” in Kodocha, “Taruru” in Sgt. Frog, “Seigfried” in Kenichi, and “Genzo” in Oh! Edo Rocket.

He can also be heard in: Case Closed, Gunslinger Girl, Basilisk, Ouran High School Host Club, 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, and Summer Wars.

Some of his ADR directing and assistant ADR directing credits include: DBZ 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. His two favorites were: voicing random ghouls and specters for Ghostbusters: The Video Game, and as one of the contributing guitarists in Guitar Hero 3.

 

Kazha

Kazha formed in Los Angeles, California in December 2008. Vocalist Kazuha Oda, from which the band gets its name, decided to start the band after a successful solo career—releasing four albums in Japan and working with the likes of pianist Bob James—because she felt it was time to work with like-minded musicians to create the sound she was looking for. After some trial and error, Kazuha finally discovered what she was looking for with Hideki Matsushige on guitar, Zen Takamura on bass, and Rui Aranai on drums.

Because of the eclectic backgrounds of the various members, Kazha represents a new future for world music; a fusion of cultures and musical viewpoints that create their sound. From Kazuha's study of classical and career in pop to Hideki's love of rock and fusion, from Zen's experience in electric and metal to Rui's admiration of R&B and jazz, the band's music appeals to everyone everywhere.

In July 2009, the band returned to their native Japan to record their first album and tour the country. Following the release of the first EP, "Breathe Through Your Dreams," on major Japanese label Victor Entertainment on September 30, the band launched their Asian tour in November, playing some of the biggest music festivals in Japan and Korea, including Metal Goddess in Japan and Fire Rock Festival at Sangsangmadang Concert Hall, produced by major labels in Korea. For health reasons, Zen resigned from Kazha in February and Yota Sato joined to take his place. Currently preparing for the release of their first album, "Overture," in April, the band looks forward to return to the US and making themselves heard.

Related Links: 
Kazha's MySpace Page