Mark Edward
| Mark Edward | |||||
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Mark Edward at QEDCon 2014
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| Born |
Mark Edward Wilson May 19, 1951 Los Angeles, CA USA |
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| Residence | San Pedro, California, United States | ||||
| Nationality | American | ||||
| Education | Bachelor of Fine Arts 1974 | ||||
| Alma mater | California Institute of the Arts | ||||
| Occupation | mentalist, magician, writer, skeptic, psychic entertainer | ||||
| Website | http://www.themarkedward.com | ||||
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Mark Edward (born Mark Edward Wilson, May 19, 1951, Los Angeles, CA) is a professional mentalist who specializes in magic of the mind. He wrote several books on mentalism, séance theory and production and appeared on television as both primary consultant and on-air performer in such diverse programming as A & E's Biography: "Houdini, the Great Escape," NBC's "The Other Side" and "Psychic Secrets Revealed," The Sci-Fi Channel's "Mysteries, Magic and Miracles," The Discovery Channel's "Forces Beyond," and on two episodes of The Learning Channel's "Exploring the Unknown." His featured segment as a spirit medium on the pilot episode of Showtime's "Penn & Teller's Bullshit!" series entitled "Speaking with the Dead" helped secure an Emmy Award nomination for that episode in 2002. Mark Edward is not related to John Edward.
Mark Edward became interested in magic through his maternal grandfather George Schaeffer, who was a card player and amateur magician. Mark became his test subject for many close-up magic routines. By 11 he was performing magic shows for school, friends and family events.
From the ages of 14 to 18 he was involved in music in various Dada and performance art bands in and around South Los Angeles, including "ZaSu Pits and the Enema Dog Review - Featuring a Walk in the Closet", "Rat Salad" and "The Techno-Cats" (which later splintered into The Brainiacs, The Suburbs and Suburban Lawns). During a punk concert at LA's "Brave Dog" club where he was performing in the power trio Steak Sinatra, he was hit in the head with a half-full beer bottle at which point he decided to pursue a solo career in magic.
During this time he was also studying post-studio, performance and conceptual art with mentor John Baldessari at CalArts. Baldessari greatly influenced his later work in magic and mentalism. These influences led to performances of juggling, fire-eating and magic in public places such as local laundromats and DMV waiting areas.
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