CHOPS Professional Actors
You can work with veteran performers from the events industryThis group of experienced and talented professionals is now part of the CHOPS talent pool. You can choose any of these actors to handle the behind-the-scenes performances that bring avatars to life in your trade show booth or on your stage.
All of them have been on the stage, in person, working for corporations and can be trusted to handle the speaking duties quite well. We believe that they are the best corporate performers the industry has to offer.
Gary Jesch
Gary is a pioneer in performance animation who has performed around the world at all kinds of events, who has created numerous characters and who has developed the Digital Puppeteer ™ live animation system.
He’s been the voice for all the male characters owned by CHOPS and is the executive producer on CHOPS projects. When he’s not performing, he will be the animation specialist handling the arrangements.
Kira Gurnee
With energy, enthusiasm, and a knack for keeping the crowd entertained and engaged, Kira brings characters to life as a puppeteer and voice actress behind the scenes, as well as a talented crowd gatherer out in front.
She’s performed with the Digital Puppeteer ™ live animation system on several occasions, including trade show exhibits for Astra Zeneca and a corporate sales meeting for Nikken.
Richard Laible
A professional emcee, trade show presenter, meeting host and writer who has more than 20 years of corporate experience—including 10 years with Chicago’s world famous “The Second City” improvisational theater.
Richard gets your audience laughing, but most importantly he gets them – and keeps them – listening closely to the messages you need to communicate throughout your trade show, corporate meeting or event. He has a customized, high-energy approach that brings corporate messages and ideas to life while he engages and inspires people to listen, participate and realize their full potential.
Dana Stamos
Dana Stamos has done more to help CHOPS succeed than any other person, and she consistently turns in performances that are fun, exciting and special. She’s known for drawing people in with her “Morphie” voice while performing the “My Fish People” show. Another character she’s brought to life is VirtuaLibby, for several trade shows, where she’s sharing the stage with Digital Dan.
Dana has another profession that brings her into the spotlight – she’s the owner of several of the world’s most successful martial arts websites, including USAdojo.com, which sees 50,000 visitors a month. She is in the Martial Arts Hall of Fame, and is a successful journalist, photographer and website designer.
Jeffrey Weissman
Jeffrey Weissman draws from his 45 years experience in the entertainment industry. He costars in major motion pictures, (Back to the Future 2 & 3, Pale Rider, Twilight Zone Movie), indies (Corked!, Savior of None) and television (Diagnosis Murder, Scarecrow & Mrs King, Saved By The Bell).
He uses his diverse character and narrative talents doing voice and body work for major clients in animation, film, radio and industrials.
In the ‘80s and ‘90s as a member of ‘Custom Looping’ he honed his improvisation for voice work for film with the best in the industry, working along side with veterans of the Committee, Second City and Groundlings.
Jeffrey has performed live as a founding member of award winning, Los Angeles Theatre Sports, and he’s performed with Second City Alumni, Flying Penguins, Comedy Omelette, 6th St Improv, North Bay Improv and he’s guest starred with Leela, BATS and many other esteemed Improvisation groups worldwide.
Amy McWhirter
Amy was born to perform and connect with audiences. She creates connections and impact, empowering audiences and ensuring they make the most of their event experience.
An authentically engaging, energizing, charismatic professional Corporate Event Host and Emcee, On-Camera Host and Trade Show Presenter, Amy creates connections between people, to ideas, concepts and emotions, and guides audience members on rich, inspiring journeys.
Erdmann Rogge
Erdmann Rogge is a highly talented San Francisco German-American man who speaks fluent English, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and French and who has a basic knowledge of Swedish, Latin, Finnish, Czech and Russian – 11 languages.
He’s a professional geologist trained in the US, and specializes in water resources. If you want to connect with international visitors at your trade show, his multi-lingual capabilities will astound you. He can also do some basic greetings in Chinese and Japanese.
Michael Fischette
Michael Fischette has been an actor, writer and puppeteer in the events industry for over 25 years. He has played parts at trade shows, sales meetings and training events worldwide. In addition, Michael has also been the voice-over announcer at numerous awards ceremonies at corporate events.
Michael’s voice has been heard on national radio and television commercials and public service announcements, as well as Public Television and EPCOT at Disney World. His versatility includes his talent as a mimic and impersonator…allowing Michael to be the voice of the cartoon character Mr. Magoo for GE trade shows. For Simon & Schuster Publishing, he was the voice of the children’s favorite monster character “Mooky.” He has performed with such celebrities as David Letterman, Willard Scott, Joe Gibbs, Walter Payton, Jim Hartz and John Ratzenberger.
Don Rose
Don Rose is a quadruple threat when it comes to live performance, having performed standup comedy, celebrity impressions, voice-overs, and music for many years. After launching his comedic career while in grad school (earning UC Irvine’s Comedian of the Year award and a write-up in the LA Times), Don went on to regular performances at the Improv and other major clubs, opening for stars such as David Spade and Gilbert Gottfried.
And Don knows how to make a great impression (yes, pun intended). His comedic impersonations range from the political arena (Presidents Trump, Obama, Bush, Clinton) to the world of Hollywood (Jay Leno, Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Larry King, Christopher Walken, Woody Allen, Liam Neeson, Jerry Seinfeld), music (McCartney/Beatles, Bob Dylan, Neil Young), and more.
Don’s mirth-making mimicry has led to voice-over work for radio sketches, commercials, and animation (he served as the voice of Bill Clinton on an animated Web series). Finally, there is occasional look-alike work as well, as Don does a dead-on Garth from “Wayne’s World”.
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