Announced Guests
We’re delighted to present our guest line up for Capital Sci Fi Con 2024! Keep your eyes peeled for our updates and announcements here and on our socials.
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David Ajala
In an interview for Interview Magazine David Ajala said "When I was in secondary school, my maths teacher said I had way too much energy and was too mischievous. He tried to convince me that if I did acting, I'd be popular amongst my peers".
Ajala trained at the Anna Scher Theatre and Courtyard Theatre drama school, then began his career performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company at in Stratford-upon-Avon where he performed in productions of “Hamlet,” and “A Midsummer Night's Dream,” among others. David has also worked at The Almeida Theatre, Donmar Warehouse and Royal court Theatre. Ajala's Film credits include the independent feature STARRED UP alongside Jack O'Connell and Rupert Friend; the Wachowski feature JUPITER ASCENDING with Mila Kunis and Channing Tatum and FAST & FURIOUS 6 alongside the late Paul Walker and Vin Diesel. Ajala was nominated “Best Acting Performance” by the Royal Television Society in 2009. On TV he has appeared in many TV shows with major roles in Black Box, Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands, Nightflyers, Falling Water and Supergirl. In addition, Ajala has also had major guest roles in award winning shows including “Law & Order: UK,” “Death in Paradise,” “Silent Witness,” and the wildly popular “Doctor Who.” In October 2019, he joined the regular cast of season three of Star Trek: Discovery. |
Denis Lawson
Denis is a Scottish actor, writer and director with an illustrious career spanning over 40 years on both stage and screen. You’ll know Denis from playing X-Wing pilot Wedge Antilles in the original Star Wars trilogy, as well as reprisals of his iconic role in various films, TV shows and games since. Within his career in theatre, Denis won the 1983 Olivier Award for ‘Best Actor in a Musical’ for his role as Jim Lancaster in Mr Cinders. His role as John Jarndyce in the 2005 TV mini-series adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Bleak House earned him nominations for multiple awards, including BAFTAs and Primetime Emmy’s. Denis is recognisable for playing hotel owner Gordon Urquhart in the classic Scottish film Local Hero alongside Burt Lancaster, his role as surgeon Tom Campbell-Gore in Holby City and for joining the cast of the critically acclaimed TV series New Tricks in 2012 as retired Glasgow detective Steve McAndrew. |
Paul McGann
Whovians will know Paul as the eighth incarnation of The Doctor, first appearing in the 1996 TV film “Doctor Who” for which he was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Genre TV Actor. Paul has since reprised his role for various radio, podcast and television products, including Big Finish Productions’ audio play series ‘Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor Adventures’.
Paul is a multiple award nominee, with wins for ‘Best Actor’ for 1990’s “Paper Mask” at the Barcelona Film Festival, ‘Best Actor in a Feature Film’ at the HIFF Awards for 2017s “B&B” and ‘Best Actor’ at the Liverpool Film Festival for his role in 2021 short film “Follow your Dreams”. He has featured in various blockbusters including Alien³ alongside Sigourney Weaver as antagonist Walter Golic, Girard in 1993’s “The Three Musketeers” as well as portraying Mark North in the critically acclaimed TV show “Luther”. Paul has also appeared in cult classics such as black comedy “Withnail and I” alongside Richard E. Grant, “Lesbian Vampire Killers” and the 2002 adaptation of vampire novel “Queen of the Damned”. You can see Paul as the titular role in the recently released period crime thriller “The Undertaker”. |
Arti Shah
Arti Shah is an actress and motivational speaker, with well over a decade’s worth of experience in the entertainment industry. Arti is best known for her work as a CFX performer, working with prosthetics, movement reference and motion capture.
She provided the scale movement reference for Rocket Raccoon in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1” (2014) alongside Sean Gunn, the scale motion capture performance for Maz Kanata in “Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens” (2015) - as well as numerous characters across the Disney era of Star Wars - and various other creature and prosthetic characters. She was the female alien in Joe Cornish’s “Attack the Block” (2011), the Gringotts Bank goblin that suspiciously looks at the heroes in “Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part 2” (2011), as well as the night club Goblin singer in The Blind Pig pub in “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” (2016). Arti also has a rich history of varied roles across TV and film (including stunts etc.) and has solidified herself as a staple of the Lucasfilm Star Wars family, whilst cultivating a strong career as a motivational speaker; speaking with schools, universities and major companies about diversity and inclusion. |
Paul Freeman
Indiana Jones fans will recognise Paul as Indy’s rival archaeologist René Belloq from “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981), for which he was nominated for a Saturn Award for ‘Best Supporting Actor’. Fans of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers will know Paul from his transformative role as the villainous Ivan Ooze in “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie” (1995). Paul was the winner of the 2001 ‘Best Actor’ award at the Cairo International Film Festival for his role as the titular character of Julius Morlang in psychological drama “Morlang” (2001).
Paul has an illustrious career spanning big and small screen alongside stage, with extensive work in theatre, having worked with both the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Paul appeared as the Reverend Shooter in modern classic “Hot Fuzz” (2007), and in comedy film “Without a Clue” (1988) as antagonist Professor James Moriarty opposite Michael Caine and Ben Kingsley’s Holmes and Watson. Paul is also the co-founder of the charity ‘UK Friends of Healing Focus’ (UKHF) alongside his wife Maggie, which does brilliant work supporting the education, welfare and development of the orphaned children of Busiiro Village in Uganda. |
James Mackenzie
James is best known by young warriors as host of BAFTA award winning CBBC children’s adventure gameshow “Raven” (2002-2010).
Throughout his career he has appeared in many iconic Scottish television shows including Rebus, Taggart Still Game and River City. CBeebies viewers will have seen James in popular children’s TV show “Molly and Mack” in recent years, and Outlander fans will know James as convict Caleb in season 4 of the show. James is a long standing Capital Sci-Fi Con guest ambassador. |
Angus MacInnes
Angus is best known for playing Gold Leader Jon “Dutch” Vander in “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope” (1977), with the character being featured again in an archive footage cameo in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” (2016). He has been in a wealth of film and television for over four decades, and fantasy and sci-fi fans can find him in “Hellbound: Hellraiser II” (1988), “Judge Dredd” (1995) and “Hellboy” (2004) amongst his many other film credits.
Angus is a long standing Capital Sci-Fi Con guest ambassador. |
Jimmy Vee
Jimmy’s work as an actor, puppeteer and stunt performer can be found across the sci-fi verse. He has featured in various episodes of “Doctor Who” and “The Sarah Jane Adventures” over the years portraying a number of different monsters and aliens, and has also worked on Harry Potter and Star Wars, including having replaced the late Kenny Baker in the role of R2-D2 in “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” (2017). In recent years Jimmy can be seen in “Rocketman” (2019) and “The Witcher” prequel “The Witcher: Blood Origin” (2022).
Jimmy is a long standing Capital Sci-Fi Con guest ambassador. |
Steve Cardenas
We are thrilled to announce the Red Ranger himself, Steve Cardenas is completing our guest line up for Capital Sci Fi Con.
Steve has been part of the Power Rangers franchise since 1994 as Rocky the Red Ranger and the Blue Zeo Ranger! He has been in hundreds of episodes and three Power Ranger movies. We know Steve will have amazing stories to share with you all at his panel talks and he will be reuniting over the weekend with Paul Freeman aka Ivan Ooze from the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers movie! We are working behind the scenes on a photo shoot opportunity with these two fantastic actors so watch this space. |