On April 24th & 25th, thousands of comic, anime, sci-fi, animation and horror fans will pack the BMO Round Up Centre for the chance to meet some of their favorite actors. Headlined by Star Trek icon Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock) and Star Trek: The Next Generation's Brent Spiner (Lt. Data), this year’s event has one of the biggest lineups ever.
Did you love Dollhouse? Canadian Tahmoh Penikett, who played Paul Ballard in the show, in addition to starring in Battlestar Galactica, will be there. Horror fans will be ecstatic to meet Sid Haig (House of 1'000 Corpses, The Devil's Rejects) and Malcom McDowell (Clockwork Orange, Halloween). Follow the squeals to meet Twilight's Peter Facinelli, Tyson Houseman and Amex Meraz.
What's missing so far from this list? Well, it just wouldn't feel right to have an expo of this nature without someone from Star Wars, right? Rest assured, young Jedi's, your opportunity awaits you in Lando Calrissian (aka. Billy Dee Williams).
"I always look forward to these vents, it is always a lot of fun and I enjoy myself, I have been for a number of years now and we travel all over the world. I love to watch all the characters come in with their costumes. It is an opportunity to hang out with people who have been very supportive."
GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine spoke to Williams from California on his 73rd birthday. He recalled how excited he was to get the opportunity to be part of a film series that would become iconic.
"When I was asked to do it, I was asked for two movies. I had been familiar with George Lucas' work at the time. It was a real big thrill and honour for me. Actors are always looking to do and try something interesting with interesting people, which was a plus."
It is not just Calrissian that fans remember Williams for. Another claim to fame are his liquor commercials from the 1980's.
"They come out for the other characters too. They will bring bottles of Colt 45 for me to sign."
Williams was in the original 1989 Batman as Harvey Dent, a role that had him excited for future possibilities, which unfortunately didn't pan out.
"Working with Tim Burton and everybody was a lot of fun. The reason I did it was I was looking forward to playing Two-Face but it didn't work out that way. The project was bought by Sony at the time and there was a change of hands. It would have been more interesting if I had played it too, because it wasn't originally written for a little brown-skinned boy like me, so it would have been much more interesting than how it went."
His other highest profile role was as Barry Gordy in The Jacksons: An American Dream. It was an interesting challenge playing someone he knew very well.
"Barry wanted me to play him. I was under contract with him for seven years at one point. He is my daughter's god[father] so I am very close to him. It was a lot of fun to play him. There are things about him that I really understand, and I really wanted to talk about them in a whimsical kind of humour that I brought to the character."
This will be a return to Alberta for the actor, who was featured in Lonesome Dove: The Series as Aaron Grayson in 1994.
"I played a cowboy, riding a horse was a lot of fun. It was a good experience. Prior to that the first time I was in Alberta was for a movie that we never completed; I was co-starring with James Gardner. It was a great experience because it was the first time I saw the Northern Lights which was a special, spiritual moment. That is the wonderful thing about being in this business is that you have the opportunity to travel to different places and bring a lot of cultural differences. I have done it for so many years it is an important part of my life."
With over 100 film and TV credits to his name, it still often seems to come back to Calrissian. He has reprised the voice for shows like _Robot Chicken_ as well as video games, and had aspects of the character in programs like That 70's Show.
"I am just having a lot of fun at this juncture in my life. I run into people all the time who remember a lot of the other things that I have done. It is not always the Lando Calrissian character. I made an impact, and I made a good one and that is always nice."
