Justin Willman

Justin Willman (born July 11, 1980) is an American magician, actor, entertainer, comedian, and television personality. He hosts the shows Cupcake Wars and King of Cones on the Food Network and Win, Lose or Draw on Disney Channel.

Early life

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Justin Willman began entertaining at the age of 12, after breaking both of his arms. 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 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 has performed his magic on "Magic Meltdown" on YouTube,[2] which became a webseries for the Nerdist Channel[3] 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 for the first family for the White House Halloween party.[4] In 2014, James Galea called on Willman along with Justin Flom and Nate Staniforth to form Band of Magicians.[5] The group has performed for the last two years at the Sydney Festival in Australia.

TV host

Since 2009 Willman was the host of Cupcake Wars on Food Network.[6] he has hosted the show [7] Additionally, he was the host of Halloween Wars[8] and Last Cake Standing on Food Network, and the variety show Hubworld and the game show Scrabble Showdown on the Hub Network.[9]

In 2014, Willman also began hosting Disney's Win, Lose or Draw,[10] 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.

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.[11]

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). [12]

References

  1. ↑ Early start as a magician helped by Dr, www.all-about-magicians.com, retrieved 2013-09-27
  2. ↑ Vankin, Deborah (2011-12-09), LA times article – Magic Meltdown show, www.latimes.com, retrieved 2013-09-27
  3. ↑ Magic Meltdown webseries for Nerdist, www.nerdist.com, retrieved 2013-09-27
  4. ↑ Performance at the White House, www.daytondailynews.com, retrieved 2013-09-27
  5. ↑ Time Out, Band of Magicians - Sydney Festival 2014, October 23, 2013
  6. ↑ Food Network Bio, www.foodnetwork.com, retrieved 2013-09-27
  7. ↑ Cupcake Wars Show Page, www.foodnetwork.com, retrieved 2013-09-27
  8. ↑ Halloween Wars Show Page, www.foodnetwork.com, retrieved 2013-09-27
  9. ↑ Hubworld Article, www2.variety.com, retrieved 2013-09-27
  10. ↑ Prudom, Laura (2013-04-17), Disney Channel brings back games show Win, Lose or Draw, www.huffingtonpost.com, retrieved 2013-09-27
  11. ↑ Behind the Scenes Suite Life Deets, www.m-magazine.com, retrieved 2013-09-27
  12. ↑ https://www.shortoftheweek.com/2014/01/09/alls-fair/

External links

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