Special Guests
Melissa O'Neil
Melissa grew up in Calgary, Alberta. Fresh from her turn in Broadway's Les Miserables and Jesus Christ Superstar, Melissa has had a flourishing theatre career both in Canada and abroad, leading to her now starring in Syfy's new series Dark Matter. Melissa is also the youngest and first female winner of Canadian Idol, resutling in a platinum-selling single, a certified gold album, and a Juno nomination for Best New Artist. Recently, Melissa was the recipient of the Dora Mavor Moore award for "Best Performance from a Female in a Leading Role (Musical)" for her performance as "Eponine" in Les Miserables. Other career highlights include Dirty Dancing (Mirvish Productions) and the Stratford Festival of Canada.
Rachel Skarsten
Rachel Skarsten was born in Toronto, Ontario. As a child, she danced with the Royal Academy of Dance as well as studying at the Claude Watson School of Arts. At the age of 16, she was cast as "Black Canary/Dinah Lance" on the WB series Birds of Prey. She is known for her role as "Tamsin" on the television series Lost Girl, and she currently portrays "Queen Elizabeth" on The CW's Reign. She has also had recurring roles on Transporter: The Series, Flashpoint, The LA Complex, and The CW's Beauty and the Beast.
Mackenzie Gray
Mackenzie Gray has starred and appeared in several movies and television shows, including as "Jax-Ur" in Man of Steel and his current role as "The Eye" in Legion. He has also appeared in Smallville, Alcatraz, Iron Man: Armored Adventures, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Sanctuary, Psych, and
Supernatural. He voices lead characters in the animation series LoliRock, Ninjago, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and the video games Black Orchid, The Dawn of War, and Warhammer. He was the voice of "Nick Masters" in the series Action Man and has had major roles in Tony Hawk, Barbie: Thumbellina, Madeline, The Ark, NASCAR Racers, Gadget and the Gadgetinis, Stargate: Infinity, Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century, and many others.
Justin Saint
Justin grew up captivated by larger-than-life looks on media like Star Wars, Final Fantasy, and Dragon Age, and began cosplaying in 2010. He graduated from Blanche MacDonald Centre's Global Make-Up Artistry program in 2012, and his work has since been featured in films, stage productions, conventions, and other special events. Justin is best known for his versatility of characters, including regal figures (Queen Amidala, Maleficent), brawny characters (Thorin Oakenshield), and fan favourites (Stevonnie, Nurse Joker). His cosplays have won multiple contests and Justin now judges as well. Justin is also known for his efforts to promote positive queer visibility within the gaming community. In 2009, he co-founded the Vancouver Gaymers, one of the largest monthly meetup groups for gaymers in Western Canada. In 2013, Justin was ranked #1 in a Top 30 Under 30 list of BC’s best queer leaders by Daily Xtra. He was also recognized as one of the Advocate.com’s “People to Watch.” Justin has no preferred pronoun and is comfortable with he/she/they as long as there is no malicious intent.
Toby Proctor
Toby Proctor got his start in theatre in various stage productions across Canada at 8 years old. At the age of 11, Toby started to work on television shows for both US and Canadian networks. Most notably, Toby voiced the roles of "Darien", "Prince Darien", "The Moonlight Knight", and "Tuxedo Mask" in the pop culture classic anime series Sailor Moon. His list of credits also includes Heroes Reborn, Lost Girl, Reign, Nikita, XIII "The Series", The Man, Skulls III, Earth: Final Conflict, MegaMan 2, Animorphs, Police Academy "The Series", Flash Gordon (animated series), Road to Avonlea, T and T, and Ramna 1/2. In addition to being in front of the camera, Toby has worked behind the scenes as a cinematographer for commercials, short films, and casting. He is currently co-producing and shooting a feature documentary on the legacy of Dr. Lloyd Axworthy, the architect of the "Ottawa Treaty" which is the international protocol to ban landmines.
David A. Robertson
David Alexander Robertson - of Irish, Scottish, English, and Cree heritage - won the John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer in 2015, and the Beatrice Mosionier Indigenous Writer of the Year in 2017. David has created several bestselling graphic novels and his first children's book, When We Were Alone, was published in December 2016 and won the McNally Robinson Books for Young People Award/Younger Category in 2017.
He was a contributor to the anthologies
Manitowapow: Aboriginal Writings from the Land of Water, Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Collection, the LGBT sci-fi anthology Love Beyond Body Space and Time, and his work has been featured in CV2 and Prairie Fire. His first novel, The Evolution of Alice, was published in fall 2014.
Andy Rae
Andy Rae is a costume designer from small town British Columbia, Canada. She has been cosplaying for four years and has become totally immersed in the amazing cosplay community. She specializes in armour construction and has created several large scale armour builds using a thermoplastic material called Worbla. She is also best known for her group collaborations including the Battle Armour Disney Princesses, Sailor Scouts, and the Valkyrie Evolutions. Even though she has only been in the cosplay community for a short time, she has already won several awards for craftsmanship and has become an international cosplayer, doing guest spots at cons all over North America.
Kurtis Wiebe
Kurtis Wiebe is a comic writer based in Kelowna, British Columbia. He is a two-time Joe Shuster Award winner, including an Outstanding Comic Book Writer award for his contribution to the criticially acclaimed Green Wake. His other credits include Peter Panzerfaust, Debris, Grim Leaper, and Intrepids. He currently pens the Eisner-nominated series Rat Queens with Image Comics.
Christian Potenza
Christian Potenza is celebrating his 20th year of being a working actor this year. He has played everything from crooks, criminals, cops, best friends, hockey dads, superheroes, marine soldiers, vampires, a wrestling superstars roommate,...to a cereal bar, and a yellow toothbrush. He is best known for voicing "Jude Lizowski" on 6Teen, "Trevor Troublemeyer" on Sidekick, and "Chris McLean" on Total Drama. He has appeared in or provided voices for numerous other films, television shows, and cartoons, with credits including The Ron James Show, But I'm Chris Jericho!, and The Tuxedo with Jackie Chan. It has been a very colourful and checkered career. This year especially stands out because he is celebrating the 10th anniversary of Total Drama, a show that he is very proud and grateful to be a part of. He can't wait to get to the Yukon and Rawk it Out with all the fans this summer.
Look out Campers!,....it's gonna be Epic!
McLean Out!
Bradie Whetham
Bradie Whetham is a Canadian-born film and television actor. He made his debut on Broadway at the age of 9 years old as "Chip the Teacup" for Disney's stage adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. He had supporting, principle, and regular roles in productions such as The Snow Queen (BBC), Wind at My Back (CBC), Goosebumps (YTV), Eerie Indiana (YTV/Global), The Defenders, etc. He has also been involved in the Canadian Pro Wrestling business for over 13 years as an active wrestler, referee, and promoter. Currently, Bradie is an event host for major international musicians across Canada, as well as owning a PR-Marketing & Management company.
Ivan Sherry
Ivan Sherry was born in London, England, but now resides in Toronto, Ontario. He is the voice of the new Inspector Gadget and has a recurring role as Scotty Pullover in Season 3 of the award-winning series Fargo. In Ubisoft's world-wide hit Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, Ivan created approximately 30 characters through performance capture, and in Assassin's Creed: Unity he is "Le Roi des Thunes". He voices characters in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Watchdogs 2, Splinter Cell: Conviction, and is involved with four new projects with major video game producers. Ivan also voices characters in the new Hotel Transylvania animated series, Camp Lakebottom, Little People, Cyberchase, Totally Spies, Spark: A Space Tail, Dex Hamilton: Alien Entomologist (and its two feature films), Pirates: Adventures in Art, Skatoony, The Dark Years, Super Why!, Clang Invasion, and Artopia, among other projects. He is "Captain Strong" in Metajets and has voiced commercials for many brands, as well as narrated for the CBC and the National Film Board of Canada. Other TV credits include Orphan Black, Murdoch Mysteries, Reign, The Kennedys: After Camelot, Man Seeking Woman, 2nd Generation, Warehouse 13, Nikita, Rogue, The Listener, Saving Hope, Cracked, Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures, and When Love is Not Enough: The Lois Wilson Story.
Phil Guerrero
Diana Greenhalgh
Diana Greenhalgh is a professional illustrator and designer in comics, trading cards, film, and television. You can find her work in many places, from props in Legends of Tomorrow Season 1, to movie posters for Twentieth Century Fox's Deadpool and X-Men: Apocalypse, illustrations in more than thirty licensed trading card sets including DC, Marvel, and Dynamite properties, and inks on numerous independent and mainstream comic titles, including Taran Killam's The Illegitimates, X-Men Legacy, and Nova. Diana has recently completed work for Upper Deck on their Marvel Premier and Spider-Man: Homecoming trading card sets, and is currently working as editor and inker for a new production company. As an illustrator, she also specializes in pin-up art, illustrating sexy femme fatales and other fun characters. She produces her own original illustrations, prints, trading cards, and other collectibles.
Sam Maggs
Sam Maggs is an assistant writer for BioWare and the best-selling author of The Fangirl's Guide to the Galaxy (Quirk Books, 2015). Named "Awesome Geek Feminist of the Year" by Women Write About Comics, Sam received her MA in Victorian literature in 2011 and now appears on TV and movie screens across Canada. She has written for Marie Claire, PC Gamer, The Guardian, National Post, the Mary Sue, and more. You can geek out with her about Mass Effect or Jeff Goldblum on Twitter: @SamMaggs.
Phil Guerrero is best known as “PJ Phil” the original host of The Zone on YTV during the 90’s. If you were a fan of the Power Rangers, Sailor Moon or Are You Afraid of the Dark in Canada, Phil most likely guided you through those shows. Whether he was teaming up with Warren, Snit, or a human he made afternoons after school memorable and fun. He also hosted several shows for YTV including The Anti-Gravity Room, Warp, Gamerz, the much anticipated Dark Night and later on, Karaoke Star and Karaoke Star Jr. for CMT and YTV respectively. A consummate entertainer, he later took on acting and appeared in The Relic Hunter series, The Adventures of Shirley Holmes, The Ladies Man movie and was the voice of “Ace” on the Nickelodeon series, Pelswick. He most recently worked on the webseries Kid’s Town. He joined and toured with the industrial goth band Razed in Black, appeared on the reality show Style Me, performed stand up at legendary comedy clubs, created the fashion line Kutten, served as celebrity fashion stylist for Hip Hop artist Lil’ Mama, and even took Hip Hop dance at the famous Millennium Dance Center from Justin Timberlake’s choreographer Marty Kudelka. Phil still works in front of the camera in his web series The Velvet Ropeline for SessionsX.com as well as handling their various band interviews. You can catch him around Canada making convention appearances as well as on film and TV such as the zombie film The Returned and Investigations Discovery on the Discovery Channel.
Owen Gieni
Owen Gieni is the artist of Rat Queens, colourist of Manifest Destiny and Shutter from Shadowline/Skybound/Image Comics. Artist of Negative Space from Dark Horse Comics.
YukomiCon guest line-up may be subject to change at any time.