Justin Willman

Justin Willman
Justin Willman
Born	Justin Willman (1980-07-11) July 11, 1980 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Other names	Justin Kredible
Alma mater	Emerson College
Occupation	Magician, entertainer

Justin Willman (born July 11, 1980) is an American magician, actor, comedian, and television personality. The Guardian dubbed him as "some kind of variety Voltron with a comic flair that marks him out as the leader of the pack." He's a regular guest on The Tonight Show and Ellen, and he hosts the shows Cupcake Wars and King of Cones on the Food Network and Win, Lose or Draw on the Disney Channel. He also tours regularly with a magic/comedy live show that Time Out says, "has to be seen to be disbelieved."

Early life

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Justin Willman began entertaining at the age of 12, after breaking both of his arms trying to ride a bicycle while wearing rollerblades. His orthopedic surgeon recommended he learn card tricks as an alternative to physical therapy and to get the dexterity back in his hands. Soon he was performing for friends and family then eventually at birthday parties under the stage name "Justin Kredible" a name given to him by his mother.^[1] He has since dropped the stage name, using his given name Justin Willman in all of his professional work. Willman was raised Jewish.

Education

Willman graduated from Ladue Horton Watkins High School in St. Louis, then graduated from Emerson College in Boston, where he majored in Broadcast Journalism.

Career

Willman's career has included hosting duties, as well as acting and magic performed around the country on his own national tours and as a performer for others. In April 2014 he hosted Michael Jordan's Annual Charity Golf Tournament. In October of 2014 he "won the internet" when he appeared along side other comedians in the Comedy Central show @Midnight with Chris Hardwick. ^[2] He's slated to make a return to the show in April 2015.

His list of other credits can be found below.

Magician

Willman has performed at the World Famous Magic Castle in Los Angeles, California several times. He performs magic at Meltdown Comics and tours throughout the county with his recent "Tricked Out" and "Full of It" tours as well as his current "Fake Believe" tour. He has also toured with Musician Jason Mraz performing magic during Mraz's Music, Magic & Make Peace Tour. He appeared in the documentary Make Believe as Justin Kredible Willman. In 2007 he performed his tricks on "Turning Tricks" and gave viewers a behind the magic demonstration so that they too might be able to master the tricks of his trade. In 2004 he appeared as one of the Magicians on T.H.E.M. (Totally Hidden Extreme Magic) which was a hidden camera show that used magic to surprise and amaze people in public. He made a big name for himself touring colleges and stadiums earning him several “Entertainer of the Year” wins from Campus Magazine.^[3]

Recently Willman has performed his magic on "Magic Meltdown" on YouTube,^[4] which became a webseries for the Nerdist Channel^[5] and incorporated some of the tricks from his magic tours. In Magic Meltdown Justin performed tricks based on a chosen topic such as technology, children, and food.

In 2011, he performed at the White House as a guest of Barack Obama and the first family for the White House Halloween party.^[6]

In 2014, James Galea called on Willman along with Justin Flom and Nate Staniforth to form magic's first supergroup, Band of Magicians.^[7] The group has performed for the last two years at the Sydney Festival in Australia.

In 2015, it was announced that Comedy Central will air a special titled “Sleight of Mouth With Justin Willman” on April 6, 2015 which features sketch comedy, magic, field pieces and cannabis-fueled social experiments with guest comedians Doug Benson and Paul Scheer. ^[8] The special will be executive produced by Chris Hardwick who teamed with Justin Willman on Magic Meltdown for Nerdist.

TV host

Willman has also served as host for several game shows on a variety of networks. Most notably, he has been the host of Cupcake Wars on Food Network;^[9] he has hosted the show ^[10] since 2009, having made nine seasons thus far. Additionally, he was the host of Halloween Wars^[11] and Last Cake Standing on Food Network, and the variety show Hubworld and the game show Scrabble Showdown on the Hub Network.^[12]

In 2014, Willman also began hosting Disney's Win, Lose or Draw,^[13] a revival of the teen version of the Burt Reynolds and Bert Convy classic game show to air on Disney Channel. The series debut was on March 3, 2014. In July, Comedy Central ordered a pilot for Sleight of Mouth, a weekly magic-based variety show hosted by Willman. It was announced that Sleight of Mouth will air on Comedy Central on April 6, 2015.

As host

Acting

Willman has guest starred on the CBS show Defenders, and made a cameo on the long-running Disney sitcom The Suite Life on Deck where he played Armando.^[14]

In 2014 he appeared in a short called All's Fair where he plays "Justin". The short was directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson and is about a young man whose girlfriend breaks up with him so he finds other means of intimacy (Justin plays the girlfriend's new boyfriend). ^[15]

Acting credits

References

External links

• Official website
• Food Network bio
• Justin Willman at the Internet Movie Database
• Justin Willman on Instagram