Yusuke Igarashi was born in 1974. Mr. Igarashi learned the art of hariko from his father, Mr. Kenji Igarashi. After he graduated from college, he became a professional hariko craftsman, inheriting the traditional style of "Kasukabe Hariko Ganko-an". He enjoys creating traditional works of art, as well as his own original designs, incorporating more modern styles. What is hariko? Hariko is a traditional Japanese paper craft, similar to papier-mâché, dating back to the early 17th century (early Edo period). Hariko is used to make dolls and toys, as well as various traditional good luck charms. These items are thought to carry prayers or one's wishes. Some examples of traditional hariko items include Inuhariko figures given to women to ensure safe childbirth, Daruma figures for wishes for success, and Maneki-Neko, the beckoning cat who invites good luck. Mr. Igarashi is also a musician and recording artist under the name "Fishing With John". He uses acoustic guitars, samples from daily life, and other instruments to create his own unique sound.

Official Yusuke Igarashi Website

Jun Shishido was born in Fukushima, Japan on November 8. Mr. Shishido is currently directing "The Story of Saiunkoku". His other works include "Hajime no Ippo", "BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad", "Oku-sama wa Joshi Kousei", "Rozen Maiden", and "Hand Maid May". Mr. Shishido's favorite character is Darth Vader and his favorite movie is "Superman 2".

IMDb Info on Jun Shishido

In 1972, Masao Maruyama founded Mad House with Mr. Sugino, Mr. Hata, and others. Since then, he has ensured the quality of anime produced by Mad House. He is involved in many phases of anime production ranging from music planning to actor casting. He is the producer of "Yawara!", "Card Captor Sakura", "Hanada Shoonenshi", and many more Mad House anime.

IMDb Info on Masao Maruyama
Wikipedia Info on Masao Maruyama
Wikipedia Info on Mad House

Started acting in "Ultra Q" when he was a child. Radio personality, singer, and voice acting such as Mayuri and Kurotsuchi Mayumi from "Bleach", Farfarello from "Weiss Kreuz", Freeza from "Dragonball Z", Erik from "One Piece", Kir from "Jing: King of Bandits", Baikin-man from "Anpanman", and many more.

IMDb Info on Ryusei Nakao
Wikipedia Info on Ryusei Nakao

Spike Spencer has been a voice actor since the early nineties. He has voiced hundreds of episodes of Anime including such notable titles as "Evangelion", "Battle Angel", "Suikoden", "Orphen", "Spriggan", "Nadesico", "Mar", "Pretear", "Buso Renkin", and "Bleach". Spike has lent his voice to many radio and TV commercials. His video game credits include "WOW-The Burning Crusades", "Tales of Vesperia", "Steambot Chronicles", "Star Ocean 2", and many others. An accomplished actor, he has worked with such notable stars as Tommy Lee Jones, Sandra Bullock, Frank Langella, Tia Carrere, and Scott Glenn and has been on set with many other stars. Spike is also an author, including "How to Be A Frickin Genius Voice Actor, Step One", "What Happens At The Con, Stays At The Con?", and "Don't Kill Your Date (And Other Cooking Tips)". Spike is also a screenwriter with several projects in various stages. Spike is soon to begin production on his first feature film that he scripted, "Dwindle Down". You can learn more and become a friend o' Spike at his MySpace page.

Official Spike Spencer Website

Toshi has spent half his life reading comic books and watching cartoons for a living. During those two decades, he has worked on an anime magazine called ANIMAG, spent 12 years producing anime at Viz Media and, most recently, has worked as a producer at Bandai Entertainment. Of course, he's also been translating manga along the while. Toshi's past credits include producing the English-language versions of "Ranma ½" and "Inuyasha", as well as numerous amounts of manga translations such as "Negima!" for Del Rey, "Eureka Seven" for Bandai Entertainment, and "Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service" for Dark Horse. His current projects include the English-language versions of "Gurren Lagann", "Freedom", "Ghost Slayers Ayashi", and "Kurokami, The Animation" (airing in English on iaTV within eight hours of broadcast in Japan!). Toshi has been coming to Animazement off and on for the last ten years and, each time he's able to come, has a great time. He looks forward to hanging out again with everyone this year. As usual, if you're looking for Toshi, try looking for him in the "office" (a.k.a. hotel bar) first.

The anime industry has had its ups and downs...and Animerica founding editor Trish Ledoux has been there for it all. The editor first of Berkeley-based Animag in 1988 and then, starting around 1992, of San Francisco's Animerica, Trish is the author/editor of "The Complete Anime Guide" as well as "Anime Interviews: The First Five Years of Animerica". Twenty-one years is a long time in any business and, there is the recession so, that's why, these days, former voice actor-translator-writer-DVD producer Trish is concentrating on the more academic side of Japan and teaching Japanese three nights a week at a local college. Call her a curmudgeon, but with a decades-long love of anime legends like Rumiko Takahashi and Leiji Matsumoto, Trish figures she'll be kicking it old school long after now five-year-old Hajime finishes his own education. After all, anime fans never grow old, they just...retire their collection? She dunno.

Scott Houle was scholarshiped to the Interlochen Academy of the Arts at age 10, and by 16 was opening concerts for acts such as Pink Floyd, Santana, The Who, John Lennon, etc. He toured on the road for over 15 years. Scott then began a career in dialogue replacement with the American movie industry and has worked on projects such as "The Lion King", "Batman II, III & IV", "The Crow", and many more. He has also worked with actors such as Anthony Hopkins, Matthew Broderick, Dennis Hopper, Jim Carey, Katie Holmes, Pat Hingle, and Peter Jurasik. During this time, Houle was introduced to Anime! These projects include the English language versions of "Ah! My Goddess", "You're Under Arrest", "Lupin III", "The Fuma Conspiracy", "Baoh", "Spirit of Wonder", "Crusher Joe", etc. Scott also gave us the English dubs of the live action classics, "Ashura" and "Shogun Assassin" ("Lone Wolf and Cub"). His latest project is the 26 episode series "Clamp School Detectives" for Bandai Entertainment.

Cristina "Vee" Valenzuela has actively pursued her life long dream of becoming a voice actress since the age of 16. Her voice talent was discovered by Bang Zoom! Entertainment at Anime Expo 2004, where she was invited to audition for the role of Fuu in "Samurai Champloo". Since then, she has been continually invited back to the Burbank studio where she has recorded for both anime and foreign films. She recorded her first re-occurring character in the Shoujo-Mecha drama "Kannazuki no Miko" as the bully schoolgirl Misaki. In 2005, she auditioned for Broccoli International's DUP USA song group where she landed the role of the adorable Puchiko and performed with Stephanie Yanez and Karen Hsin. She is also known for her voicing of Rachel in "Haré+Guu", Aika Sumeragi in "AIKa R-16: Virgin Mission", Kanaria in "Rozen Maiden: Träumend", and Nanoha Takamachi in "Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha".

Official Cristina Vee Website

Kyle Hebert is an LA-based anime and video game voice actor, currently heard on Cartoon Network as Sosuke Aizen and Ganju Shiba on "Bleach", as well as Kiba on "Naruto". He is best known as the Narrator and teen Gohan on "Dragonball Z". Other credits include "Megaman Star Force" (Omega-Xis), "Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society" (Munei), "When They Cry" (Tomitake), "Fullmetal Alchemist" (Falman), "Fruits Basket" (Takei), "Eureka 7" (Ken-Goh), "Yu Yu Hakusho" (Karasu), "Ergo Proxy" (MCQ), and many more. Video game voice-over credits include "The Spiderwick Chronicles", "Bleach Wii/DS", "Devil May Cry 4", ".hack GU Part 2-3", "Digimon Data Squad", "Baten Kaitos: Origins", "Dragonball Z", and "Naruto". You can also download his Internet radio show dedicated to news on everything geeky ("The Big Bald Broadcast") from his official website.

Official Kyle Herbert Website

Kara Edwards began her career in anime as the voice of Goten and Videl in "Dragonball Z". Since then, she has voiced multiple characters in "Dragonball", "Yu Yu Hakusho", "Ragnarok", "School Rumble", and "Solty Rei". In addition to her work in anime, Kara works on a variety of projects aimed at young children, including the voice of Razzles in the preschool hit "Raggs" on PBS. A voice actor for 13 years now, Kara works from her studio in Tampa, FL and can be heard internationally on the radio, web, and TV. Kara is thrilled to attend Animazement for the third year in a row, and looks forward to meeting as many people as possible!

Official Kara Edwards Website

A voice actress and ADR director, Caitlin has been working in the anime industry since 2004. When she was still a college student, Caitlin was hired by FUNimation while on a tour of the studio. After her first small parts on "Case Closed", she went on to play Winry in "Fullmetal Alchemist", Triela in "Gunslinger Girl", Hiyono in "Spiral", and Takane in "Burst Angel". More recent roles include: Vivi in "One Piece", Miria in "Baccano", Sara in "Strain", Daniela in "Heroic Age", Yakumo in "School Rumble", Nerine in "Shuffle!", Kaori in "Kanon", as well as roles in "Negima", "Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE", "Black Cat", "Witchblade", "BECK", "Solty Rei", "Hell Girl", "Ragnarok", and "Welcome to the NHK", among others.
In 2008, Caitlin directed the widely popular fan-favorite, "Ouran High School Host Club", as well as playing Haruhi Fujioka. She is currently directing "Murder Princess" and "Gunslinger Girl- Il Teatrino". Other directing credits include "Suzuka" and FUNimation's new dub of "One Piece".

Official Caitlin Glass Blog

Cherami Leigh is a rising actress from Dallas, Texas. She can be seen in "Fast Food Nation" (Richard Linklater), "The Hottest State" (Ethan Hawke), and "The Mist" (Frank Darabont). She also lends her voice to many animated series such as "Paws and Tales" as Staci Bear, "Peach Girl" as Sae, "Witchblade" as Naomi, "Mushishi" as Renzu, as well as, "Shin chan", "Black Cat", "Ragnarok", and is working on "My Santa", and "One Piece". She has also worked for Radio Disney for the past nine years; voicing many promotions and special events.

Official Cherami Leigh Website

Michael Sinterniklaas was born August 13, 1972 in Nice, France. Growing up he lived in such places as Lucerne, Switzerland and London, England. He moved to the United States at the age of 10. Michael attended both the New York High School of Performing Arts and college in North Carolina, where he did work at Southwynde and Coastal Carolina Studios. This helped Michael become the voice actor, dubbing director, and founder of the recording studio company NYAV Post that we know today. (For those who don't know, NYAV Post stands for New York Audio/Video Post Production!) Michael Sinterniklaas' current most popular castings as a voice actor are Leonardo in the 2003 "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" cartoon, Dean Venture (and other small parts) in "The Venture Bros.", Leo in "Full Metal Alchemist", Mikey Simon in "Kappa Mikey", and Mahad in "Yu-Gi-Oh!". In the past, Sinterniklaas has also dubbed such shows as "Twin Signal", "Night Hunters", "Magic User's Club", "Berserk", and more.

Official Mike Sinterniklaas Website