David Anders – May 2015 – CONversations with Craig

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:01:05 — 42.5MB)

In May 2015, Craig sat down with David Anders at Comicpalooza in Houston for one of the very first convention panels he ever moderated. Anders, known for playing unforgettable villains and complicated characters in Alias, Heroes, iZombie, The Vampire Diaries, and Once Upon a Time, looked back on his career, his reputation as one of the rare American actors known for convincing British accents, and the mentors who helped shape him. The conversation moved from funny set stories to emotional reflections on rejection, persistence, and the people who gave him a chance.

• • David talked about the early days of Alias, how J.J. Abrams fought for him to get the role of Sark, and why the character being British changed the course of his career.

• • He shared stories from Heroes, iZombie, The Vampire Diaries, and Once Upon a Time, including the strange fun of playing characters who are villains, undead, immortal, or just beautifully terrible.

• • In one of the most personal moments of the panel, David opened up about giving up sports, finding acting, moving to Los Angeles at 18, and the teachers and mentors who helped him keep going.

“Always know everyone, know the scene backwards and forwards. Just know your words. And always be 15 minutes early.”

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2024 FanX Animation Voice Actor Panel – CONversation with Craig

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 41:38 — 33.9MB)

2024 FanX Animation Voice Actor Panel

Recorded live at FanX 2024, this episode of Conversations with Craig features Craig moderating a lively animation voice actor panel with Phil LaMarr, Spencer Grammer, Fred Tatasciore, Sean Chiplock, Khary Payton, and Jess Harnell. The conversation moves from career stories and fan questions to voice acting techniques, music, artificial intelligence, convention life, and the unpredictable comedy that happens when a room full of performers starts riffing off each other.

• • The panelists discuss how voice acting has changed as fans have become more familiar with the people behind their favorite animated characters and video game roles.

• • Audience questions lead to stories about auditions, musical inspiration, performance anxiety, AI, and the challenge of bringing emotion to even the smallest lines.

• • The panel gets wonderfully ridiculous with dramatic Pac-Man, Call of Duty Zombies holiday music, cage-free zombies, emotional dot-dot-dots, and a surprisingly confident ruling on whether water is wet.

“I’m damned displeased to be killed in this fashion.” – Fred Tatasciore

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Terminator Cast – Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn and Edward Furlong – September 2024 – CONversation with Craig

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 42:25 — 34.5MB)

Terminator Cast – Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn and Edward Furlong – September 2024

Recorded live at FanX Salt Lake in 2024, this special episode of CONversations with Craig brings together three icons from the Terminator franchise: Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn and Edward Furlong. The panel looks back at the legacy of Sarah Connor, the genius and intensity of James Cameron, the practical stunt work behind The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and how a movie about killer machines somehow feels even more relevant in the age of AI.

• • Linda Hamilton reflects on Sarah Connor’s legacy, calling the role a “lucky accident” while recognizing the staying power of one of cinema’s most iconic action heroes.

• • Michael Biehn talks about James Cameron’s work ethic and vision, including how Cameron’s storytelling about the future still feels unsettlingly accurate decades later.

• • Edward Furlong shares what it was like starting his career on Terminator 2, working with Cameron, Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger before fully understanding how massive the movie would become.

“Technology knows that I’m the enemy. And they treat me like the enemy. Go figure.” – Linda Hamilton

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Dane DiLiegro – June 2024 – CONversations with Craig

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 57:24 — 40.0MB)

Dane DeLiegro did not exactly take the usual road to Hollywood, and that is what made this live conversation at the 2024 Origins Game Fair in Columbus, Ohio so entertaining. Before becoming the Predator in Prey, he played pro basketball in Europe, spent years apprenticing under a legendary Tuscan butcher, and nearly ended up in the culinary world instead of the film business. By the time he started describing what it took to bring the Predator to life, it was clear this was not your standard actor origin story.

• • Before acting, DeLiegro spent years playing professional basketball in Europe and living in Tuscany during the off-seasons, where he apprenticed under famed butcher Dario Cecchini and learned traditional Tuscan butchery.

• • His path into movies started almost by accident when a stand-in job on Free Guy led people on set to realize his size and physicality made him a natural fit for creature acting.

• • DeLiegro detailed the intense physical demands of playing the Predator in Prey, including mime school, martial arts and parkour training, major weight loss, and performing scenes with extremely limited vision inside the suit.

“Every morning you wake up and it’s a little Predator surprise party, remembering that you’re the Predator.” – Dane DiLiegro

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Kevin Conroy – June 2018 – CONversations with Craig

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 51:58 — 42.7MB)

Kevin Conroy was not just the voice of Batman to a generation of fans. He was the voice. In this live conversation from the San Francisco Comic Con in 2018, he pulls back the curtain on how he landed the role, why his classical theater training made him the perfect Dark Knight, and how the emotional core of Batman shaped every performance he gave.

• Kevin Conroy explains how his classical theater training and deep understanding of Batman’s trauma helped him create a version of the character that felt real, grounded, and timeless.
• Conroy shares memorable Juilliard stories, including living with Robin Williams, which reveals both the humor and the serious craft behind great performance.
• He also discusses the creative chemistry between Batman and the Joker, especially his collaboration with Mark Hamill, and how strong scene partners helped elevate the animated series into something truly special.

“I am vengeance. I am the night. I am Batman.” – Kevin Conroy

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John and Joan Cusack – September 2017 – CONversations with Craig

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:27 — 20.1MB)

Some panels feel like a press junket with polite clapping. This panel, recorded at FanX Salt Lake in 2017, feels like a family reunion where the relatives happen to be movie icons. From the jump, the room lands on the perfect vibe: not “you were in my childhood,” but “we grew up together,” like distant cousins swapping stories you already love hearing.

• • John talks about playing Brian Wilson and how meaningful it was to feel like they did right by him. He also shares a great detail about working alongside Paul Dano: they did not compare notes, but both found their way in through the Smile Sessions box set.

• • Joan shares an early set memory: she starts as an extra, gets upgraded to a line, and is told to go buy an outfit. She winds up in purple corduroy pants while processing that this is somehow her life now.

• • John tells a story about someone on Twitter posting “cast Joan Cusack more,” and his reaction is basically “correct.” The moment turns into a mini rally, and honestly, the internet should do more of that.

“All I did was look for dignity. It was a constant search for dignity.” – Joan Cusack

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Christopher Eccleston – September 2021 – CONversation with Craig

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 45:25 — 31.7MB)

Recorded live in Utah after a two year wait, this CONversation with Craig drops you straight into a packed room with Christopher Eccleston and an audience ready to sprint into Doctor Who territory at full speed. Craig kicks things off by digging into Christopher’s take on Fagin in Dodger, including how you approach an iconic role that comes with real baggage. From there it turns into a smart, funny, occasionally sharp Q&A about stepping back into the Ninth Doctor with Big Finish, what it was like recording in isolation during COVID, and why the Doctor’s loneliness is not a side note, it is the engine.

• Chris describes the character in a way that keeps the charm and the danger intact, calling him “a kind of a Robin Hood figure,” but still someone with “a slightly dodgy, no pun intended, moral compass.” He also connects that damage to the Ninth Doctor, which is a neat little bridge between Dickens and the TARDIS.
• He talks about recording during COVID with only a sound engineer, how quickly the character came back, and how audio acting has its own rules. You cannot rely on sprinting down corridors or flailing your arms like a windmill.
• There is a great exchange about villains and what actually terrifies people. Eccleston points out how one story was designed with adults in mind.

“Oh, he’s falling through time. He’s alone as we all are…really. He’s alone.” – Christopher Eccleston

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John Cleese – April 2019 – CONversation with Craig

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 40:20 — 28.2MB)

Recorded live at FanX Salt Lake in April 2019, this Conversation with Craig is a full panel with comedy legend John Cleese, as Craig finally gets his game time call to step onstage with one of his heroes. From John’s North American convention debut and Craig’s nerves backstage to dry British chaos in front of a packed room, it is equal parts origin story, masterclass in comedy, and gleeful mischief.

• How a would be lawyer with a Cambridge law degree accidentally fell into show business through a student revue that suddenly transferred to London and ran for months.
• Cleese breaks down why you should always write comedy about what you know, how Fawlty Towers grew out of that idea, and how he approached those classic management training videos without ever having lived in a cubicle.
• Candid, rapid fire audience Q and A on Monty Python collaborators, silly walks, roles he regrets turning down, aging, politics, and why he happily pokes fun at everyone, including himself.

“Actually, it’s quite nice being old, because you just don’t give a fuck, you know?” – John Cleese

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Enrico Colantoni – September 2025 – CONversations with Craig

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:28 — 39.3MB)

Enrico Colantoni brought warmth, candor, and craft to the stage at FanX Salt Lake in September 2025, moving from first-time motion capture on Indiana Jones and the Great Circle to lived-in stories from Veronica Mars, Flashpoint, and Person of Interest, blending practical acting insights with dry wit, a steady respect for the work, and genuine connection with the audience.

• Enrico recounts his first stab at motion capture on Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, cracking up about the clingy gray suit and the pure imagination it takes to act to a green void.
• The infamous Veronica Mars black eye turns out to be a street-hockey souvenir, and the father–daughter magic with Kristen Bell comes from leading with heart instead of tricks.
• Whether commanding in Flashpoint or charmingly dangerous in Person of Interest, he builds every role by finding the human first, even when the character would rather hide it.

“It’s my heart with different language. My heart in a different costume” – Enrico Colantoni

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Rose McGowan and Holly Marie Combs – September 2023 – CONversations with Craig

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:52 — 25.9MB)

Two icons of 90s television and beyond—Rose McGowan (Scream, Planet Terror) and Holly Marie Combs (Picket Fences, Pretty Little Liars)—took the stage at FanX Salt Lake City 2023 for a heartfelt, funny, and wide-ranging conversation that delighted longtime fans. From sharing memories of growing up as child actors to reflecting on their post-Hollywood lives, the panel blended nostalgia, honesty, and plenty of laughs.

• Both McGowan and Combs began working as teenagers, navigating the strange realities of Hollywood at a young age. Combs spoke about finding “family” on the set of Picket Fences, while McGowan described how life in the industry made relationships feel temporary—but also taught her how to bond quickly and deeply with cast and crew.
• The conversation wasn’t just about their acting careers. Combs revealed her lifelong connection to the restaurant world—her family worked in the industry, and she and her husband now own a diner and an Italian spot where he perfected the fries after months of testing. McGowan, meanwhile, discussed her activism and her quieter life in Mexico, where she spends time observing monkeys in the jungle and escaping the chaos of Hollywood.
• The most powerful moments came when both reflected on resilience and inspiration. Combs pointed to co-star and longtime friend Shannon Doherty, calling her “tougher than she’s ever been” as she continues treatment and meets fans with strength and generosity. McGowan praised everyday “quiet heroes”—single parents and working families who inspire her with their perseverance.

“It’s pretty magical that this many people still care about the thing we’re not supposed to talk about.” – Holly Marie Combs

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