David Copperfield
David Copperfield has been hailed by audiences and critics alike as the greatest illusionist of our time. In addition to decades of network television events, worldwide tours, and "Dreams and Nightmares", the critically acclaimed Broadway show that set box-office records, he has been featured on the covers of Forbes, Architectural Digest and Esquire and is the thirteenth highest paid entertainer in the world.
Copperfield has elevated the ancient art of magic to new heights and redefined it along the way. He has vanished the Statue of Liberty, walked through the Great Wall of China, flown through the air and made audience members disappear and reappear in places they would never expect.
Witty, engaging and supremely entertaining, Copperfield's approach to his venerable art has transformed the way the world looks at magic. His celebrated feats and sense of theater have won "The Magic of David Copperfield" dozens of Emmy Awards and two "Entertainer of the Year" honors. His tours have set box-office records across Europe, Asia, and North and South America. He has been honored with a wax likeness in Madame Toussaud's in London and has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was knighted by the French Government, receiving the "Chevalier of Arts and Letters" and was given an honorary doctorate of Humane Letters from Fordham University. In 2000, he was named a Living Legend by the United States Library of Congress. He was also immortalized on legal tender as four nations paid tribute to Copperfield on postage stamps.
Even as a kid, Copperfield was performing illusions in his hometown of Metuchen, New Jersey. He began performing professionally at age 12 and became the youngest person ever to be admitted to the Society of American Magicians. By sixteen, he was teaching a course in magic at New York University.
During his first week of college, he was cast as the lead in the Chicago musical, "The Magic Man". He acted, sang, and created all the magic in the show, which became the longest running musical in Chicago history. As a result, he was chosen to host and star in "The Magic of ABC". His performance was so successful that CBS signed Copperfield for a series of specials, beginning with "The Magic of David Copperfield". With each new special, Copperfield created and performed ever more mind-boggling feats before a live audience, without the aid of camera tricks or visual effects. These specials have aired in over 40 countries, reaching an estimated audience of over 3 billion people.
Of all his accomplishments, Copperfield insists that his greatest work to date is Project Magic, a rehabilitative program established in March, 1982 to strengthen dexterity and motor skills in disabled patients, using sleight-of-hand magic as a method of therapy. By giving these patients a skill that able-bodied people don't possess, Project Magic also motivates patients and helps build self-esteem. The new Project Magic Handbook will be available soon. Project Magic has been accredited by the American Occupational Therapy Association and is currently implemented in 1,100 hospitals and in 30 countries worldwide.
Copperfield also made his foray into the literary world, joining forces with Dean Koontz, Joyce Carol Oales, Ray Bradbury and others for "David Copperfield's Tales of the Impossible", an anthology of original fiction set in the world of magic and illusion. This collection was so well-received that a second volume was published, "David Copperfield's Beyond Imagination".
In addiction to performing over 550 shows per year to sold out audiences around the world, Copperfield has a passion for preserving the art of magic for future generations. His International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts is a permanent home for antiquarian props, books and other historical ephemera related to conjuring. The museum houses the world's premiere collection of historical documentation and artifacts pertaining to magic, illusion, and the allied arts.
David Copperfield has revolutionized magic. He has taken it to heights of artistry and imagination undreamed of by wizards and audiences of the past, combining spellbinding illusions with extraordinary theatre.