April 2012, Cosplay Babe of the Month, Camilee Bishop.
With the arrival of Spring we bring you the refreshing and classic beauty of April 2012, Cosplay Babe of the Month, Camille Bishop. We were amazed by her portrayals of some of the classic icons of comic books and possibly the best Donna Troy we’ve ever seen. Please join us in welcoming Camille. Now, let’s get right to the first part of our two part feature and interview with Ms. April.
Photo left, Camille as Donna Troy.
Comics Ninja: Camille, thank you for joining us today all the way from Orlando. Briefly tell us a little bit about yourself and growing up in Mississippi.
Camille: I grew up in a small town called Senatobia. Surrounded with a large family of six kids in total and my two loving and encouraging parents. All of my afternoons/evenings after school were spent in gym practice. But my afternoons outside of the gym I was always outdoors with my siblings up trees, swimming in the pool, playing in the ditch, mud, or anything I found interesting and fun! I loved growing up with all of my siblings, me being the fifth in line and youngest four daughters. We’re all a bit theatrical and loved to play board, card, and other family fun games together. One of my favorite memories was the process of making a fire in our backyard in the fire pit, making smores, and enjoying the family company. I lived in Senatobia MS until I was eleven when I moved to central Florida to pursue an elite competitive gymnastics career. After a year of Florida’s training I quit and pursued my long suppressed theatrical passion for performing on the stage!
Photo right, Camille as Supergirl with comics legend and uncle, George Perez!
Comics Ninja: What first got you into cosplay?
Camille: My Uncle, George Perez, and I were both performing in show at, The Moonlight Players Theater, when he asked me if I would be interested in being a “Booth Babe” for his charitable cause, The Heroes Initiative Charity, at a comic convention (MegaCon 2010)! To be honest, when he said all I had to do was, “..dress up as a character, look pretty, and encourage people to donate!”- He had me at “dress up as a character.”
Comics Ninja: Wow, that George Perez!? Awesome, we’re a little star struck. All right, back to the interview. What was your first cosplay experience like at the convention?
Camille: To be completely honest, I was quite nervous! My first convention was MegaCon in Orlando, Florida. My first costume was Super Girl, and walking out in a spandex suit, mini skirt, and high heeled boots was not something I’d ever done before! It took maybe three minutes before I had someone ask me for a picture! My Uncle just smiled and motioned me off with a granting hand gesture! I turned, and with hands in fists on my hips, I struck my first heroic pose! I was completely and hopelessly hooked from that day on!
Camille pulling off a stunning silver age Catwoman.
Comics Ninja: We see that you work at Disney World. Which of our favorite Disney characters have you had the opportunity to work with or bring to life?
Camille: I do work for Walt Disney World Entertainment Company, and have the privilege to call myself friends with the world renowned Disney characters! I get to closely work with a few of the princesses and fairies, and love every magical day at work! I am however very good friends and get to work closely with Snow White, Belle, Princess Leia, and one of Tinkerbell’s fairy friends, Vidia! It’s wonderful that I get to create and share magical moments with guests every day of work! I find myself saying frequently, “It’s crazy that making magical moments and memories for guests is what I call work!”
Comics Ninja: Most interesting part of the job? Anything kind of a drag (or perhaps you shouldn’t say)?
Camille: There’s a lot I shouldn’t say, and actually are against the rules. But I can tell you some interesting parts of my job. I think its amazing how I can convert someone who’s had a rough day, didn’t want to come to Disney, or perhaps didn’t believe in “The Magic”, to loving their experience! I also love the difference between our “Real” world to Disney’s Magical World! We know that people come there to escape and find true happiness and magic in their hearts! It’s and expectation and standard that we’re taught when hired. But honestly, we don’t need to be taught, we can see the sparkle in the guests eyes when they arrive! – A negative insight I could share, is my wonderment how some people can mistreat their kids or company during their visit. There’s nothing more heartbreaking to me than seeing a parent screaming or embarrassing their child while they’re in the parks- which actually to me, their embarrassing themselves.
Comics Ninja: Well said. What do you think of all of the attention you have gotten from the fanboys (and girls) on the internet and at conventions?
Camille: It’s something I thank my Uncle for as often as I can. He’s the one who introduced me to this world of Comics! I love meeting new people/fans, and sharing all that I can with them! Everyone is usually accepting, encouraging, and supportive! There was experience I had with someone posting my picture, and a few viewers didn’t approve and commenting with less than nice opinions. It hurt at first as I read them, and I began thinking of how I could comment and defend myself. But as I continued to read, I started reading the opposing comments from those who generously and vigorously defended me! I have to admit, I teared up a bit when I saw that. How much love that those who know or don’t know me and defended me, were there for my rescue! It was a lesson I learned: To respect those who appose you and those who support you!
Comics Ninja: Again, well said and we obviously applaud you for the integrity and class you bring to cosplay. All right, enough of our groveling, what are your best and worst fanboy experiences at the conventions?
Camille: Oh gosh, well my best experience will be a hard one to weed out! But I think my most memorable experience was an unexpected birthday surprise! As I was in the midst of a few hundred cosplayers doing a DC photo shoot (DragonCon 2010), I was called out and asked to come down and was placed in front of everyone. Then all of a sudden the photo shoot MC announced that it was my first convention as well as my 18th birthday! All of a sudden I had over 500+ cosplayers singing me Happy Birthday! I was joined and granted a kiss from my Uncle George at the end who helped me climb down from the cloud I was on! To be honest, with my Uncle, sister, and friends in the cosplay world who are close enough to be my family, I’m usually well protected and looked after!
But hands down the worst experience was when my uncle tripped and fell and nearly blacked out while he was walking me to my next photo shoot. I had never been so terrified and horrified in my life. He slowly recovered after being bandaged up and taking things easy. It took everything I had not to ball my eyes out. But with my uncle’s embrace and words of wisdom, I was able to pull it together and devote myself to making him proud of me again.
Thank you Camille, for the wonderful interview so far! Join us Tuesday for part two of Camille’s feature and interview, until then get the latest comic book, gaming, sci-fi, movie, cosplay and animation news on The Ninja Report, containing sourced and aggregated news from every corner of the internet and updated every ten minutes! Never miss another headline, preview or breaking story, Ninja Nation!
April 2012 Cosplay Babe Of The Month, Camille Bishop!,
Nice interview of what appears to be a nice young lady. I’d like to see her tackle Mary Marvel and Ms. Marvel some time.
By the way, the correct spelling is “bawl,” not “ball,” for crying.