Gigi Edgley

Media Guest

Edgley was born in Perth. She is the daughter of theatre, concert and circus promoter Michael Edgley, known for bringing the Moscow State Circus to Australia during the 1980s. Her mother, Jeni Edgley, was formally involved in managing a 250-acre health retreat. As a child, Gigi Edgley performed both in and out of school. She became mainly interested in acting and had her first professional theatrical engagement at the Twelfth Night Theatre. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Queensland University of Technology in 1998. As a believer in the school of method acting, Gigi has developed a broad set of skills and experiences for her roles. Edgley is proficient in martial arts along with ballet, jazz, character dance, and singing with her signature skill fire-twirling.

Edgley's early TV and film work included several independent productions, as well as a guest star spot on the popular Australian series Water Rats and a role in Australian film titled The Day of the Roses. Edgley is best known for her role as Chiana on the science fiction TV series Farscape. Originally, she was hired for only one episode, and her character was supposed to die at the end of the hour. The creators decided to keep her around for a few more episodes. At the beginning of Season 2, she was promoted to be a regular on the show. She appeared in total of 68 episodes of the series. Her character's nickname "Pip" was actually coined by her co-star Ben Browder.

Between Farscape seasons, Edgley has appeared in other guest starring roles on TV, including the series The Lost World and BeastMaster, has undertaken some independent film work, was cast in a feature film, and read a starring role in an audio drama for Seeing Ear Theatre. After the cancellation of Farscape, Edgley pursued other projects including a role in the Australian drama telefilm BlackJack with Colin Friels. She joined the cast of Australian drama series The Secret Life of Us in 2003 and Stingers in 2004.

Edgley returned as Chiana in the SciFi Channel miniseries Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars in 2004. In 2006 Edgley starred as the female lead in critically acclaimed Australian Drama/Thriller Last Train to Freo. Her role was nominated for a Best Actress in a Lead Role by the Film Critics Circle of Australia. She also had a minor supporting role in the 2007 USA Network TV miniseries The Starter Wife. She had a leading role in three seasons of Rescue: Special Ops from 2009. In 2018, she appeared in the film Diminuendo opposite Richard Hatch. In 2014 she hosted Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge as herself!

Edgley has won numerous awards as well including:

• 2006 – Film Critics Circle of Australia Award Nomination for Best Actress in a motion picture (Last Train to Freo)
• 2003 – SyFy Genre Award for Best Supporting Actress (Television)
• 2002 – Saturn Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series (Farscape)
• 2001 – Maxim Award Nomination for Sexiest Space Babe (Television)

Official Website: GigiEdgley.com | Twitter - @GigiEdgley | IMDB | Facebook Fan Page

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Sean Patrick Flanery

Media Guest

Flanery was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and was raised in Houston, Texas. After attending Awty International School, Flanery graduated from Dulles High School in Sugar Land, and attended the University of St. Thomas in Houston.

Flanery started acting in college after he joined an acting class to meet a girl on whom he had a crush. Since 1988 he has appeared in over 53 films, including Powder, Simply Irresistible and D-Tox. He is best known, however, for playing Connor MacManus in The Boondock Saints and Indiana Jones in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. He had a brief role as the ascended being, Orlin, in the Stargate SG-1 episode "Ascension". He appeared on the TV show The Dead Zone in the role of Vice-President, Greg Stillson, until its cancellation. Flanery also appeared in an installment of Showtime's Masters of Horror playing a town sheriff who later became one of the antagonistic entity's possessed hosts in the episode "The Damned Thing". In March 2010 he was cast in the lead role in the sci-fi horror film Mongolian Death Worm. He also had a supporting role in 2010's Saw 3D. Flanery appeared in The Black Keys' music video "Howlin' For You", which was released on February 10, 2011. In April 2011 Flanery headed to the CBS soap The Young and the Restless, playing the part of Sam, Sharon Newman's boyfriend from New Mexico. Other shows he has also played a role in include Dexter, Criminal Minds, Numb3rs, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and The Twilight Zone showing his wide variety of acting experience.

He is married to Playboy model and actress Lauren Michelle Hill and they have 2 sons. He has a daughter, Lola Flanery who is also an actress. He has a dog named Donut who is named after the donuts he devoured shortly after being adopted by Flanery.

Flanery won the 1997 Toyota Pro-Celebrity Race at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach as the celebrity driver; the "Alfonso Ribeiro rule" (whereby if a celebrity wins, they must be classified as a professional the next time) forced him to "defend" his title as a professional driver under TGPLB rules, and he won the 1998 race as a professional driver.

Flanery is also a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which he teaches.

Indiana Jones Fandom Bio | Twitter - @seanflanery | IMDB | Facebook Fan Page

"Well, I always try to cast in my films the best actor that seems to fit the character best. I think the qualities that Sean Patrick Flanery had is that he seemed very young and youthful and enthusiastic, and with a little hint of naiveté and innocence that I thought would be appropriate for Indiana Jones at that age." ―George Lucas

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Adrian Lee with Heather Morris

Author & Paranormal Guest

Adrian Lee is the founder of The International Paranormal Society and a member of the Luton Paranormal Society in England. He has investigated ghosts and paranormal activity all over the world for twenty-five years. Lee first came to Minnesota early in 2008 to work on several paranormal video productions and spent two years working in Minneapolis as the national and international news correspondent for a live paranormal talk radio show on 100.3 KTLK. He currently hosts the only weekly paranormal news quiz show, More Questions than Answers, every Friday on the Dark Matter Digital Radio Network. A show that was nominated for the 2018 Comedy Awards. Lee has also appeared on My Real Ghost Story, Fox 9, WCCO, Eyewitness News, KSTP, KGRA, KSAX and KARE 11.

Lee has written the following books: Ghosts & UFOs, Connecting Paranormal Phenomona through Quantum Physics; How to be a Christian Psychic: What the Bible says about Mediums, Healers and Paranormal Investigators; Mysterious Midwest, Unwrapping Urban Legends and Ghostly Tales from the Dead and Mysterious Minnesota, Digging up the Ghostly Past at Thirteen Haunted Sites. He currently lectures on all aspects of the paranormal, including ghosts, UFOs, psychic development and angels.

The International Paranormal Society: TIPS | Twitter - @adrian_lee_tips | MQTA Radio | Facebook Page

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Ivy Cosplay

Cosplay Guest

Ivy Cosplay, originally from Puerto Rico and currently, a resident of Florida, began cosplaying in 2010. Her first cosplay was of Lara Croft in a photoshoot directed by her husband Michael of MC Illusion Photography, who she assists in his work.

Ivy’s first public appearance in cosplay was during Star Wars Celebration VI where she appeared as Princess Leia during the convention, sparking her love for the cosplaying community thanks to their acceptance of her.

She has appeared in various magazine photoshoots for COSPLAYology, Cosplayzine, as well as Surreal Beauty Magazine and has appeared on the cover of Vengeance of Vampirella.

As part of her ongoing cosplaying, she has been a guest at a number of conventions including Comix Megazone in Puerto Rico, Geekfest Florida and CONjure.

Ivy has cosplayed more than 100 characters from various movies and comic books as well as a number of original characters. Her favorite cosplays are of Catwoman, Wonder Woman, and Lara Croft.

At the end of 2020, Ivy was asked to become the official model of Bianca Bordeaux from the independent comic book series known as Vampire Bloodlines. She is on the cover of issue 2.

Ivy creates her own unique costume designs, making them herself by hand, costume design being a passion. Her future goals include becoming a professional costume designer.

Instagram - ivycosplay | Twitter - @IvyCosplay | Facebook - Ivy Cosplay

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Tom Nguyen

Artist Guest (Returning)

Tom is a DC and Marvel artist (Blackest Night, Superman, Batman, catwoman…) as well as an acclaimed Pinup artist.

Born in Minneapolis and raised in Burnsville, MN, Tom has been drawing for as long as he could remember. At age 14, he was already commissioned to do portraits of baseball players, and at 16 he was hired to draw caricatures at Valleyfair amusement park and at the Mall of America. But at age 19 Tom was able to break into the industry that he loved most: comic books. Since then he has done work for DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Seattle Weekly, Wizard magazine, Dynamite Entertainment, IDW Publishing, Upper Deck Entertainment, Titan Books, and the television series Little Miss Perfect for WeTV among other clients.

Tom has also established himself as a renowned pin-up painter, having worked with some of the top professional models and pageant winners. Although he jokingly refers to himself as "The Prince of Pin-Up," he is most definitely the undisputed "King of Pageantry Pin-Up" as there is no other artist who has worked with more high-placing pageant competitors than Tom has. His work also includes Playboy models and NFL cheerleaders. Tom's pin-up work has been featured in publications such as Club International magazine, American Curves magazine, Aphrodisia 2: Art of the Female Form, and the upcoming How To Airbrush Pin-Ups due Fall 2009. He is also a prize sponsor to the Mrs. Minnesota-, Mrs. Iowa-, and Mrs. Wisconsin-America pageants, providing his rendition of each of the state's winners.

In 2005, Tom and his partner Jeff Pederson released two instructional DVDs: The Doug Mahnke Style of Pencilling and the Tom Nguyen Style of Inking. In September 2007, Tom added "author" to his resume as his first instructional book, Incredible Comics With Tom Nguyen: The Ultimate Guide to Creating Kick-ass Comic Art, hit the shelves at many bookstores. In 2010, Tom released the sequel to his instructional book entitled Incredible Comic Book Women With Tom Nguyen: The Ultimate Guide to Creating Kick-ass Babes.

Along with writer/artist Keith Champagne, Tom is the co-creator of the successful Kickstarter hit comic book The Switch. In his spare time, Tom teaches art via his online workshop Art Samurai, runs photography lighting workshops, lifts weights, and plans his next areas of travel.

SOCIAL MEDIA: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram - @tomnguyenstudio | Website

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Dave Wheeler

Comic Artist "Jack Of All Trades

Dave Wheeler is a jack of all trades when it comes to comics, working as an: inker, colorist, letterer, writer and book designer. In addition to the comics industry he has worked in the advertising and graphics industry for 10 years. Dave currently resides in Minneapolis, MN. with his family. He is proud to be one of the co-founders of the kid-friendly comic company MIND WAVE COMICS doing his part to bring back fun to comics! When he’s not in the studio he enjoys long walks on the beach, making toys and professional wrestling!

www.MINDWAVECOMICS.com | Dave Wheeler - Twitter | Dave Wheeler - Facebook

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John Bivens

Comic Creator/Writer

John Bivens’ work has appeared in the Eisner and Harvey Award winning Comic Book Tattoo, the Harvey Award winning Popgun volume 4, and the Harvey nominated Reading with Pictures. He has also received nominations for an Eagle Award and a Ghastly Award. He has worked for IMAGE Comics, Heavy Metal Magazine, Vault Comics, Valiant Comics, IDW Publishing. and others.

John’s work spans the genres of crime, horror, science fiction, fantasy, romance, and education. His education includes the undergraduate illustration program at Northern Illinois University and the Graduate program at Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He has taught as an adjunct professor at Northern Illinois University, Dakota County Technical College, and participated in multiple visiting workshops and panels.

John currently resides in Minneapolis, MN where he is a proud member of World Monster HQ studios.

John Bivens - Website | John Bivens - Facebook

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Christopher D. Schmitz

Author Guest

Christopher D. Schmitz writes mostly genre fiction, especially Sci-Fi and Fantasy, but also stories that have been called "Stephen King-esque." He also writes some nonfiction, dabbles in game design, and speaks/presents at libraries, comicons, schools, and more. If you met him at a convention, he may have even been in a costume or whipped out his bagpipes (which mean literally).

Schmitz writes multiple series including Wolves of the Tesseract (Urban Fantasy), Dekker's Dozen (Space Opera), Shadowless (SF Apocalyptic), The Kakos Realm (Epic Fantasy), and The Esfah Sagas (High Fantasy) which was originally by the creators of Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance (TSR), plus a few other one-off stories of varied genres and nonfiction. He's got nearly thirty books in print and dabbles in game design, winning Galeforce 9's module creation contest in 2019 for Brigand's & Browncoats making him an official contributor to the expanded Firefly universe.

Official Website: www.authorchristopherdschmitz.com/ | Twitter - @cylonbagpiper | Facebook Fan Page

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Tina Holland

AuthorGuest

Tina Holland is a romance author who was born in Frankfurt, Germany, and is now settled in the Red River Valley of North Dakota. She enjoys writing Romance, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Paranormal. Her work has been nominated for Best Erotic Romance by Love Romance Cafe and “Sexing up the Spy” was an EPPIE Finalist.

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Paige Kihle

Cosplay Guest

I'm 24 year old I've been invested in cosplaying for almost 10 years (technically) but didnt start going to conventions until 6 years ago. I was born and raised in Bismarck, ND. Im a past theater buff with a love for dance and makeup. Im constantly wanting to plan out my next cosplay and love making new friends at con! If you see me out and about feel free to say hi!

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Justin Cancilliere

Guest of Honor - BisMan Writer's Guild

Justin Cancilliere loves telling stories. Led by mythical dreams and astounding visions that can only be described through writing, he is in the business of scripting legends. His desire is to bring to life that which swarms in his mind and cascades into words. But it doesn't end there.

He takes his artistic verbiage to podcasting as well. He has two podcasts, ParaTruth Radio, and Beyond Reason. Both are places where he can discuss the weird and unusual. This, along with avid research into the paranormal, help quench his interest in the mystical.

Justin also recently founded the BisMan Writer's Guild, a local writers group, in Feb. of 2019.

He currently resides in Bismarck, North Dakota, where he enjoys the finer things in life with his beautiful wife, Shelly.

BisMan Writer's Guild was started in Feb. of 2019. Our goal is to uplift local authors throughout North Dakota by promoting, advancing, and supporting them. We wish to push the craft of writing forward in North Dakota and bring acknowledgment to our local authors in an effort to further both writing and reading in our state. They are up to 43 members and growing!!

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