2018 date announced:
MAY 6, 2018
**NEW WEBSITE:**
Please go to
WESTSACEXPO.COM
(Under New Management)
(This is the archived site for 2016-2017)
2017 SPECIAL GUESTS
(Alphabetical) (Subject to Change)
Be sure to check out our complete schedule on our Schedule page, click here to see it!
BB-8
with builder Robert Kovacs of the Sacramento BB-8 Builders Club
Get your photo taken with everyone's new favorite droid in the Cosplay Room in the Community Center!
Mark Dodson
Voice of Salacious Crumb in "Return Of The Jedi," and other characters
Mark Dodson is also known for his voice work on Gremlins (1984), Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990). See his filmography at http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0230301/ and learn more at http://www.markdodson.com/
Don't miss his panel! 12:30 pm in the City Hall 2nd Floor Council Chambers: Star Wars Q&A panel with special guests including Mark Dodson, C. Andrew Nelson and Frank Ordaz, moderated by "Chew on This"!
C. Andrew Nelson
LucasFilm's Darth Vader since 1994
C. Andrew Nelson is an award winning artist, actor, writer, consultant, and motivational speaker.
Andrew is probably best known for having played the character of Darth Vader in the Special Edition re-release of the original Star Wars trilogy as well as in the Rebel Assault II and Dark Forces games from LucasArts. Andrew, who began playing Vader for Lucasfilm in 1994, has portrayed the infamous dark lord for commercials, television shows, print, games, and live appearances. He has managed to spend more time in the official Vader costume than any other actor.
Andrew spent four years as a visual effects artist at Industrial Light & Magic. His VFX credits at ILM include Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Galaxy Quest, Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle, The Perfect Storm, Jurassic Park III, The Time Machine, and Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.
Learn more about him at http://candrewnelson.com/about/
Don't miss his panel! 12:30 pm in the City Hall 2nd Floor Council Chambers: Star Wars Q&A panel with special guests including Mark Dodson, C. Andrew Nelson and Frank Ordaz, moderated by "Chew on This"!
Frank Ordaz
Award-winning artist best known for his work with ILM
Upon graduation in 1980 Ordaz was highly recommended for a job with Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), working for filmmaker George Lucas in Northern California. There Ordaz did background matte paintings for specialized movie production effects and worked on films like “ET”, “The Wrath of Khan”, “Return of the Jedi” and “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”, rubbing shoulders with well-known actors, musicians, directors and working with a talented production staff.
Ordaz even had a small bit part in Indiana Jones. He won an Emmy for his work as part of a team of artists working on the 1985 television movie, “Ewok — The Battle of Endor.”
Leaving movie work, and self-employed, his award-winning paintings and illustrations have been used in a line of Christian books, professional sports posters, specialty greeting cards and even a line of jigsaw puzzles.
Ordaz produced a painting that the George W. Bush White House used for their Easter egg hunt. Ordaz’s painting was used on the invitations, official program, posters and tickets for the annual event. Ordaz and his family were invited to the egg hunt, met and spent time with the first family.
He is currently involved in a portrait project for the U.S. Air Force, and teaching painting classes for children and adults along with painting portraits for clients out of his new studio Downtown.
Learn more about Frank Ordaz at OrdazArt.com and on Facebook.
Don't miss his panel! 12:30 pm in the City Hall 2nd Floor Council Chambers: Star Wars Q&A panel with special guests including Mark Dodson, C. Andrew Nelson and Frank Ordaz, moderated by "Chew on This"!
R2D2
with builder Travis of the Sacramento Astromechs Club!
Get your photo taken with this classic droid in the Community Center Cosplay Room!
SciFi costuming organization cosplayers
Stormtroopers, Mandos, Rebels, Jedi, Sith, Klingons, Starfleet Officers and other favorite characters!
501st Legion Central California Garrison, Mandalorian Mercs, Rebel Legion, USS Independence and other official/recognized Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who and science fiction costuming organizations will be presenting many of your favorite characters in the Ambassadors' Lounge Cosplay Room (in the Community Center), complete with photo backdrops! You'll feel you walked into a movie set! See our Cosplay page for the complete list and links.
Darth Vader
Local Cosplayer Brian Schaubmayer portrays everyone's favorite Sith Dark Lord!
Brian will be suited up and available for photographs with children and their families in the Community Center Cosplay Room from 12 noon to 1 pm, so don't miss him!
Marco Cabodi and the Sacramento Comedy Spot
Cardboard Space Adventures!
A special team of geeky comedians from the Sacramento Comedy Spot will be performing a hilarious thematic set at 4 pm in the Blackbox Theatre (upstairs, Community Center)
Mike Capozzola
Comedian | Actor | Comedy Writer | Cartoonist
See Mike's hilarious show, "Evil Cyborg Sea Monsters!" at 2:30 pm in the Council Chambers.
"Chew on This: A Nerds United Podcast"
Audio Podcast
A Chinese guy and a Jew walk into SW Celebration III, become best friends, talk a lot about nerd things and over 10 years later, create this podcast.
Look for the Chew on This crew in the Media Lounge in the City Hall 2nd floor balcony and roaming the con! And don't msis them moderating the 12:30 pm Star Wars panel in the Council Chambers!
Darealwordsound
Nerd Rap DJ
Elwin G. Williams, III of Vacaville is the creative force known as Darealwordsound. He is a trained bassist with more than 10 years of experience playing funk, rock, and hip-hop. Darealwordsound music highlights melodic beats with positive hip-hop lyrics. Darealwordsound was featured in UK Magazine, Twizted Edge Magazine, for their Cosplay Edition as the “artist feature”. Darealwordsound recently released his latest mixtape called #OtakuTour, which has received major praise from indie blog sites, like Kuma’s Kreation and Sfootz.com, to highly respected Nerd Culture website G33K HQ and hip hop blog site Stop The Breaks. He recently did an interview with Bay-Area radio station, Ozcat Radio, and podcast interviews with Sexy Expeditions, Sfootz.com, and Blk Sheep Radio. Darealwordsound recently created the new theme song for Kuma’s Kreation “Kuma’s Rage” and his currently working with Blk Sheep Radio in creating a new theme song.
2:30 pm, in the tent on the lawn
Performance and QA at 3 pm on our outdoor stage.
Sergio Elisondo
"Sergio and the Holograms" band
Check out his awesome high-tech rock performance in the Blackbox Theatre (Community Center, upstairs) at 12:30 pm
http://www.sergioelisondo.com/index.html
Damian Harmony
Geeky Comedian
Live comedy show at 12:30 pm in the River Classroom in the Community Center
Davidson Haworth
Historical Fantasy Author and International Speaker
Fantasy Author, Father of Historical Fantasy, International Speaker, Comic Books Aficionado, Doctor Who Expert
http://www.davidsonlhaworth.com/
Davidson L. Haworth has been at the forefront of the fantasy genre for over two decades and strives to keep the genre in popular culture with his “The Defenders of Prali” trilogy.
He has also appeared and toured on a global scale throughout Europe including Russia and Ukraine where he is considered one of the top fantasy authors of the 21st century. His lectures at Moscow State University and Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv have advanced the genre of historical fantasy to new heights.
In the United States Davidson is the only author to ever conduct book signings on more than one occasion at the prestigious National Steinbeck Center, and he is the first writer to reinvent book tours by conducting his signings at pop culture conventions.
Meet him in the Special Guest Quarters (Senior Lounge in the Community Center)
"Jocks, Geeks and Nerds"
YouTube series hosted by Bex
YouTube TV show and web series. Featuring everything from comics to anime and sports to video games and so much more. Find them wandering the con capturing footage!
Sean X Long
Vlogger, entertainer
SEANxLONG, aka Sean Long, describes himself as a "Reviewer, Director, Actor, Reporter, Podcast Host, Cosplayer, Toy Collector, Gamer, Big Kid, Nerd, and Dork." Keep an eye out for Sean as you roam the con!
Ron E Mullins
Old Man Luke cosplayer and local advocate
Catch Ron aka Old Man Luke hosting the Lost Stars ceremony and hanging around the Cosplay Room and wandering the con!
Predator
Alex Boersma will be appearing as his alter ego, Predator
Can you spot him before he spots you?
Jo Ann Richards
Executive Director of Earth Defense Headquarters
http://edhca.org/
In the Special Guest Quarters, and catch her 11 am Aliens Are Real talk in the City Hall 2nd Floor Council Chambers.
Stephanie Rector
Doc 29 and Intergalactic Gal
Stephanie Rector is the founder of www.sacgeeks.com (the calendar of geek-friendly Sacramento events) and the previous leader organizer and currently consultant for Intergalactic Expo.
Stephanie will be wandering the event, helping to put out fires and rescue kittens from trees.
Sac City Rollers
Awesome & bad-a$$ women's flat track roller derby league based in Sacramento
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sac_City_Rollers
Check out their table outside in front of the Community Center, and check out their panel at 2 pm in the Bridge Classroom in the Community Center.
SciFi Spidey
AKA your friendly neighborhood John Johnson!
John is a local to West Sacramento, our children's programming lead, and his alter ego is Sactown Spidey aka SciFi Spidey!
Check out his Blaster Battle for kids at 1 pm to 4:30 pm on the lawn!
Sleeprockers
SciFi Music Performers
Sleeprockers will perform at 11:30 am under the Big Tent on the lawn.
http://sleeprockers.wixsite.com/sleeprockers