Derren Brown is an English entertainer, mentalist, illusionist, and writer. Brown began performing in 1992, making his television debut with Mind Control (2000). He has since starred in several more shows for stage and television, including Something Wicked This Way Comes (2006) and Svengali (2012) which won him two Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Entertainment, as well as The Experiments (2011) which won him a BAFTA for Best Entertainment Programme at the 2012 awards. Brown made his Broadway debut with his 2019 stage show Secret. He has also written books for both magicians and the general public.
Leon Giglio, better known by his stage name Leon Mandrake, was an Italian-Canadian magician, mentalist, illusionist, escapologist, ventriloquist and stunt performer known worldwide as Mandrake the Magician, albeit simultaneously and unrelatedly to the comic strip character Mandrake the Magician.
Mentalism is a performing art in which its practitioners, known as mentalists, appear to demonstrate highly developed mental or intuitive abilities. Performances may appear to include hypnosis, telepathy, clairvoyance, divination, precognition, psychokinesis, mediumship, mind control, memory feats, deduction, and rapid mathematics. Mentalists perform a theatrical act that includes special effects that may appear to employ psychic or supernatural forces but that are actually achieved by "ordinary conjuring means", natural human abilities, and an in-depth understanding of key principles from human psychology or other behavioral sciences.
Max Maven was an American magician and mentalist whose performances were considered erudite and intelligent. He is ranked as one of the most influential mentalists of all time, and one of the 100 "Most Influential Magicians of the 20th Century" by Magic Magazine.
Billet reading, or the envelope trick, is a mentalist effect in which a performer pretends to use clairvoyance to read messages on folded papers or inside sealed envelopes. It is a widely performed "standard" of the mentalist craft since the middle of the 19th century. Billet is the French term for note or letter, referring to the rectangular shape of the paper.
Paul Draper is an anthropologist, academic, and an award-winning mentalist, magician, and film maker. As an anthropologist and communications expert specializing in the cognitive science of religious beliefs, he has lectured at Fortune 500 companies and universities. As the creator of the show Mental Mysteries, Draper blends his academic background as an anthropologist and communications expert with the arts of mentalism and magic. Draper performed live streaming shows during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Neil Tobin is a magical and psychic entertainer, theatre producer and playwright, and a writer on related subjects. Since his performance material often involves themes of mortality and spirit contact—in addition to demonstrations of telepathy, precognition, magic, and even divination—he often performs as "Neil Tobin, Necromancer."
Jamy Ian Swiss is an American magician, author, speaker, historian of magic, essayist, book reviewer, and scientific skeptic. He is known for sleight-of-hand with playing cards.
Keith Patrick Barry is an Irish mentalist, hypnotist, magician and activist for the elderly.
Joseph Dunninger, known as "The Amazing Dunninger", was one of the most famous and proficient mentalists of all time. He was one of the pioneer performers of magic on radio and television. A debunker of fraudulent mediums, Dunninger claimed to replicate through trickery all spiritualist phenomena.
Luke Jermay is a British magician, mentalist, and writer.
Julius and Agnes Zancig were stage magicians and authors on occultism who performed a spectacularly successful two-person mentalism act during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Julius Zancig (1857–1929) – born Julius Jörgensen in Copenhagen, Denmark – and his wife Agnes Claussen Jörgensen – also born in Copenhagen, and known as Agnes Zancig – were the originators of the routine.
Banachek is an English mentalist, magician, and "thought reader".
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.
Mark Edward is an American mentalist and author. He has written books on mentalism, séance theory and production, including Psychic Blues published in 2009, where he discusses working for the Psychic Friends Network. Wilson has appeared on television as both primary consultant and on-air performer in such diverse programming as ABC's "The Con", A & E's Biography: "Houdini, the Great Escape", NBC's "The Other Side" and "Psychic Secrets Revealed", The Sci-Fi Channel's "Mysteries, Magic and Miracles", The Discovery Channel's "Forces Beyond", and on two episodes of The Learning Channel's "Exploring the Unknown". His featured segment as a spirit medium on the pilot episode of Showtime's "Penn & Teller's Bullshit!" series entitled "Speaking with the Dead" helped secure an Emmy Award nomination for that episode in 2002. He is a fellow with the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.
Guy Bavli is an Israeli mentalist, illusionist, actor and lecturer. He is known for being the first Israeli citizen to win an international magic competition in the United States. He owns the entertainment company "Master of the Mind", based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Richard Webster is an author, ghostwriter, mentalist, hypnotist and magician.
Bert Reese (1851–1926) was an American-Polish medium and mentalist, best known for his billet reading demonstrations.
Wayne Hoffman is an American mentalist and illusionist. He has appeared on many international television shows and tours the world with his live show entitled "Mind Candy" and his motivational keynote entitled "The Power and Potential of The Human Mind." He also performs a virtual magic and mind reading show entitled "Distant Deceptions." He appeared on America's Got Talent, season 10 (2015) and also appeared in their TV commercial. He appeared on NBC's television show Phenomenon on October 31, 2007. He was a co-host of The A-List on Discovery's Animal Planet. He was also a guest on CNN's television talk show Glenn Beck on March 25, 2008. He appeared as a guest on The Ellen Degeneres Show on April 13, 2009. On May 4, 2012, he appeared in a short movie entitled "Epic School Battle" with Steven Tyler and KISS He also appeared on CBS's Excused on October 30, 2012. He also appeared on Beverly Hills Pawn on June 12, 2013. Wayne Hoffman was also an expert guest on The Numbers Game on The National geographic Channel on March 31, 2014 Wayne successfully fooled Penn & Teller on their show Fool Us on the CW network on August 31, 2016. He subsequently performed onstage with Penn & Teller at the Rio Hotel and casino on September 25, 2016. Wayne also appeared on the show HARRY, hosted by Harry Connick Jr., on October 13, 2017. He also appeared on Takeshi Kitano's "Unbelieveable" on Japan's TV Asahi in December 2013. He was also a guest on Fuji TV's "Anbiribabo" on March 20, 2014
Oz Pearlman is an American mentalist, magician, and athlete who lives and works in the United States. He performs as a mentalist under the name "Oz the Mentalist", and has successfully appeared on America's Got Talent, winning third-place in Season 10 (2015).
