Wednesday, July 13, 2016


TMNT and Lord of the Rings' Sean Astin Comes to Baltimore Comic-Con

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - July 13, 2016 - The Baltimore Comic-Con returns this September 2-4, 2016 to the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. We are very pleased to announce our first media guest for 2016, Sean Astin, currently voicing Raphael on Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and co-star of Lord of the Rings. Sean will be in attendance Saturday and Sunday. Tickets for the Baltimore Comic-Con and Harvey Awards are now available -- click here to purchase yours now!
Sean Astin is best known for his film roles as Samwise Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Mikey Walsh in The Goonies, and the title character of Rudy. In television, he appeared as Lynn McGill in the fifth season of 24 and currently voices Raphael in the Nickelodeon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV series. 

The child actor made his feature film debut at age 13. He portrayed Mikey in Steven Spielberg's blockbuster hit The Goonies (1985). After The Goonies, the young performer appeared in several more films, including the Disney made-for-TV movie, The B.R.A.T. Patrol opposite Nia Long, Tim Thomerson, and Brian Keith; Like Father Like Son with Dudley Moore and Kirk Cameron (1987); White Water Summer with Kevin Bacon (1987), The War of the Roses (1989); and the lauded World War II epic film Memphis Belle (1990). He successfully navigated the transition from child actor to young adult in the films Toy Soldiers (1991) and Encino Man (1992).

Astin scored a career-defining, triumphant success in the inspirational and universally applauded college football biopic Rudy (1993), about the life-changing struggles and rewards of the title character, Daniel Ruettiger. He followed his success in Rudy by starring in films throughout the 1990s, including the Showtime science fiction film Harrison Bergeron (1995), the Gulf War film Courage Under Fire (1996), the Warren Beatty political satire Bulworth (1996). and the romantic comedy Boy Meets Girl (1997). 

In the early 2000s, Astin experienced another career breakthrough with his role as Samwise Gamgee in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, released in 2001, 2002 and 2003. Along with the many awards bestowed upon the trilogy, particularly its final installment, The Return of the King (winner of eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture), Astin received many award nominations for his own performance in Return of the King, taking home the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor and awards from the Las Vegas Film Critics Society, the Seattle Film Critics, the Utah Film Critics Association, and the Phoenix Film Critics Society. As an ensemble, the Return of the King cast received awards from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures and the Screen Actors Guild. 

Since Lord of the Rings, Astin has consistently worked in film and television. His film roles have included the Adam Sandler comedies 50 First Dates and Click

In television, Astin guest-starred as Lynn McGill throughout the fifth season of the Fox drama 24. He also appeared in the made-for-TV films Hercules and The Colour of Magic, and in episodes of Monk, Las Vegas, My Name is Earl, and Law & Order, among other shows. He went on to directed a 2003 episode of the TV series Angel, titled "Soulless", as well as an episode of the Showtime Series Jeremiah, where he played the enigmatic Mr. Smith during the 2nd season.

Astin's career has also expanded to include voice-over roles. He narrated the American version of the Animal Planet series Meerkat Manor, and voiced the title character in the animated Disney Channel series Special Agent Oso. His other voice work includes Balto III: Wings of Change and many video games, including Kingdom Hearts. Astin is currently the voice of Raphael in the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series on Nickelodeon.

Recent films starring Sean include The Surface (2014), Woodlawn (2015), and Range 15 (2016), a crowd-sourced dark comedy made by and for vets. Coming soon are the political satires For All Eyes Always (2016) and Swing State (2016). Sean narrated and executive produced the documentary Remember the Sultana (2015), and portrayed an exaggerated version of himself in the popular Kickstarter-funded web series Con Man (2015).
"Sean is a huge addition to the show as our first media guest of 2016," said Marc Nathan, promoter of the Baltimore Comic-Con. "It's great to have an actor of such profile that all of our fans will know from something -- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Lord of the Rings, The Goonies, and Rudy are the obvious choices, but his resume is long and diverse. We're looking forward to having him to Baltimore, and we know our attendees are too!"
TICKETS

General Admission and VIP Package tickets for Weekend, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, as well as the Harvey Awards, are now on sale! Visit www.baltimorecomiccon.com/tickets/ for more information and to purchase your advanced tickets now, and as always, kids 10 and under get into the show free with a paid adult General Admission!

HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS
While they are available, be sure to take advantage of discount rate arrangements we have made with hotels near the Baltimore Convention Center. For all the details, see:

GUARANTEED PARKING
To make parking easy and stress-free, we have partnered with Parking Panda, the nationwide leader in online parking reservations, to allow attendees driving to the show to purchase guaranteed parking near the Baltimore Comic-Con. Click here to book your guaranteed parking spot, or if you need help or have questions, call 800-232-6415.

In addition to on-site CGC grading, this year's confirmed guests for the show include: Neal Adams (Superman: The Coming of the Supermen); Scott Ethan Ambruson (Azteca: Ciudad Paradiso); John Anderson (The Infinites); Sean Astin (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles); Jeff Balke (Zombies vs Cheerleaders: St. Patty's Day Special); Jeremy Bastian (Cursed Pirate Girl); Marty Baumann (Pixar artist); Carolyn Belefski (Curls); Christy Blanch (The Damnation of Charlie Wormwood); Bret Blevins (Harley Quinn Road Trip Special); Danica Bradshaw (Wayward); Nick Bradshaw (Spidey); Reilly Brown (Deadpool); Harold Buchholz (Archie Comics); Dave Bullock (The Rocketeer at War!); Jim Calafiore (Leaving Megalopolis: Surviving Megalopolis); Ben Caldwell (Scooby Apocalypse); Chris Campana (The Accelerators); Richard Case (Doom Patrol); Christa Cassano (Ghetto Klown); Mike Cavallaro (The Fox); Elias Chatzoudis (Grimm Fairy Tales presents Oz: Reign of the Witch Queen); Howard Chaykin (Imperium); Sean Chen (Aliens vs. Zombies); Lee Cherolis (Little Guardians); Frank Cho (The Totally Awesome Hulk); Amy Chu (Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death); Steve Conley (Bloop); Richard Clark (Archie vs. Predator); Katie Cook (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic); Stephen Coughlin (Sanctuary); J. Robert Deans (Crass Fed); Jeff Dekal (New Avengers); J.M. DeMatteis (Scooby Apocalypse); Todd Dezago (Perhapanauts); Charles C. Dowd (Lilith Dark); Paris Cullins (Blue Beetle); Kevin Eastman (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles); Joe Eisma (Morning Glories); Tod Emko (A Piggy's Tale); Joe Endres (Colossians); Steve Englehart, courtesy of Hero Initiative (Captain America); David Finch (Batman); Meredith Finch (Wonder Woman); Veronica Fish (Archie Comics); Chris Flick (Capes & Babes); Ramona Fradon (Spongebob Freestyle Funnies); Francesco Francavilla (Afterlife with Archie); Franco (Aw Yeah Comics: Action Cat!); Alexis Frederick-Frost (Adventures in Cartooning); John Gallagher (Buzzboy); SL Gallant (G.I. Joe); Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (Batman '66: The Lost Episode); Joe Giella courtesy of Hero Initiative (Green Lantern); Keith Giffen (Legends of Tomorrow); Jason Gounger (Legio Ex Mortis); Anna Gownley and Jimmy Gownley (The Dumbest Idea Ever!); Stephen Green (The Legacy of Luther Strode); Dawn Griffin (Zorphbert & Fred); Rob Guillory (Chew: Demon Chicken Poyo); Laura Lee Gulledge (Will & Whit); Brian Haberlin (Witchblade), Bo Hampton (3 Devils); Dean Haspiel (The Fox); Meghan Hetrick (Red Thorn); Jason Horn (Ninjasaur); Adam Hughes (Betty & Veronica); Ken Hunt (Talon); Al Jaffee (MAD Magazine, Saturday panel and Harvey Awards only); Paul Jenkins (Replica); JG Jones (Strange Fruit); Justin Jordan (The Legacy of Luther Strode); Dan Jurgens (Action Comics, Saturday & Sunday only); Chris Kemple (Red Vengeance); Tom King (Batman); Barry Kitson (Empire: Uprising); Samantha Kyle (Paul & Olly); Hope Larson (Batgirl); John Layman (Chew: Demon Chicken Poyo); Paul Levitz (Doctor Fate); Mike Lilly (Red Agent); Nate Lovett (Actionverse Featuring Midnight Tiger); Joe Linsner (Harley Quinn); Mike Maihack (Cleopatra in Space); Mike Manley (The Phantom); Mark Mariano (The Other Side of Hugless Hill); Laura Martin (Wonder Woman); Ron Marz (Convergence: Batman and Robin); John McCrea, courtesy of Hero Initiative (Judge Dredd); Ed McGuinness (Spider-Man/Deadpool); Tradd Moore (The Legacy of Luther Strode); Mark Morales (Convergence); Joe Mulvey (SCAM); Jamar Nicholas (Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence in America); Fabian Nicieza (Deadpool & Cable: Split Second); Chris Otto (A Dog's Life); Greg Pak (Teen Titans); Tom Palmer (Doctor Strange); Yanick Paquette (Batman/Superman); Dan Parsons (Convergence: Nightwing/Oracle); Brent Peeples (Gold Key: Alliance); Paul Pelletier (Justice League); Andrew Pepoy (Futurama Comics); David Petersen (Mouse Guard); Brandon Peterson (Uncanny Inhumans); Lyle Pollard (Scarlet Huntress); Mark Poulton (A Cat Named Haiku); Eric Powell (The Goon); Andy Price (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic); Brian Pulido (Lady Death: Chaos Rules); Kyle Puttkammer (Hero Cats: Midnight Over Stellar City); Ron Randall (Convergence: Catwoman); Khary Randolph (Robin War); Tom Raney (Ninjak); Paul Renaud (Superman/Wonder Woman); Rafer Roberts (A&A: The Adventures of Archer and Armstrong); Emily Romano (Comic Art House); Craig Rousseau (Kyrra: Alien Jungle Girl); Stephane Roux (Harley Quinn and Power Girl); Joe Rubinstein (Convergence: Batman and Robin); Nei Ruffino (Silk); Alex Saviuk (Spider-Man newspaper strip); Stuart Sayger (Hellboy 100); Mark Schultz (Conan the Slayer); Bart Sears (Bloodshot); Jeff Shultz (Betty and Veronica); Louise Simonson (Convergence: Superman - The Man of Steel); Walter Simonson (Ragnarok); Matt Slay (TMNT Micro-Series); Andy Smith (Earth 2, Thanos GN); Brian Smith (SpongeBob Comics); John K. Snyder III (Doctor Midnight); Allison Sohn (Red Sonja); Charles Soule (Star Wars: Poe Dameron); Jim Starlin (Thanos: The Infinity Finale); Brian Stelfreeze (Black Panther); Ben Templesmith (Blackholers); Mark Texeira (Doctor Strange); Chad Thomas (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Amazing Adventures); Frank Tieri (Harley Quinn and her Gang of Harleys); Vivek J. Tiwary (The Fifth Beatle); David Trustman (The Rise); Billy Tucci (Harley's Little Black Book); James Tynion IV (Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles); Rick Veitch (Miracleman); Emilio Velez Jr. (The Dodgeball Teens); Mark Waid (All-New, All-Different Avengers); Michael Watkins (Pantha); Todd Webb (Mr. Toast Comics); Mark Wheatley (Doctor Who); Matt Wieringo ('Ringo Scholarship Fund); Marcus Williams (Hero Cats); Ron Wilson (Marvel Two-In-One); Rich Woodall (Kyrra: Alien Jungle Girl); Sasha Yosselani (Comic Art House); and Thom Zahler (My Little Pony: Friends Forever). 
   
In the coming weeks, look for more announcements from the Baltimore Comic-Con. We are looking forward to highlighting our guests, the Harvey Awards, industry exclusives, and programming. The latest developments can always be found on our website, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook pages.

No comments: