Cyril Takayama

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Cyril Takayama
Born 1973
Hollywood, California

Cyril Takayama (born 1973) is an American illusionist. He is perhaps best known for his street magic performances in Japan.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Takayama was born and raised in Hollywood, California. His father is of Japanese descent from Okinawa prefecture, while his mother is Moroccan-French[citation needed], both of whom were beauticians. He was a member of the short-lived television series T.H.E.M. In 2007 he won first place in The Magic Woods Awards, Best Magician Category.[1]

[edit] Career

Takayama became interested in magic when he was 7 years old, when he went to a magic show in Las Vegas where he saw a guest magician levitate a woman and cut himself in half. The first time Cyril ever performed magic in front of people was during his school's talent show. At the age of 12, he entered the junior program at the Magic Castle in Hollywood.

Some of Cyril's signature tricks include the hamburger in the menu trick, having his head fall off his shoulders, and the card in the window trick. His most dramatic trick was above a Las Vegas hotel, where he bungee jumps into the hotel pool with a sword and spears the chosen card of his co host from a deck floating in the water.

Because of his large popularity in Japan, Cyril frequently goes out in a disguise, his most notable one being "Sero jisan" (セロ爺さん?) or Old Man Cyril.

[edit] Performances in Japan & Korea

Cyril has been very active in Japan. Since 2005, he appeared in

  • four "Super Street Magic Magazine" episodes (broadcast on TV Tokyo)
    • Date Unknown
    • Date Unknown
    • June 21, 2004
    • Best Selection (September 13, 2004)
  • three "Super Street Magic CYRIL MAGAZINE" DVD Product
    • September, 2004
    • October, 2004
    • November, 2004
  • six "Magic Revolution" episodes (broadcast on FujiTV)
    • June 30, 2005
    • January 10, 2006
    • June 20, 2006
    • January 23, 2007
    • July 24, 2007
    • May 27, 2008
  • two 90 minute Korean magic specials
    • October 6, 2006
    • September 25, 2007

Since 2005 Cyril has been steadily increasing in popularity in Japan as well as on the Internet, due to many of his magic shows being uploaded and viewed on the popular video-sharing site YouTube.

In his 2006 magic specials, Cyril visited Thailand to put on a show for orphans with HIV. He also did the same with orphans in Nepal.

Cyril appears on the new MTV series called Room 401 where magicians prank unsuspecting victims.

Cyril hosted the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards Japan.

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Magic Woods. Retrieved on 2008-01-09.

[edit] External links

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