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David Copperfield (illusionist)

David Copperfield
DCatAGT.JPG
Copperfield in backstage at the America's Got Talent season 5 finale rehearsal
Born David Seth Kotkin
(1956-09-16) September 16, 1956 (age 60)
Metuchen, New Jersey, United States
Residence Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Occupation Magician, illusionist
Years active 1974–present
Salary 300,000,000
Partner(s) Claudia Schiffer (1994–1999)
Chloe Gosselin (2006–present)
Children Sky
Website www.davidcopperfield.com

David Seth Kotkin (born September 16, 1956), known professionally as David Copperfield, is an American illusionist, described by Forbes as the most commercially successful magician in history.

Copperfield's television specials have won 21 Emmy Awards of a total 38 nominations. Best known for his combination of storytelling and illusion, Copperfield's career of over 40 years has earned him 11 Guinness World Records, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a knighthood by the French government, and he has been named a Living Legend by the US Library of Congress.

Copperfield has so far sold 33 million tickets and grossed over $4 billion, which is more than any other solo entertainer in history. In 2015, Forbes listed his earnings at $63 million for the previous 12 months and ranked him the 20th highest earning celebrity in the world.

When not performing, he manages his chain of eleven resort islands in the Bahamas, which he calls "Musha Cay and the Islands of Copperfield Bay".

Copperfield was born David Seth Kotkin in Metuchen, New Jersey, the son of Jewish parents, Rebecca, an insurance adjuster, and Hyman Kotkin, who owned and operated a men's haberdashery in Metuchen called Korby's. Copperfield's mother was born in Jerusalem while his paternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from USSR (present-day Ukraine). In 1974, Copperfield graduated from Metuchen High School.

When Copperfield was 10, he began practicing magic as "Davino the Boy Magician" in his neighborhood, and at the age of 12, became the youngest person admitted to the Society of American Magicians. Shy and a loner, the young Copperfield saw magic as a way of fitting in and, later, as a way to get girls. As a child, Copperfield attended a day camp called Camp Harmony, in nearby Warren, New Jersey, where he began practicing magic and ventriloquy; an experience to which he credits his creative style. "At Camp Harmony, we spent two weeks searching for a guide who’d been kidnapped by Indians. It was just a game, but I was living it... My whole life goes back to that camp experience when I was three or four." As a teenager, Copperfield became fascinated with Broadway and frequently sneaked into shows, especially musicals featuring the work of Stephen Sondheim or Bob Fosse. By age 16, he was teaching a course in magic at New York University.


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