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KingCon 2023 will be featuring so many amazing guests it's hard to know where to start! For Creatives, we have so many illustrators, builders and makers you are bound to come home with many new techniques and skills. For those who come for the comics but stay for the real science, we have astrophysicists, NASA scientists, and more! And to fill out the list we are bringing in celebrities and voice actors from your favorite shows and movies! There will literally be a guest that fits anyone's interests! 

 

KingCon 2023 will be featuring so many amazing guests it's hard to know where to start! For Creatives, we have so many illustrators, builders and makers you are bound to come home with many new techniques and skills. For those who come for the comics but stay for the real science, we have astrophysicists, NASA scientists, and more! And to fill out the list we are bringing in celebrities and voice actors from your favorite shows and movies! There will literally be a guest that fits anyone's interests! 

Steven C. Smith

NASA Education Specialist

Steven is the new NASA Education Specialist working with NASA’s Educator Professional Development Collaborative (EPDC) at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.  His current work supports Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) in inspiring the next generation of NASA scientists from among historically disenfranchised groups. Steven helps to develop, package, and deliver STEM curriculum related professional development that translates the work and discoveries of NASA for use in the classroom and helps teachers make content more accessible for all their students as individuals. He works with university pre-service educators, in-service, pre-service, and informal teachers all over the country, helping them create culturally responsive lessons that will engage students that have previously felt left out of the amazing work that NASA is doing.

He currently holds a Master’s Degree in Infrastructure Planning and Management from the University of Washington, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Neuropsychology from Georgia College and State University. Steven is beginning work on his Doctoral Degree in the Fall.  Prior to his work with NASA, Steven worked in K-12 education for nearly 20 years, most recently as Life Sciences Chair at a minority serving inner city school in Georgia.  He has taught Biology, Forensic Science, Anatomy and Physiology, Environmental Science, Earth and Space Science, and Physical science to special education, regular education, honors, and AP students in Georgia, Washington, and New Jersey.

Steven C. Smith: NASA Education Specialist

Featured Guests

Featured Guests

  • Dan Southworth (Actor/Voice Actor)

    Dan Southworth is an accomplished actor with wide experience in feature films, television shows, motion capture, voice over, and commercials. Power Ranger fans know him as Eric Myers, the Quantum Ranger from Power Rangers Time Force. Mortal Kombat fans enjoyed his portrayal of Kenshi in the popular web series Mortal Kombat Legacy 2.

    Dan's popularity among anime fans follows his voice and motion capture role as Vergil in the best-selling video game Devil May Cry 3. Devil May Cry 3.5 was later released so that fans could experience the game as Dan's character. Video gamers have continued to enjoy his work in the games Killzone -Shadow Fall, Battlefield 4, Ninja Gaiden 3, Dark Souls 2, and Resident Evil to name a few of the many motion capture projects he has performed in.

    Dan helped design, execute, and perform action sequences for commercial clients Time Warner, Sony, Discover card and McDonald's among others and has extended this talent to feature films like The Scorpion King, The Rundown, and Terrance Malick's The New World. He also took part in James Cameron's early visualizations of Avatar, and developed action for Neill Blomkamp's Halo 3 Full Combat web sequences. For the role of Shiro in the film Hunted, Dan performs in some of the most innovative action design to date.

    Aside from notable television roles in the shows Revolution, Martial Law, Charmed and V.I.P., Dan has also delivered well-received comedic performances in Film Antic's productions Sauce, Last Supper, the comedy series Sketchy, and as Vince Stallen, horrible boss, in Entry Level along with various comedic characters in Disney Channel's hit sitcom, Kickin' It.

  • Bill Rogers (Voice Actor)

    Since his debut in 2001, Bill has been providing voices to some of your favorite characters in some of your favorite shows. He is best known for his roles in “Pokemon” (Brock + over 50 creatures), “HunterXHunter” (Majitani, Meleoron and Monta), “Gravitation” (Touma Seguchi), “Genshiken” (Tanaka Souichiro) and “Cagaster of an Insect Cage” (Qasim). Other anime Bill has voiced include “Eureka Seven: Hi Evolution”, “One Punch Man”, “Mob Psycho 100”, “Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale”, “Cells At Work”, “Haikara”, “Little Witch Academia”, “Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans”, “Godzilla: Monster Planet”, “Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure”, “Rising of the Sheild Hero”, “Boogiepop Phantom”, “The Third”, “Shingu”, “His and Her Circumstances”, “KO Beast”, “Assemble Insert”, “Magical Witch Punie-Chan”, “Mai Mai Miracle”, “Ascendance of a Bookworm”, “Patema Inverted”, “Gundam: The Origin”, “Joe vs. Joe”, “Ikki Tousen”, “Queen’s Blade”, “Gokudo”, and “Comic Party”.

    Video gamers will recognize Bill as the voice of Urien in “Street Fighter 5”, the King of Hyrule in “Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild”, Lucien in “Mr. Love: Queen’s Choice” and Lucario in the smash hit “Super Smash Bros. Brawl”. He’s voiced cartoon legend Heathcliff in “Heathcliff: Fast and the Furriest” as well as Red, Yellow and other fun characters in “m&m Adventure” and “m&m Kart Racing”. On PC and PS4 he can be heard in “SMITE” and “Paladins”. On mobile devices in “Monster Strike”, “Epic Seven” and “Dungeon Hunter 4 & 5”. He has also supplied voices for “Detective Pikachu” (3DS), “The Lost Child” (Switch/PS4), “Knee Deep” (Mac/PC/PS4), “Dark Rose Valkyrie” (PS4), “God Wars” (PS4/Switch/Vita), “Demon Gaze 1 & 2” (PS Vita), “Bullet Witch” (X-Box) and various Pokémon in both “Poképark” games (Wii).

    Outside the field of anime & video games, Bill has worked with English dubbing groups for live action and animated programs from China, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Korea, Mexico and Turkey. Notable titles include “Robot Trains”, “Suburra”, “Pororo”, “El Chapo”, “DragonPhoenix Chronicles” and “Super Wings”.

    You can follow Bill's adventures on Facebook (facebook.com/billsvoice) and @billsvoice on Twitter

  • Elle Newlands (Actress / Voice Actor / Singer)

    Elle Newlands was born in Glasgow, Scotland and currently resides in Los Angeles.

    A singer and actress, Elle received classical and operatic voice training from a teacher who taught the classics at La Scala in Italy. Throughout her teens, Elle performed live on stage with various local bands and was featured on MTV. She headlined a European tour culminating in a performance on the main stage at the Ballerup Music Festival in Denmark.

    Elle moved to Los Angeles to further pursue music/acting and quickly realized her love of voiceover work. Her first job was voicing an Acorn for the project 'Tiny Oaks’, where she sang on an accompanying album written and orchestrated by legendary Disney composer Richard Sherman (It’s a Small World, Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang).

    Elle’s VIDEO GAME voice credits include Horizon in APEX LEGENDS, Ingrid the Shieldmaiden in ASGARDS WRATH, Moira Thaurissan/Tess Graymane/Valtois in WORLD OF WARCRAFT, Darth Savik in STAR WARS:THE OLD REPUBLIC, Broadcaster in DOOM:ETERNAL, Tedra Grant in HALO 3, Becky in the popular anime title THE LEGENDS OF HEROES: TRAILS OF COLD STEEL, Lt Wright in LEGO STAR WARS, Valeria Jenner in COUNTERSTRIKE GSO, CALL OF DUTY, ASSASSINS CREED, DARKSIDERS, SKYLANDERS, BIO SHOCK, THE ELDER SCROLLS : SKYRIM.

    TV/ANIMATION CREDITS include LOONEY TUNES, ADVENTURE TIME, THE REGULAR SHOW, HOT STREETS, IT’S A SMALL WORLD ANIMATED SERIES and THE TONIGHT SHOW.

    In her spare time, Elle loves photography, hiking with her dog, riding her horse and making jewelry.

    She supports the non profit Topanga Womens Circle, who assist in placing displaced and homeless families into safe housing https://topangawomenscircle.org

    You can find her @ellenewlands on Twitter and @ellenewlandsgram on Instagram

  • Jenna Rae Frank (Actress)

    Jenna Rae Frank is an American actress, known for Legend of the White Dragon (2024)6 Rounds of Chloë (2020) and My Morphing Life (2014). From a young age Jenna has been writing and producing her own music and currently has music on most music platforms with more music on the way. 

  • Jason Faunt (Actor)
    Jason grew up just outside of Chicago. A talented athlete, Jason almost became a professional baseball player. Instead, he came out to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. Jason makes his professional debut in Power Rangers Time Force.
  • Martha Harms (Voice, Commercial, & Stage Actor)

    Martha Harms is a voice, commercial, and stage actor most widely known as the voice of “Maya” in Gearbox Software’s BORDERLANDS franchise. Other video games include THE WALKING DEAD: SURVIVAL INSTINCT, EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 5, SMITE, PALADINS, DUNGEON BOSS, and motion capture work in id Software’s DOOM (2016). Harms has joined the POKEMON tv series and films, playing recurring roles such as “Officer Jenny” and a spunky little waterbug named “Dewpider” in POKEMON: ULTRA SUN & MOON. Other favorite anime roles include trained killer/professor “Irina Jelavic” in ASSASSINATION CLASSROOM, “Yomikawa” in A CERTAIN SCIENTIFIC RAILGUN, “Kiwi” in ONE PIECE, “Scorpio (Eclipse)” in FAIRY TAIL, “Kazama” in WANNA BE THE STRONGEST IN THE WORLD, “Ranmaru Rindo” in GOOD LUCK, GIRL!, and the two-faced villain “Baron Ashura” in the MAZINGER Z: INFINITY movie. Harms was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and holds a BFA from Southern Methodist University. She now lives in New York City.

  • Nicolas Roye (Voice Actor)

    Born in New Jersey and raised in Louisiana, Nicolas Roye is an American actor known for voicing major roles in video games, animation, anime, and commercials.

    Nicolas’ voice can be heard in many popular video game titles, most recently as Echo-216 aka "The Pilot", one of the lead characters in Halo Infinite. He is widely known for voicing the daredevil adrenaline-junkie Octavio ‘Octane’ Silva in Apex Legends with over 100 Million players. Also Cyberpunk 2077 as Cesar Ruiz & Hal Cantos, Marvels Avengers as Justin Hammer & Sydney Levine, Resident Evil: Resistance as Martin Sandwich, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Astral Chain, Code Vein, Horizon Zero Dawn, Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution & Ultimate Ninja Storm 4, Fire Emblem Warriors & Fire Emblem Heroes, Nier: Automata, El Sword, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Hitman Absolution, Mafia II & III, The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, and many more.

    Nicolas is recognized as the voice of many characters in anime and animated series & movies, such as WEB-STER in Disney Jr.'s #1 show Spidey and His Amazing Friends, Gino in DreamWorks Madagascar: A Little Wild, Matt in the most recent Digimon Adventure movie, Rafa in 2022's Barbie: It Takes Two, Chuuya Nakahara in Bungou Stray Dogs, Shisui Uchiha in Naruto Shippuden, Tetta Kisaki in Tokyo Revengers, Guevaru in Baki Hanma, Junpei in Jujutsu Kaiser, Hatz in Tower of God, Mikey Kudo in Digimon Fusion, Arata Inanaki in Twin Star Exorcists, Masato Sanada in High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even In Another World, Star Wars Galaxy of Adventures and Star Wars Fun Facts, Legend of the Three Caballeros as Vomit, Subway Surfers as Jake, NFL Rushzone as Ricky, Mecard as Ryan, The Grossery Gang, and Disney Jr’s Guess How Much I Love You.

    He has also been the voice of numerous nationwide commercial campaigns, such as Taco Bell Breakfast, NASCAR, Pepsi, Hot Wheels, Mountain Dew, & White Castle.

    A graduate in theater from University of New Orleans, Louisiana, Nicolas has a multitude of stage credits including the leading roles of Pale in Burn This and Sebastian in Shakepeare’s Twelfth Night.

  • Keith Tucker (Illustrator)
    Keith Tucker's a Professional animation and comics artist for over 40 years now as a storyboard artist on many of today's Pop Culture icons like Animaniacs, Pinky & the Brain, Rescue rangers, Duck Tales, Talespin, He Man, Gi Joe, Transformers (Gen-1) , Jem & the Holograms, X-Men the Animated Series, Spiderman the Animated Series, Conan, Casper, Ghostbusters, and many, many more. My Comics work includes cover art for Disney Comics Roger Rabbit, Rescue Rangers, Goofy, Little Mermaid magazine, Tiny Toons Magazine, Bugs Bunny Comics, Eclipse comics, 3-D Alien Terror #01, Matter of Time story and art,and many others.  Live action work includes John Carpenter's The Thing, Star Trek II, the Wrath of Kahn, Conan, I, Robocop 3, Hideaway, Addams Family Reunion, and more.
  • Justin Hunt (Illustrator)

    Justin Hunt is an PNW comic book illustrator known for his works on Lady Death, La Muerta, Good Boy, Penny For Your Soul, Bad Girl, Gold Digger, Do You Pooh, and numerous other titles. He has done art for Coffin Comics, Big Dog Ink, Counterpoint Comics, Source Point Press, Marvel, Codex Entertainment, Mountaineer West, Mad Cave Studios, and several other publishers. He is also the part owner (along with his wife, Amy) of Mythos Comics Group, which just successfully launched their flagship title, NinjaWitch.

    Justin has more than 125 covers to his name and has done sequentials in 7 books and has also done illustrations for the Las Vegas Raiders, Seattle Seahawks, US Army, US Navy, and others. 

  • Marcelo Matere (Illustrator)
    With over 20 years working as an Illustrator and Concept Artist, Marcelo Matere has the job that every child has always dreamed of: he creates giant robots for toy lines, video games, t-shirts and movies! Among its main clients are: Hasbro, Marvel, IDW Publishing, Wizards the Coast, Cartoon Network, Disney Animation, Dreamworks and many others! He has also been illustrating Transformers comics for the American market since 2004! Marcelo is currently working as Storyboard Artist for the Toy Company Super Plastic and is also one of the artists responsible for the packaging art of the Hasbro’s Transformers Studio Series 86 characters, based on the 1986 Transformers Animated Cartoon. At Kingconnw, Marcelo will be sharing his artwork with fans and taking limited commissions. It's a must-see for anyone who loves robots, superheroes, or great art!
  • Harry & Gina Crosland - Bishop Cosplay (Cosplayers)

    Harry Crosland

    Bishop Cosplay has been cosplaying since 2009. He has cosplayed many unique characters such as Bishop from The X-men (thus his moniker), Superman and recently Dr. Voodoo. He enjoys cosplay because it enables him to breathe life into characters that don’t always get the same amount of attention that many mainstream ones get.

    He also specializes in photography, especially cosplay photography. His work has been featured at the Reginald Lewis Museum in Baltimore, Star Wars Insider Magazine and recently he became the first Black cosplayer and photographer to have his work of other cosplayers published internationally in Men’s Health Magazine. Since he has started, he helped with the creation of #28daysofBlackCosplay as well as #365DaysofBlackCosplay, both of which promote cosplayers of color.

    He along with Woman of Wonders has appeared in advertisements for New York Comic Con, benn invited as a featured guest at comic cons locally and internationally, has judged cosplay competitions, and moderated numerous panels at conventions around the U.S. He has been at the forefront of ensuring that cosplayers, no matter their background, have their voices recognized and has done his best to be a positive influencer in this community.
     

    Gina Crosland

    Gina C. aka Woman of Wonders, has been cosplaying since 2009. She is a woman blessed with many talents and skills. She has fully constructed her and her husband’s costumes for over 10 years before taking on costume commissions in 2018 for cosplayers or those just wanting to get into cosplay. At present, she has assembled over 60 costumes. She also has been featured in advertisements, judged and won cosplay contests, and attended numerous conventions in the U.S. She is a lifelong professional creative in the areas of fine art, graphic design, interactive design, sewing, crafts, costume design, fashion design…she can just about create anything!

  • Christopher Tock - Tock Custom (Cosplayer)

    Christopher Tock of ‘Tock Custom’ is a sewing instructor, cosplayer, and author from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is known for coordinating international cosplay events, filming collaborative tutorial content, and helping artists connect with each other through worldwide cosplay competitions and podcasts.

    Social Media:
    Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Twitch:  @tockcustom
    YouTube: Tock Custom - YouTube

  • Eric Jones - Coregeek (Cosplayer)
    Eric started as a maker at a young age. Over the years his passion for making grew. After obtaining a degree in graphic design, Eric honed his skills with woodworking/furniture building. He was introduced to cosplay while attending his first Comic Con in 2011. Props and costumes quickly became a passion as he was driven by the many challenges their creation offered. Over the last thirteen years, he has become an accomplished prop and costume maker. Along the way he has gained skills with thermoplastics, foamsmithing, clay sculpting, mold making, resin casting, 3D printing, airbrushing, sanding (most notably;-) and more. He is best known for his highly detailed, handmade craftsmanship. He is inspired by the cosplay community and sharing his craft with all.
  • Brittani Ginoza - Ginozo Costuming (Cosplayer)
    Brittani Ginoza is an award winning costume and propmaker from Ohio. She is best known for her unique outstanding painting style and detailed costume construction.  As a competitive cosplayer, Brittani has most recently won the Twitchcon 2022 costume contest and has also represented the United States multiple times in International competitions.  She is inspired by video games such as World of Warcraft and Borderlands and has even worked with Blizzard Entertainment and Gearbox Software on projects over the years. When she's not working on her next armor build Brittani enjoys talking shop and helping others learn about cosplay.
  • Sean Shaw - Shawshank Cosplay (Cosplayer)
    I remember the feeling of going to my first convention and witnessing cosplay for the first time. I was 19 years old with no previous knowledge that such a culture even existed. I am a first-generation American, son of two Belizean immigrants. Growing up the only thing I had close to geek culture was X-Men animated series and Toonami on Cartoon Network. I remember the first cosplayer I saw, she was Ed from Cowboy Bebop. As of today,  Within the last 12 years, I have created over 200 costumes and props, and  contracted with Studios such as Rooster Teeth, Bungie, 343 Industries, and Nerdist. I feel very blessed to have experienced so much in those years, and I owe it all to everyone who has enjoyed my style of cosplay and artwork.
  • Snarkyjay Cosplay (Cosplayer)
    SnarkyJay is a Cosplayer, Crafter, and YouTuber based in Florida. With over six years of experience, she has cosplayed everything from superheroines like Wonder Woman and Black Widow to galactic icons like Boba Fett and beyond! She specializes in EVA foam prop and armor building, as well as costume modification and concept creation. She also posts reviews and nerdy news on YouTube all while actively engaging with her fellow geeks on social media.
  • Sophy Wong (Cosplayer)
    I am a multi-disciplinary designer specializing in wearable technology and digital fabrication for creative expression. I design and build costumes and fashion pieces inspired by science fiction and visions of the future. I love learning new skills and techniques, and sharing the design and build processes for my projects. I speak at creative technology conferences and maker events, and share ongoing projects on my social media channels. Remote artist-in-residence for Bantam Tools.

    Website: https://sophywong.com/
    Social Media Channels:
    Instagram
    YouTube
    Linkedin