May 25, 2009

Voice actor and producer Tony Oliver to appear at Otakon

Best Known for Work on Robotech, Power Rangers

Baltimore, MD (May 22, 2009) – American voice actor Tony Oliver, best known for his voice work as Rick Hunter from Robotech and Arsene Lupin III from Lupin The 3rd, and for his writing and producing work on various Power Rangers series, will be a guest at Otakon 2009.

For more than 25 years, Oliver has acted on stage and on camera, but his real success has been in voiceover work – starting with The Sea Prince and the Fire Child, the first foreign-made animated feature to get wide release in the US. His resumé spans many diverse and well-loved roles and series from the past several years, along with an increasing number of video games. Along the way, he's spent nearly as much time writing, directing, and producing as he's spent acting. For over 10 years he wrote and produced various series for Saban Entertainment, eventually producing (and writing, directing, and promoting) the hit sentai adaptation of the live-action Japanese series, Zyu-Rangers, known in the US as Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.

From the title role in Lupin the 3rd: The Movie - The Secret of Mamo to Robotech's Rick Hunter to Sorata Arisugawa in the X-TV series, Oliver's career includes a part in just about every genre - including sentai (he was the voice of Saba, the White Ranger's talking saber in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers). In addition, Oliver can be heard in Last Exile, Rurouni Kenshin, Bleach, Lucky Star, Eyeshield 21, Wolf's Rain and Mahoromatic, among others. His directing credits include Eureka Seven, Hare Guu and Please Teacher.

His recent projects include Gurren Lagann, .hack//GU, and Eureka Seven.

Oliver appears courtesy of Bang Zoom! Entertainment. Through Bang Zoom! he has been teaching classes about voice acting, known as Adventures in Voice Acting. The beginners' classes teach basic techniques, while the intermediate course discusses development of characters and more advanced techniques.

Otakon 2009 will be held July 17-19 at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland.

ABOUT OTAKON AND OTAKORP, INC.: Now entering its sixteenth year, Otakon is an annual celebration of Japanese and East Asian popular culture, and also one of the largest gatherings of fans in the United States. Otakon celebrates popular culture as a gateway to deeper understanding of Asian culture, and has grown along with the enthusiasm for anime, manga, video games, and music from the Far East. Since 1999, Otakon has been held in Baltimore, Maryland; currently, Otakon is one of Baltimore's few large, city-wide events, drawing over 25,000 individual members for three days each year (for a paid attendance of over 70,000 "turnstile" attendees). Otakon is a membership-based convention sponsored by Otakorp, Inc., a Pennsylvania-based, 501(c)3 educational non-profit whose mission is to promote the appreciation of Asian culture, primarily through its media and entertainment. Otakorp, Inc. is directed by an all-volunteer, unpaid staff – we are run by fans, for fans.

For more information about Otakorp, Inc., see http://www.otakon.com/otakorp/index.asp
For more information and the latest news on Otakon 2009, see http://www.otakon.com/

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