David Seth Kotkin, known professionally as David Copperfield, is an American magician, described by Forbes as the most commercially successful magician in history.
The Magic Circle is a British organisation dedicated to promoting and advancing the art of magic.
William Ellsworth Robinson was an American magician who went by the stage name Chung Ling Soo. He is mostly remembered today for his accidental death due to a failed bullet catch trick.
Howard Thurston was a stage magician from Columbus, Ohio, United States. His childhood was unhappy, and he ran away to join the circus, where his future partner Harry Kellar also performed. Thurston was deeply impressed after he attended magician Alexander Herrmann's magic show and was determined to equal his work. He eventually became the most famous magician of his time. Thurston's traveling magic show was the biggest one of all; it was so large that it needed eight train cars to transport his road show.
Paul Kieve is an English professional illusionist and whose consulting work for both stage and screen has contributed to changing how magical special effects in productions are approached. He is the only illusionist ever to have won a New York Drama Desk award. He created the illusions for the 2014 Kate Bush concert Before the Dawn.
Jim Steinmeyer is an American author, inventor, and designer of magical illusions and theatrical special effects. He holds four US patents in the field of illusion apparatus, including a modern version of the Pepper's Ghost illusion. Steinmeyer has consulted for many famous magicians, including David Copperfield, Doug Henning, Siegfried and Roy, and Lance Burton.
A magic convention is a gathering of professional magicians, magical hobbyists, dealers, collectors of magical apparatus, books and ephemera, and other students of the art of magic. It provides a place for lectures of subjects related to the craft, as well as a series of sample performances of noted or innovative techniques. Many conventions also hold competitions to judge who excels at a particular style, and present awards in various categories such as sleight of hand, card tricks, mentalism, and stage illusions. The largest magic convention is The Blackpool Magician's Convention which is attended by over 3,500 magicians.
John Nevil Maskelyne was an English stage magician and inventor of the pay toilet, along with other Victorian-era devices. He worked with magicians George Alfred Cooke and David Devant, and many of his illusions are still performed today. His book Sharps and Flats: A Complete Revelation of the Secrets of Cheating at Games of Chance and Skill is considered a classic overview of card sharp practices. In 1914 he founded the Occult Committee, a group to "investigate claims to supernatural power and to expose fraud".
Luke Jermay is an English magician, mentalist, and writer.
Will Goldston (1878–1948) was an English stage magician in the first half of the 20th century.
Tim Ellis is an Australian performer, author and lecturer in the world of magic and illusion.
J C Sum is a Singaporean hybrid marketer, author, content creator, former illusionist and illusion designer.
Ross Skiffington is a New Zealand-born Australian magician, actor, and theatre director, who has received two lifetime achievement awards for his contributions to magic.
Andi Gladwin is a British magician, speaker, and publisher. He has appeared on television, has lectured for magicians throughout the UK, US, and Europe and written/published books on magic. Gladwin is a Member of the Inner Magic Circle with Gold Star and was granted the Maskelyne Literary Award from the prestigious club.
Magic, which encompasses the subgenres of illusion, stage magic, and close up magic, among others, is a performing art in which audiences are entertained by tricks, effects, or illusions of seemingly impossible feats, using natural means. It is to be distinguished from paranormal magic which are effects claimed to be created through supernatural means. It is one of the oldest performing arts in the world.
Jonathan and Charlotte Pendragon were a husband-and-wife team of American illusionists who called their work "physical grand illusion". They are widely known due to numerous national and international television appearances.
John Mulholland was an American magician, author, publisher and intelligence agent.
Jason Bishop is an American illusionist and magician, and performs one of the largest touring magic and illusion shows in the United States. Bishop has won a number of awards in magic, including the Jack Gwynne award for Excellence in Presentation and was the 2006 Association for the Promotion of Campus Activities (APCA) Best Performing Artist of the Year. Bishop performs an average of 150 shows a year, including luxury cruise ships, performing arts centers, theaters, and corporate events. He has done performances throughout the United States and Europe and has been called "one of the greatest modern illusionists of our time".
Willi Auerbach is a German stage illusionist, magician, and designer of magical illusions.
