FanCons.com Press Releases


February 19, 2009

News for Anime Boston 2009:

Anime Boston announces second round of guests

BOSTON, Feb 16, 2009 - Anime Boston is pleased to announce its second round of guests. Voice actors Chris Ayres, Laura Bailey, Troy Baker, Tom Wayland and Travis Willingham will all return to Anime Boston 2009, May 22-24th at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, Mass.

Christopher Ayres has been working professionally in theatre, television and film since the age of 6. Currently a voice actor for ADV Films and FUNimation Entertainment, Ayres is also an ADR Director for ADV Films and Amusement Park Media. His first project at studio was the hit anime musical comedy The Nerima Daikon Brothers. His other voice acting roles are Kei Kourono in Gantz, Suitengu in Speed Grapher, Von Kampher in Trinity Blood and Hayashimizu in Full Metal Panic? Fummofu.

Laura Bailey got her start voice acting playing Kid Trunks on the hit series Dragonball Z, and went on to play several leads in other popular anime titles. Some of her most recognizable roles are Shin in Shin Chan, Tohru Honda in Fruits Basket, Lust in Fullmetal Alchemist, Keiko in Yu Yu Hakusho. Sana in Kodocha. Marlene in Blue Gender, Oboro in Basilisk and Henrietta in Gunslinger Girl. She also appears as Chun Li in the upcoming release of Street Fighter IV, as well as in the lead in the BloodRayne series.

Troy Baker, native of Dallas, Texas, began working as an actor on TV and radio. He quickly became an voice actor with famous roles in anime, such as Frank Archer in Full Metal Alchemist, Abel Nightroad in Trinity Blood, Gennosuke in Basilisk and Action Bastard in Shin Chan. He also can be heard in lead roles in Persona 4, Call of Duty 6, Ghost Busters and Red Faction: Guerrilla. He is also the host of hit TV reality show Anime Road Rage.

Tom Wayland is a graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts with a degree in acting. In more than four years at Central Park Media, Wayland has produced more than 200 different anime programs before moving on to voice directing on such titles as Alien Nine, The World of Narue, Shootfighter Tekken and Ichi the Killer. In 2004, Wayland founded TripWire Productions and has gone on to direct numerous dubs for home video and TV broadcast including Mew Mew Power, Magical Do Re Mi and Pokemon. Wayland has also become much more active as an actor landing recurring roles in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as Jammerhead, Mew Mew Power as Minimew, GI Joe Sigma Six as Stormshadow, Magical Do Re Mi as Oliver, Marvin and Reanne's Dad.

Travis Willingham has worked in stage, TV, and film, but is best known in the anime world for his character Colonel Roy Mustang in Fullmetal Alchemist. His other anime credits include Andreas Darlton from Code Geass, Iggy from Ergo Proxy, Pierre from Aquarion, Portgas D. Ace from One Piece. Kaiji from Gun X Sword and Ginko from Mushishi. His newest role will be playing The Hulk and The Human Torch, in Marvel's new animated series, Marvel Super Hero Squad.

Previous guest announcements included voice actor Greg Ayres; industry guest David Williams; artists Robert and Emily DeJesus and Misako Rocks! and musical guest BESPA KUMAMERO.

About Anime Boston: Anime Boston is an annual three-day Japanese animation convention held in Boston, Massachusetts. Anime Boston 2009 will be held Friday, May 22 through Sunday, May 24 at the Hynes Convention Center and Sheraton Boston hotel. More information about Anime Boston can be found at http://www.animeboston.com.

About New England Anime Society: The New England Anime Society was founded in 2001. Based in Massachusetts, The New England Anime Society, Inc. is an organization dedicated to furthering public education and understanding of the Japanese language and culture through visual and written media. More information about The New England Anime Society is available at http://www.neanime.org.