|
Criss Angel Profile |
|
-
Birth Date: December 19, 1967
-
Birth Place: Long Island, New York, USA
-
Birth Name: Christopher N. Sarantakos
-
Height: 6'0"
|
|
|
Biography |
Criss Angel (born Christopher Sarantakos, December 19, 1967
in East Meadow, New York) is an American musician,
mentalist, magician, illusionist, hypnotist, escapologist,
yoga master, provocateur, stunt performer, and the creator
and director of the Criss Angel Mindfreak television series
on A&E Network and Discovery Channel.
Criss Angel has filmed two seasons of his A&E television
show Mindfreak. He is currently working on his third season.
Some of his illusions have included walking on water,
floating across two buildings, and visibly cutting himself
in half in a with out covering himself. Criss Angel has won
Merlin Magician of the year a record three times: 2001,
2004, and 2005.
Fans of Criss Angel have compared him to similar street
magician David Blaine, to the point of assuming there is a
rivalry going on between them. However, Criss has indicated
that he doesn't see any such rivalry existing between them,
noting that Blaine had come to visit him and offer his
support during his 2002 Oasis stunt.
In a November 2002 issue of the New York Post, Blaine was
quoted as being weary of the lesser-known Criss Angel's
taunts, and challenged Angel to attempt to match Blaine's
efforts to survive without food or water (a challenge Angel
did not accept and that Blaine attempted on his own.
Criss Angel was in an industrial rock band called Angeldust,
which he started with Klay Scott (now known as Klayton of
Celldweller) after Klayton's previous band Circle of Dust
broke up. Angeldust released an album called Musical
Conjurings from the World of Illusion in 1998 and performed
in Madison Square Garden. He has also released several more
CDs as Criss Angel.
In a more recent tone, Criss Angel created the video MF2
featuring Sully Erna, the lead singer of Godsmack. The video
debuted on Yahoo! videos.
Some of Angel's levitation tricks have been explained by
Criss himself, notably on a DVD which is available for
purchase from his official website store.[citation needed]
The levitation featured on the DVD was an original invention
of Jacob Spinney. 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. Some of the other
methods are well known within the magic fraternity and have
been performed previously by magicians such as David
Copperfield, David Blaine and the Pendragons. Angel is
writing a book entitled Mindfreak: Secret Revelations from
the Master of Surreality.
Many viewers and critics allege that Angel is only a "video
illusionist," using camera special effects, post-production
effects, forced viewing angles, and assistants 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 handheld video camera
given to a what he says is 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, (although the effects are usually very simple such
as making a toothpick disappear, or making a styrofoam cup
float.) Angel guest starred on an episode of "Las Vegas" in
which he says "If it's real, it's not magic!".
Perhaps Criss’s most controversial illusion is his
“splitting a lady in half” publicly in Sunset Park, Las
Vegas. Learn Street Magic, a magic exposure site, offers
explanations held by most people. |
|
|
Other Information |
Klay Scott (aka Celldweller) of Circle of Dust was a cast
member in his World of Illusion show in the late 90's,
briefly appearing on Discovery's "The Science of Magic" with
him as well as producing/co-writing/performing on his System
1-3 albums.
Has 2 older brothers Costa and JD.
Has a Greek-American background. |
|
|
|
