John Ledford

Last updated

John Ledford
Born
John Robert Ledford II

(1968-08-19) August 19, 1968 (age 55)
Houston, Texas, U.S.
Occupation(s)Businessman, producer
Known forFounding Sentai Filmworks, A.D. Vision, Anime Network, and Newtype USA

John Robert Ledford II (born August 19, 1968, in Houston, Texas) is an American entrepreneur and producer in the anime industry. He founded A.D. Vision, Anime Network, Newtype USA and Sentai Filmworks, and has been an executive producer for hundreds of anime titles including Halo Legends , Appleseed Alpha , Short Peace , Sailor Moon , Hello Kitty , and the dubbing of Neon Genesis Evangelion .

Contents

Life and career

John Robert Ledford II was born on August 19, 1968, in Houston, Texas, to Gayle Greer (1945–2009) [1] and John Robert Ledford. His mother, Gayle, was a harpist and an equestrian. [1]

A fan of video games, Ledford began his career in 1990 by founding Gametronix. The business grew to become America's second largest importer of Japanese video games and consoles such as Mega Drive, Famicom, Super Famicom and PC Engine. [2] John's interest in anime began after being introduced to My Neighbor Totoro . [3] In 1992, he and his business partner Matt Greenfield turned their attention to the anime industry and founded A.D. Vision. [4]

A.D. Vision (aka ADV Films or ADV) became a global leader of anime entertainment, innovation, media diversity, branded consumer products, licensing and publishing. [5] By its 10th year, ADV was the largest employer of actors in the Southwest United States and expanded to include Tokyo and UK branches. Within a decade, ADV cemented its status as a major distributor of anime in North America, releasing titles such as Neon Genesis Evangelion, Sailor Moon, and Hello Kitty. [6] [7] The company also released live-action films on DVD, such as Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda (TV Series) and Earth Final Conflict as well as the Sci-Fi Channel and Jim Henson hit series Farscape, promoted original film releases and ventured into extreme wrestling with Combat Zone Wrestling.

Ledford then founded Anime Network, North America's first all-anime dedicated cable TV network, in 2001; it grew from just 500,000 households to reach over 40,000,000 households. [8] The following year he started publishing Newtype USA in partnership with Kadokawa Publishing. The publishing operation grew to include ADV Manga, which licensed and published hundreds of Japanese manga and Korean manhwa for North American distribution.

Ledford co-founded J-Spec Pictures in 2008 with producer Joseph Chou. The company's first project revolved around Halo, the number one global franchise by developer Bungie and published by Microsoft Corp.

In 2008, Ledford established separate companies from ADV called Sentai Filmworks and Sentai Holdings. [9] Since then, Sentai has acquired roughly four hundred licenses including a number of acclaimed titles such as Grave of the Fireflies, Ninja Scroll, High School of the Dead, and Gatchaman. In 2014, Sentai Filmworks acquired the North American license to Short Peace, an omnibus collection of four anime shorts including the 86th Academy Awards nominated Best Animated Short Film Possessions directed by Shuhei Morita. [10] The film had a nationwide theatrical release in over 250 theaters.

Ledford created the anime streaming service HIDIVE, which launched in June 2017. [11]

Sentai Filmworks continues to manage one of the world's largest anime libraries released across traditional and digital media platforms. Sentai Filmworks, Sentai Holdings, and the HIDIVE streaming service were sold to AMC Networks in January 2022. [12]

Ledford created Infinite Frontiers in 2010 to aggregate digital content through accounts such as Hulu, Netflix, iTunes, PlayStation and Xbox Live. Still an avid fan of games, two years later he founded Spectre Media as a mobile gaming start up to develop and publish games to Apple iOS, Android and web browsers. The company's debut launch title was Mobile Infantry (Starship Troopers), based on the sci-fi movie, comic and book franchise Starship Troopers .

Related Research Articles

<i>Princess Tutu</i> Japanese anime television series

Princess Tutu is a Japanese anime television series created by Ikuko Itoh and directed by Junichi Sato and Shogo Koumoto. Inspired by ballet and fairy tales, particularly The Ugly Duckling and Swan Lake, its story follows a duck who is transformed into the mythical ballerina Princess Tutu in order to save the shattered heart of a storybook prince come to life.

The history of anime in the United States began in 1961, when Magic Boy and The White Snake Enchantress, both produced by Toei Animation, became the first and second anime films to receive documented releases in the country. Anime has since found success with a growing audience in the region, with Astro Boy often being noted as the first anime to receive widespread syndication, especially in the United States. Additionally, anime's growth in popularity in the US during the 1990s, commonly referred to as the "anime boom," is credited with much of anime's enduring relevance to popular culture outside Japan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A.D. Vision</span> Defunct American entertainment company

A.D. Vision Holdings, Inc. was an American multimedia entertainment distributor headquartered in Houston, Texas, and founded in 1992 by video game fan John Ledford and anime fans Matt Greenfield and David Williams. The company specialized in home video production and distribution, theatrical film distribution, merchandising, original productions, magazine and comic book publishing. They also ran Anime Network, a television channel devoted to airing the company's titles. Some of their titles were Neon Genesis Evangelion, Super Dimension Fortress Macross, RahXephon, Full Metal Panic, Azumanga Daioh, Elfen Lied, Gantz, Red Garden, and Le Chevalier D'Eon.

<i>Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water</i> Japanese animated TV series

Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water is a Japanese anime television series created by NHK, Toho, and Korad, from a concept of Hayao Miyazaki, and directed by Hideaki Anno of Gainax. Inspired by the works of Jules Verne, particularly Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas and the exploits of Captain Nemo, the series follows young inventor Jean and former circus performer Nadia, who are led off to adventure by a secret in Nadia's pendant.

Matthew Brian Greenfield is an American producer, scriptwriter, director and voice actor. He produces English-language versions of Japanese anime, including Neon Genesis Evangelion, and was the co-founder of A.D. Vision.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tiffany Grant</span> American voice actress

Tiffany Lynn Grant is an American voice actress and script writer who is known for her English-dubbing work for anime films and television series as Neon Genesis Evangelion, in which she voiced the character Asuka Langley Soryu.

Kira Vincent-Davis is an American voice actress best known for her work in English-language versions of Japanese anime. She voices Lucy/Nyu in Elfen Lied, Anchovy in Girls und Panzer, Izuna Hatsuse in No Game No Life, Ayumu Kasuga in Azumanga Daioh, Mirai Kuriyama in Beyond the Boundary, Kansai in World's End Club, Minagi Tohno in Air, Mizuki Tachibana in Gravion, Rino Rando and Pucchan in Best Student Council, Chaika Trabant in Chaika - The Coffin Princess, and Mio Sakamoto in the Strike Witches series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greg Ayres</span> American voice actor

Greg Ayres is an American voice actor who works on a number of English versions of Japanese anime series. He voiced Hideki in Nerima Daikon Brothers, Koyuki Tanaka in Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad, Son Goku in Saiyuki, Clear in Dramatical Murder, Chrono in Chrono Crusade, Yuu Nishinoya in Haikyu!!, Kaoru Hitachin in Ouran High School Host Club, Negi Springfield in Negima, Heihachi Hayashida in Samurai 7, Frost in Dragon Ball Super and Tomoki Sakurai in Heaven's Lost Property.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luci Christian</span> American voice actress

Louisa Michelle Christian is an American voice actress and ADR script writer. She has provided many voices for English versions of Japanese anime series and films.

Allison Leigh Sumrall is an American voice actress, known for her roles in the English-language dubs of anime series. She is a veteran of the former Masquerade Theatre and Generations Theatre in Houston, Texas, and received her education in performing arts from the University of Houston. In anime, she is known as the voice of Miia from Monster Musume, Mui Aiba from Magical Warfare, Kagura from Azumanga Daioh, Lilith Asami from Trinity Seven, Nana Astar Deviluke from the To Love Ru series, and Taiga Fujimura from the Fate/Kaleid liner Prisma Illya series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Patton</span> American voice actor

Christopher David Patton is an American voice actor who has worked on a number of English-language versions of Japanese anime series. Some of his major roles include Sousuke Sagara in Full Metal Panic!, Turles in Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might, Greed in Fullmetal Alchemist, Ayato Kamina in RahXephon, Graham Specter in Baccano!, Hajime Aoyama in Ghost Stories, Manabu Yuuki in The Galaxy Railways, Creed Diskenth in Black Cat, Ikki Minami in Air Gear, Asura in Soul Eater, Agito in Origin: Spirits of the Past, and Keima Katsuragi in The World God Only Knows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jay Hickman (actor)</span> American actor

Jay Hickman is an American film and voice actor, best known for his prolific voice work on English language dubs of Japanese anime shows.

Shelley Calene-Black is an American voice actress who has provided voices for a number of English language versions of Japanese anime films and television series. Some of her leading voice roles include Mireille in Noir, Kyou Fujibayashi in Clannad, Rutile in Land of the Lustrous, Medaka Kurokami in Medaka Box, Hamyuts Meseta in The Book of Bantorra and Hime in Princess Resurrection. In live action films, she played the lead role of Maria Patterson in the Mariusz Kotowski-directed Holocaust film Esther's Diary.

Allison Keith-Shipp is an American voice actress who is best known for her English-dubbing work with ADV Films on anime movies and television series as Neon Genesis Evangelion, in which she voiced the character Misato Katsuragi. Keith was introduced to voice acting by Amanda Winn Lee when they were in an improv troupe together, and began with the part of Gamera in Gunsmith Cats; she cites Sakura in Blue Seed as her favorite character. She has a bachelor's degree in theater from the University of Houston, and a teacher's certification. She used to live in New York and Los Angeles doing occasional work for Central Park Media and Bandai Entertainment. In 2009, she reprised her role as Misato Katsuragi for the Rebuild of Evangelion films for Funimation, and has been doing voice work for Sentai Filmworks.

Carliyn Cyd Mosier is an American voice actress and political activist. She is also a board member for the River Oaks Area Democratic Women (ROADWomen).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sentai Filmworks</span> American entertainment company

Sentai Filmworks, LLC is an American entertainment company. Located in Houston, the company specializes in the dubbing and distribution of Japanese animation and Asian cinema. Its post-production arm is Sentai Studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Section23 Films</span> American multimedia distributor

SXION 23 LLC, doing business as Section23 Films, is an American multimedia distributor based in Houston, Texas specializing in releasing anime and Japanese films. Established in 2009, Section23 is one of five successors to ADV Films; alongside Sentai Filmworks, Switchblade Pictures, Maiden Japan, and AEsir Holdings. The company is named after a Texas tax code.

Sentai Studios is an American post-production studio of Sentai Filmworks located in Houston, Texas. It was founded as Industrial Smoke & Mirrors, the in-house studio of ADV Films. It was renamed ADV Studios in 2005 when it merged with ADV's secondary studio, the Austin-based Monster Island; and then in 2006, when ADV began offering its services to other companies, the studio was also called Amusement Park Media before it was sold off by A.D. Vision in 2008. It was then renamed Seraphim Digital and was renamed to its current name in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shannon Emerick</span> American voice actress

Shannon Emerick is an American voice actress who voices a number of English language localizations of Japanese anime shows with ADV Films, Seraphim Digital and Sentai Filmworks. She graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in Theater Studies and English. In anime, she is known as the voice of Charlotte Dunois from the Infinite Stratos series, Kei Kishimoto from Gantz and Riki Naoe from the Little Busters! series. Outside of voice acting, she is a stage actress in the Houston area. She won the Best Actress award from Houston Press for her theater work twice in 2006 and 2011, respectively.

Christina Marie Kelly is an American voice actress who provides voices for English dubs of anime series.

References

  1. 1 2 "Gayle Ledford". Houston Chronicle. September 25, 2009. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  2. ↑ Edith Sorenson (October 23, 2006). "Dub Hub". houstonpress.com. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  3. ↑ Christopher Helman (September 6, 2004). "Why Grow Up?". Forbes. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  4. ↑ ADV Films (June 11, 2002). "ADV Films Founder Ranks on List of Most Powerful People in Genre Entertainment". prnewswire.com. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  5. ↑ "John Ledford". Anime News Network. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
  6. ↑ Melissa Hung (October 23, 2006). "Tooned In To Anime". houstonpress.com. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  7. ↑ "ADV Celebrates 10th Anniversary in Style". Anime News Network. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
  8. ↑ "ADV Confirms Cable Anime Channel". Anime News Network. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  9. ↑ "ICv2: Interview with John Ledford, Part One". icv2.com. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Sentai Filmworks Licenses Short Peace". Anime News Network. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
  11. ↑ "HIDIVE Anime Streaming Service Launches". October 11, 2023.
  12. ↑ "Sentai Filmworks Acquired by AMC Networks". Anime News Network. October 11, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.