MomoCon 2019 was a blistering success!

Mayor K-K had the extreme privilege of sitting in on interviews with some of the voice cast of Steven Universe, including Susan Egan (Rose/Pink Diamond/Tiny Floating Whale), Michaela Dietz (Amethyst), Deedee Magno-Hall (Pearl, and our special guest for 2019) and Zach Callison (Steven).

If you didn’t see the livetweets on Empire City Con’s Twitter at the hashtag #ECCatMomo, here are some of the highlights!

MICHAELA DIETZ

A lot of why she got interested in acting was being adopted. She relates to Amethyst in a lot that way, and she also uses humor as a defense mechanism.

Even grandparents reach out to say how much Steven Universe means to them and their families

She loves how messages of body positivity, family, loss, and consent are folded in naturally to the show.

Michaela knew how big the show had gotten when she was at the Grand Canyon a few years ago and saw someone wearing a Steven Universe shirt.

She auditioned for Steven and Sadie, but Amethyst has always felt the most right to her.

Michaela compares Amethyst’s secret underground wrestling to her road rage. She even has a lavender diffuser in her car to help her calm down!

Outside of her career, she is passionate about woodwork, dancing, and hiking.

Well, she doesn’t actually like hiking, but she thinks she should and forces herself to do it anyway.

Michaela is working on a book about her birth search experience!

If she could choose one role besides Amethyst, it would be Ronaldo for his funny and zany lines. Or Jasper, because “there’s something appealing about being such a detested character.” She thinks Kimberly Brooks brings a ton to that role!



DEEDEE MAGNO-HALL

According to her parents, Deedee has “always been a ham.”

She grew up with music in the house. There was a karaoke machine and her dad self-taught himself piano and guitar.

Deedee won a singing challenge as a kid, and the prize was to sing as a night club. But she was 11! So she got to sing at Sea World instead.

She grew up watching Disney princess movies and always dreamed of doing voice over and singing for a cartoon. Her favorite princess is Cinderella.

When she calls Zach Callison, her contact information shows up as “Bird Mom”

She was instructed to use her natural voice to audition for Pearl. She listened to a recording of Rebecca Sugar singing the theme song and tried to imitate her inflections.

Deedee loves meeting fans, and says it means as much to her as it does to us.

The biggest lesson Deedee has learned from Pearl is that “it’s okay not to be perfect.”

About the upcoming Steven Universe movie, she says: “you are not ready.”

ZACH CALLISON

He loves role playing games! He was the kind of kid who played pretend until he was 13 or 14. Playing Dungeons & Dragons returns him to his childhood wonder.

Compared to Steven, Zach is more of a cynic and a realist.

He would love to play a super hero someday. He’s auditioned for a few of those roles.

He loves sharing his music with people. He wrote all of his album, A Picture Perfect Hollywood Outbreak, himself. Going forward, he’d like to continue what he’s doing, but focus more on his music.

The craziest fan theory that he has seen is that sneeple are real. He also loves Onion = Yellow Diamond.

Zach and Steven grew up alongside each other. The shared burden of having immense responsibility at a young age is something he found solace in.

He wants to make sure that every fan interaction he has let’s them know that they matter.

If he had to pair a wine and cheese with Steven Universe, it would be colby jack after his dog, and of course, rosé!

Zach has great memories of MomoCon, especially at the raves.

His favorite episodes of Steven Universe are yet unreleased!

Special thanks again to Peachy Con Princess, the press coordinator of MomoCon and the convention consultant for Empire City Con.