Criss Angel: Difference between revisions
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Raised in East Meadow, New York, Criss Angel was born on December 19, 1967. He grew up loving music (played drums), and always had interest in magic. Two of his biggest magic influences are Harry Houdini and Aldo Richiardi. |
Raised in East Meadow, New York, Criss Angel was born on December 19, 1967. He grew up loving music (played drums), and always had interest in magic. Two of his biggest magic influences are Harry Houdini and Aldo Richiardi. |
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His father was also a big influence on him, especially after battling cancer before finally dying in 1998. As a teenager, Criss performed at birthday parties, night clubs, and private events doing magic. He got his pyrotechnics license at age 18. He also has a 7th degree black belt and a background in dance and gymnastics. Criss played in a band called AngelDust with friend Klay Scott who produced and helped arrange the music for his show, Mindfreak. He performed in World Of Illusion at Madison Square Garden in 1998. Criss then scored a show on Broadway titled "Mindfreak" which ran up until Jan. 6, 2003 with almost 600 shows performed. He has had many television appearances and specials such as The Science Of Magic, More Science Of Magic, the ABC Family television special Mindfreak which premiered on October 20, 2002, and another television special on the Sci-fi channel called Supernatural later on. He then transformed into a household name nation wide by scoring a deal with the A&E channel to do Mindfreak as a television series every Wednesday night. Seasons 1 & 2 were filmed at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas with Season 3 currently being filmed at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas |
His father was also a big influence on him, especially after battling cancer before finally dying in 1998. As a teenager, Criss performed at birthday parties, night clubs, and private events doing magic. He got his pyrotechnics license at age 18. He also has a 7th degree black belt and a background in dance and gymnastics. Criss played in a band called AngelDust with friend Klay Scott who produced and helped arrange the music for his show, Mindfreak. He performed in World Of Illusion at Madison Square Garden in 1998. Criss then scored a show on Broadway titled "Mindfreak" which ran up until Jan. 6, 2003 with almost 600 shows performed. He has had many television appearances and specials such as The Science Of Magic, More Science Of Magic, the ABC Family television special Mindfreak which premiered on October 20, 2002, and another television special on the Sci-fi channel called Supernatural later on. He then transformed into a household name nation wide by scoring a deal with the A&E channel to do Mindfreak as a television series every Wednesday night. Seasons 1 & 2 were filmed at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas with Season 3 currently being filmed at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas. |
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He made his first television appearance as a magician on the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] special, "Talents", in 1995. In 1998, he mounted "Criss Angel: World of Illusion" as the headline feature of [[Madison Square Garden]]'s annual [[Halloween]] celebration. In October 2002, Angel debuted an hour-long television special, "Criss Angel Mindfreak", on the [[ABC Family]] channel. He has subsequently starred in several television specials. His [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] production, "Criss Angel Mindfreak", ran for 600 1/2 performances at [[The World (WWE)|The World]] in the The World Underground Theater in [[Times Square]], ending January 6, 2003. |
He made his first television appearance as a magician on the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] special, "Talents", in 1995. In 1998, he mounted "Criss Angel: World of Illusion" as the headline feature of [[Madison Square Garden]]'s annual [[Halloween]] celebration. In October 2002, Angel debuted an hour-long television special, "Criss Angel Mindfreak", on the [[ABC Family]] channel. He has subsequently starred in several television specials. His [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] production, "Criss Angel Mindfreak", ran for 600 1/2 performances at [[The World (WWE)|The World]] in the The World Underground Theater in [[Times Square]], ending January 6, 2003. |
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Revision as of 01:08, 7 June 2007
Christopher Nicolas Sarantakos | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 19, 1967 |
| Occupation(s) | illusionist, stunt performer, Criss Angel Mindfreak creator |
Criss Angel, is an American musician, mentalist, magician, illusionist, hypnotist, escapologist, stunt performer, mystifier, actor and the creator and director of the Criss Angel Mindfreak television series on A&E Network.
Biography
Raised in East Meadow, New York, Criss Angel was born on December 19, 1967. He grew up loving music (played drums), and always had interest in magic. Two of his biggest magic influences are Harry Houdini and Aldo Richiardi.
His father was also a big influence on him, especially after battling cancer before finally dying in 1998. As a teenager, Criss performed at birthday parties, night clubs, and private events doing magic. He got his pyrotechnics license at age 18. He also has a 7th degree black belt and a background in dance and gymnastics. Criss played in a band called AngelDust with friend Klay Scott who produced and helped arrange the music for his show, Mindfreak. He performed in World Of Illusion at Madison Square Garden in 1998. Criss then scored a show on Broadway titled "Mindfreak" which ran up until Jan. 6, 2003 with almost 600 shows performed. He has had many television appearances and specials such as The Science Of Magic, More Science Of Magic, the ABC Family television special Mindfreak which premiered on October 20, 2002, and another television special on the Sci-fi channel called Supernatural later on. He then transformed into a household name nation wide by scoring a deal with the A&E channel to do Mindfreak as a television series every Wednesday night. Seasons 1 & 2 were filmed at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas with Season 3 currently being filmed at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas.
He made his first television appearance as a magician on the ABC special, "Talents", in 1995. In 1998, he mounted "Criss Angel: World of Illusion" as the headline feature of Madison Square Garden's annual Halloween celebration. In October 2002, Angel debuted an hour-long television special, "Criss Angel Mindfreak", on the ABC Family channel. He has subsequently starred in several television specials. His Broadway production, "Criss Angel Mindfreak", ran for 600 1/2 performances at The World in the The World Underground Theater in Times Square, ending January 6, 2003.
"Criss Angel Mindfreak", Angel's half-hour television series, premiered on the A&E Network on July 20, 2005. He is currently filming the third season. His illusions have included walking on water, floating between two buildings, and cutting himself in half in full view of an audience. Guests have included Celldweller, Korn's Jonathan Davis (who also co-produced the show's theme music), Rob Zombie, Carrot Top, the Amazing Johnathan, Vince Neil, Mandy Moore, Penn & Teller, Dog the Bounty Hunter and Lance Burton as well as Tanner Foix and Ice Cube.
Angel was the featured guest starred on CSI: NY on February 28, 2007 in an episode titled "Sleight Out of Hand" as a character named Luke Blade, a famous magician whose assistants die in unusual circumstances.[1] He performed three illusions (being sawed in half, being lit on fire, and a version of his "Submerged" illusion). All three illusions have been performed by Angel on "Criss Angel Mindfreak". Criss' most notable television appearances include but are not limited to the Oprah Winfrey Show, The Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Ellen Degeneres show, as well as VH1's Rock Honors Awards performing and introducing legendary Honoree Ozzy Osbourne. In June 2007, Criss appears on the cover of the DUB magazine.
Criss will appear in a new illusion-based Cirque du Soleil production at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas. The new show is expected to open in September 2008.[2] Criss has recently said that there are plans for this attraction to run for 10 years, including 4,600 shows.
Criss Angel has been a lead singer in a heavy metal rock band. He co-produced the heavy metal theme song of his television show.
Illusionist
Criss Angel won the Academy of Magical Arts' Magician of the Year award in 2005 and the IMS Magician of the year for 2007 and 2008.[3] Some of Angel's tricks have been explained by other magicians and by Criss himself, notably on a DVD which is available for purchase from his official website. Angel often claims that several of the levitations, teleports and demonstrations of telekinesis he performs are done through the power of the mind, body and spirit attained through meditation.[citation needed]. Angel has written a book titled Mindfreak: Secret Revelations, which was published April 24, 2007 and hit the Los Angeles TimesThe Best Sellers list the week of May 13th, 2007.
Many viewers and critics allege that Angel is only a "video illusionist," using camera special effects, post-production effects, forced viewing angles, and confederates acting as amazed spectators for the TV audience.[citation needed] During the second season, Criss Angel introduced a "Spectator's Point of View camera", a hand held video camera given to a random person in the audience to shoot the action in any way he or she wants. However, the camera has seemingly fallen out of favor as the second season continued, only showing up very sporadically. He has even revealed the methods for some of his tricks to viewers at home on TV and in Stuff Magazine (although the effects revealed are usually very simple such as making a toothpick disappear, or picking someone's pocket, or making a styrofoam cup float. Angel does more complicated things, such as levitating people, including himself; splitting people, including himself, in half; disappearing in air after a motorcycle jump; and stopping his pulse in five different areas in his body.)
Criss Angel has been seen at the Sema Car Show Convention in Las Vegas in October 2006 and was featured on Oprah Winfrey's talk show in May 2007, in which he performed Houdini's upside down straitjacket escape.
In the first episode of season three of his series "Mind Freak", Criss demonstrated his levitation skills at the Luxor Hotel, Las Vegas. In one scene, he apparently levitated from the 26th floor inside the hotel, slowly descending through the hotel's atrium to the entrance lobby. Later, he apparently levitated above the 350-foot-high apex of the hotel at night, in the middle of the famous Luxor's spotlight which has an output of 42.3 billion candlepower.[4]
Accomplishments and awards
The first two season DVDs for Angel's television show have been the #1 and #2 best selling DVDs in A&E’s history [citation needed]. A publishing house, Harper Entertainment, released Criss' first book, Criss Angel MINDFREAK: Secret Revelations in April 2007. He was named 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2008 Magician of the Year, making him the first five-time, back-to-back recipient ever to be awarded these accolades.[citation needed] Angel was also selected as the recipient of the 22nd Louie Award for outstanding achievement in the art of magic.
References
External links
- Official web sites
- Media