by Brian Wesley | Blog, Fantasy Con, Interview, Video
I’ve heard of people going off to college not knowing what they want to major in but when it comes to actors, Chris Judge takes the cake. He was awarded a football scholarship from the University of Oregon where he started off as a pre-med major. The math was hard so he changed to psychology. Not satisfied, he switched again to telecommunications and film. Chris entered a competition and won a spot to host a local radio show. With added confidence he entered another competition. He wrote a five minute dialogue for a second competition that landed him as host on a local FOX morning show. From radio to TV hosting Chris was still playing football and his team earned their way to the Hula Bowl his senior year. After College Chris Judge moved to LA and studied at the Howard Fine Studio. He landed roles on MacGyver and a few other projects including Bird on a Wire. According to his biography, Chris Judge was hanging out at friend’s house when he overheard a roommate practicing for an audition. It was for a new show called Stargate SG-1. This peaked Chris’ interest. He snuck into the room and got the contact information for the audition. Chris called his agent and demanded to get a chance to audition. Chris said the Teal’c character had more people audition than any other role. The rest is history. Over 200 episodes of “Stargate” later and Chris is still involved with TV, movies, and voice acting as well as writing. During Fantasy Con my 8 year old son walked up to Chris...
by Carol Thalmann | Comic Con, Interview, Video
Karl Urban – Actor SLC Comic Con FanX 2014 SaltlakeComicCon.com From the very first moment, Karl Urban grabs his audiences’ attention, hearts and minds. Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Mr. Urban brought his deep, commanding voice to the stage of Salt Lake Comic Con. His wisecracking character enveloped the crowd with fast paced zings and deep answers. Karl showed his lifelong love of all things science fiction and fantasy. He fielded questions ranging from Star Trek to Lord of the Rings. Will he be the next Dr. Who? How about starring in Star Wars? Since beginning his major acting career in 1991 with the TV series, “Shark in the Park”, Karl has appeared in well over 40 TV series, video game, and movies. A brief list of these appearances would include, “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys”,” Xena: Warrior Princess”, “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy”, “The Chronicles of Riddick”, “The Bourne Supremacy”, and in the J. J. Abrams reboot of the “Star Trek” movie franchise. Karl has also taken the leading roles of the “Dredd” movie and his own TV series, “Almost Human”. Here’s a bit of trivia about Karl’s acting abilities. After his first appearance as Leonard “Bones” McCoy in Star Trek, it was rumored that he had found a way to actually channel the spirit of DeForrest Kelley. His performance was so convincing that Leonard Nimoy (who starred alongside Kelley in the original series and films) was reportedly moved to tears. In April 2014, Salt Lake held its first Comic Con FanX. The Fan Experience brought in many guests, artists, and celebrity visitors. As a result, over 100,000...
by Brian Wesley | Fantasy Con, Gallery, Interview, Video
Sean Astin and Billy Boyd SLC Fantasy Con 2014 www.FantasyCon.com Sean Astin is an actor and singer known for his roles as Rudy, Mike in the Goonies, and Samwise in the Lord of the Rings. Sean grew up as a true Hollywood child. His mother is Patty Duke (from the Patty Duke Show) and Sean considered his father to be John Astin (Gomez from the original Adam’s Family). Sean started acting at a young age but got his first gig at 10. Three years later he starred in The Goonies. After The Goonies he played in one of my favorite TV movies, Disney’s B.R.A.T Patrol and went on to be in Toy Soldiers, Encino Man and Rudy. Children might recognize his voice as Oso on Disney’s Special Agent Oso and as Raphael on the 2012 animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. As a teen Billy worked as a book binder for 6 years he then went to college where he studied acting and even puppetry. Billy became an avid surfer during his free time in New Zealand. In 2006 his Scottish band, the Beefcakes, released their first album. That same year Billy became a father. Billy is known most for his role as Pippin on Lord of the Rings. This year Sean and Billy spent time away from home to visit SLC’s Fantasy Con. It was more of a heart-felt comedy show than a convention panel. Enjoy!...
by Brian Wesley | Fantasy Con, Gallery, Interview, Video
Summer Glau – Actress SLC Fantasy Con 2014 www.FantasyCon.com This Southern gal’s parents sacrificed so much to provide for her ballet training and education. At 19 it all came to a halt as a small injury turned bad. A broken toe is no big deal but Summer kept dancing on it, ashamed to tell anyone, and eventually it ended her dreams as a professional ballerina. Her foot healed and she began doing other non-ballet dances. She convinced her parents to let her move to LA for the summer. Eventually, a few months turned into something longer and she landed a tiny appearance on Joss Whedon’s TV show, Angel. What did she play? You guessed it, a ballerina (Russian). In the video below she says she missed the initial auditions but snuck into the casting call backs and landed the role. This is where she caught Joss’ eye. Joss later cast her as River in the delayed hit Firefly. Since then she has starred as main characters and a guest actress in 16+ TV shows most of which have geek theme. She’s even been in a few movies. Summer also discusses training for fight scenes, her fiancé, and how much of a role model Summer’s mom played in her life. This July 4th weekend SLC held its first Fantasy Con. There were 100’s of guests and dozens of celebrities. We appreciate Summer Glau taking time away from family to visit our city and spend time with her fans. Tony Toscano (Tony’s website) MC’d the Q&A panel. Here’s the video of Summer Glau Interview: Here are a few of the...
by Carol Thalmann | Comic Con, Interview, Video
Aaron Douglas – Actor, Writer, Producer SLC Comic Con – Fan X Experience 2014 Salt Lake City Convention Center SaltLakeComicCon.com Ever wonder what’s really in the cockpit of a viper? Did you know that Katee Sackoff really is a girl? Aaron Douglas shares it all. In the video he talks about an experience when his son, at the age of 9, visited the set of Battlestar Galactica for the first time. Aaron also dishes on fellow cast members, Katee Sackoff and Edward James Olmos and how he landed the role of Chief Tyrol. Born in the Great White North (Canada, for those of us who aren’t from that local), Aaron stated how much he really loves Salt Lake City, comparing it to Canada. He also quoted his friend Nick Bishop (an Australian actor), saying, “it’s sort of like taking a city from the Commonwealth countries and plunk[ing] it in the middle of America.” Since beginning his major acting career in 2000 with the TV Movie, “The Inspectors 2: a Shred of Evidence”, Aaron has appeared in well over 80 TV series and movies. A brief list of these appearances would include, “Dark Angel”, ” Stargate: Sg-1″, ” X-Men 2″, ” Andromeda”, “The Chronicles of Riddick” and, of course, Battlestar Galactica. Here’s a bit of trivia about Aaron Douglas’ normal audition process. He will often audition himself by reading scripts for other people while they are competing for different movie roles. He says that in the hours he spends working with the directors, in the audition room, the directors get to know him and tend to give him little parts as...
