People who not involved in the world of fandom may not have a good understanding of the appeal that bringing their favorite character to life has for fans. Cosplay, short for “costumed play,” is an experience that thousands of fans participate in each year at conventions and gatherings where they dress up as their favorite character from a sci-fi or fantasy movie, TV show, anime, video game or book.
Recently in her CNN Geek Out! blog, Actress Ashley Eckstein, the voice of Ahsoka Tano on the popular Cartoon Network animated series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, explained her experience with cosplay and how she not only understands the fans passion for cosplay but embraces it herself. She reveals that she has secretly wanted to dress up as Anakin Skywalker’s Padawan learner, Ahsoka Tano, for years.
“As the voice of Ahsoka, I simply go into the recording studio and record my lines for the show,” Ashley relates “There is no need to ever dress up as the character because they only need our voices to bring the character to life. However, I am also a fan, and year after year I have been going to conventions seeing hundreds of girls dressed up as Ahsoka, secretly wishing I, too, could someday try on the costume. Well, with the help of my friends, my wish was granted, and I got to dress up as Ahsoka for the day!”
When not recording the voice of Ahsoka, Ashley oversees her company, Her Universe, which produces fashionable sci-fi apparel and accessories for fangirls. To see the latest releases in the line visit http://www.heruniverseshop.com/starwars.aspx .
