Jay Sankey is a Canadian close-up magician and creator of magic effects. He has been an active stage performer since the mid-1980s.[1] David Copperfield performed Sankey's card in baloon effect [2]
He is also known as a stand-up comedian and authored a book about the art of stand-up, Zen and the Art of Stand-Up Comedy in 1999. However, he is best known for the many magical effects which he has published to help magicians develop their craft. His most well known works include his "Revolutionary Coin Magic" and "Revolutionary Card Magic" DVDs.
Sankey is featured in Spellz, a TVO Kids program that he co-hosts with Bridget Hall and Steve Martin.
In 2007 Jay won 3rd place in The Magic Woods Awards for Best Book: for the book Beyond Secrets. He has authored numerous books on comedy and magic (see below) and has produced/appeared in numerous instructional videos intended for magicians and other stage performers.
In 2009, Sankey announced that Andi Gladwin and Joshua Jay were in the process of writing his complete works in a trilogy of books.
Jay lives in Toronto with his wife Lisa, and his two children Mason and Madelaine.
Sankey developed effects for Angel for less than a year before leaving the program. Sankey now produces humorous videos of himself in the persona of "Craigg Angelo" - in obvious mockery of Angel. The "Angelo" persona flaunts Angel's now infamous childishness and lack of real-world skill.