‘San Diego Kids to Hollywood Artists’ panel at Comic-Con shines light on locals
The Spider-Man franchise is one in which San Diego natives are making on impact on Hollywood and entertainment File photo by Chris Stone Times of San Diego Several fans attending Comic-Con dream of coming back and sitting on a panel talking about their success in pop practices For Jeff Ranjo who grew up in South County those dreams came true when he was on the other side of the podium talking to fans I grew up with dreams of getting into the industry announced Ranjo who is now an executive with Netflix Ranjo was just one of several San Diego locals who made the jump into show business and spoke at the Comic-Con panel San Diego Kids to Hollywood Artists For Ranjo it involved nurturing his art skills at an early age and then evolving them while taking classes at Montgomery High School Southwestern College Mesa College and City College and CalArts As a young professional he lived in a building where Petco Park stands not too far from the San Diego Convention Center where Comic-Con is being held View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jeff Ranjo jeff ranjo It all paid off as he later worked on films for Walt Disney including Frozen Joe Moshier grew up in Lemon Grove and now is a character designer who has worked on major films including The Emperor s New Groove and Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse A die-hard Padres fan he connected his local ties to his work when he modeled the body of Miles Morales Spiderman character on that of Kawhi Leonard the NBA star and former San Diego State standout Bret Marnell grew up in Del Cerro and developed a passion for film by watching old movies at the former Ken Cinema in Kensington Now he s an editor who has worked on movies both live action and animation He s working on a highly anticipated film version of Oh the Places You ll Go based on the book by legendary La Jollan Dr Seuss Another La Jollan Aliki Theofilopoulos has done a variety of jobs in the entertainment business greater part just now as a producer She s worked on the films Hercules Mulan and the popular television show Phineas and Ferb Theresa Bentz grew up in Lemon Grove a self-described theater geek and now she s a production manager and producer whose credits include Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse Voice actor and panel moderator Tom Racine encouraged fans at Comic-Con to follow their dreams joking If these dorks can make it so can you
