VOICE ACTOR
Marissa Lenti, best known as the voice of Moze (Borderlands 3), is a voice actress who you can also hear in anime roles like Malva (Pokémon Evolutions), Cocotte (Dragon Ball Super), Libra (Fairy Tail), Yuna (Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear), Arue (Konosuba), Gray Wolf (Kemono Friends), Momoko Hyakushiki & Kuu (NANBAKA), Chiaki Hoshinomori (Gamers!), Mikado Ryoko & Marron (To Love Ru), Mistress Sadie (One Piece), Ilse Langnar (Attack on Titan: Junior High), and Atago & Z1 (Azur Lane), among others!
She’s also appeared in many other video games, like Genshin Impact, Brawl Stars, SMITE, Yandere Simulator, HuniePop 2: Double Date, Freedom Planet 2, A Hat in Time, MechWarrior 5, My Tamagotchi Forever, and more.
When she’s not acting, she’s casting & directing for Sound Cadence Studios, with some of her recent projects being: directing the English dubs of the anime Kemono Friends, Kageki Shojo!!, Arte, Adachi and Shimamura, and B’t X; as well as casting for Rooster Teeth’s RWBY, gen:LOCK, Red vs Blue, Death Battle!, and more.
She’s also an ADR Writer, providing the scripts for anime like Bloom Into You, Tada Never Falls In Love, City Hunter: Shinjuku Private Eyes, Record of Ragnarok, Actors: Songs Connection, and Love Stage!!! to name a few.
VOICE ACTOR
Aaron is a film and voice actor with 15+ years of acting experience, and an M.F.A in Acting from Southern Methodist University. You may have heard his voice in one of more than 200 different anime titles.
He’s voiced Peregrine (Lord of the Wings), Raizo Kurima (Revenger), Madoka (Chainsaw Man), Jingo Raichi (Blue Lock), Majestic (My Hero Academia), Bondman (SpyXFamily), Kyoichiro (Dr. Stone), and Hikaru Zaizen (The New Prince of Tennis). Among many, many more!
VOICE ACTOR
Ry McKeand is a voice actor and Twitch streamer from Dallas. Growing up as a big fan of anime, video games, and most things nerdy, Ry decided on wanting to become an actor in his mid-teens, going on to perform in theater throughout his time in college.
Having gotten his start in voice acting through online forums at a young age, he moved from South Florida to pursue his long-time dream of becoming a professional voice actor at the age of 20.
Ry has had the privilege to have provided his voice to many different anime and video games, including characters from shows such as Miya Chinen (SK8 the Infinity), Shuichi Kagaya (Gleipnir), Rito Yuki (To Love Ru), Pica (One Piece), Udo (Attack on Titan), Tyrrell (Final Fantasy Brave Exvius: War of the Visions), and more!
When Ry isn’t acting, he’s streaming over on his Twitch channel, where he plays video games and interacts with his followers in all sorts of fun and goofy ways, or playing video games or watching anime in his spare time.
VOICE ACTOR
Steve Warky Nunez is an award winning Jack-of-all-trades in the entertainment industry.
Hailing from New York, he started out narrating audiobooks for the blind, and from there he branched out into all facets of media. He is widely known for his work on, “The Yaoi Xmas Carols”, “Sonic The Hedgehog”, “Ishida and Asakura”, “Venom: Let There Be Carnage”, “The Titan’s Bride”, “Ant-Man”, “Yandere Simulator”, “Aphmau”, “Henkei Shoujo”, “Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger Ix-2”, “Camp Buddy”, “Fire in His Fingertips”, “Everything for Demon King Evelogia”, and “Anima: Gates of Memories”.
Warky looks forward to what the future has in store for him and hopes there will be singing and dancing along the way!
Jez Roth
Cirque du Soleil. Celebrities. One Piece. EDC. Red Carpets.
Jez has won Best in Show 16 times with tailored costumes and heavily choreographed skits. He shares unique events that educate and involve the community (such as Lip Sync For Your Cosplay and PROJECT: Cosplay!) and has restructured and organized cosplay events for conventions in his goal to make the competition scene more streamlined.
He’s also the founder of the very first School of Cosplay, @cosplayvegas. Jez believes that the world of costuming is an endlessly fascinating pursuit—from armor to gowns, giant puppetry to monsters.
This is the TL;DR version. Jez is kind, capable, talented, and experienced. And he’s always still willing to learn to add to his arsenal of qualifications. Most of which I was unable to add to this post.
Merkurrie
Merkurrie is an award-winning, mostly self-taught cosplayer who got her start in the early aughts. With no signs of stopping you’ll normally find her roaming convention halls or tearing up the Masquerade stage (Or these days cheering her lungs out).
She’s originally from the East Coast, now living on the West Coast with occasional visits to the vast middle of the states. Merkurrie is always excited to see or be in cosplay and is thrilled to meet you!
Oz Costumes
Maria of Oz Costumes carries a Masters in Costume Design & Technology from California State University Long Beach. She has been sewing professionally in the theater industry since 2019.
With 15 years of cosplaying under her belt, she has won multiple Best In Show and Master Division awards throughout the Southwest, including Best in Show at Anime Banzai 2021.
Maria’s core belief about cosplay is that everyone has the capability to learn and grow and that all skill levels should be celebrated. But most importantly, cosplay is for fun! Currently, she lives in Salt Lake City with her husband and many pets.
Mikarin
Hi! My name is Mikarin. A long time ago, I came to California from Japan to study music. Then, I started to watch anime, started cosplaying, and found this special kind of event called an anime convention!
At my first anime con, surprisingly, I saw the anime fans there treasured Japanese anime and J-culture more than we Japanese people did! I felt so much love and I realized there had to be something special in my culture which I had previously taken for granted. That was when I stared to love my own Japanese roots.
Then, I started to make costumes. I began to participate in Masquerades and to perform music in costume at cons. There I met some wonderful people who have given me special moments. Thank you so much to my wonderful cosplaying friends and to amazing people who host conventions and anime events.
And now I am sending many, many thanks to Anime Banzai for this amazing opportunity to be a part of the convention this year. I can’t wait! Mou mate masen!
Here are some of things I got to do as a cosplay & con lover: Received many awards in masquerade; such as best in show from Anime Expo 2012 & Famine 2016. Performed masquerade half times, judging & staffing for masquerades at Pacific Media Expo, Anime LA, Anime Fannatiku Fest, and more. Then, as an ACP cosplayer, I represented the game series at Anime Expo and other conventions. I have been a Guest of Honor at Anime Fannatiku Fest, Autumn Dream, Anime Los Angeles, etc. And I have hosted panels regarding Kimono cosplay, Anime Song Singing, Cosplay comfortability, Buying Otaku items from Japan, etc.
BTW, my recent cosplay series from: Fate Grand Order, Twisted Wonderland, Hakuouki, and Tokyo Ghoul : re
Johnny Junkers
JohnnyJunkers is a professional cosplayer from Orange, California and he has been a professional cosplayer since 2012 providing costumes and modelling for clients such as Riot Games, Marvel Entertainment and Crunchyroll.
As a cosplay competitor he was the winner for season 1 of Myx TV’s “Call To Cosplay” and subsequently a judge for 2 seasons as well as the winner for the 2020 League of Legends North American Cosplay Contest.
Even as a professional cosplayer he believes that the passion and fan aspect of cosplay is the most important part of the art.
