Reza Borchardt (born June 2, 1996) who goes by the mononymic stage name Reza Illusionist, is an American

magician Magician or The Magician may refer to: Performers * A practitioner of magic (supernatural) * A practitioner of magic (illusion) * Magician (fantasy), a character in a fictional fantasy context Entertainment Books * ''The Magician'', an 18th-ce ...

from Brookings, South Dakota.

Early life

Reza’s interest in magic began at the age of 6, when he saw a magic show at Hillcrest Elementary School in Brookings. At 7 years old, he asked for a

magic kit A magic set or magic kit is a product containing a variety of props materials, and instructions to perform A variety of magic trick Magic, which encompasses the subgenres of illusion, stage magic, and close up magic, among others, is a perfor ...

for his birthday and put on performances at his school.

Performances

One of Reza's earliest public performances took place when he was 14 years old at the University of Sioux Falls Jeschke Auditorium on September 16, 2000 in an event known as the Calvacade of Magic. Reza was one of eight local magicians to perform for this charity event, of which Reza featured two classic illusions: ZigZag and Temple of Benares. At 15 years old, Reza left Brookings for Branson, Missouri. Initially, he performed 18 shows per week for 6 weeks. Since that time, he has performed hundreds of shows in the town, and was voted Branson's Magician of the Year in 2016 & 2021. In 2013, Reza announced 45 shows at the Mundo Imperial Forum in

Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , also , nah, Acapolco), is a city and major seaport in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semicircular bay and has bee ...

, Mexico, He has been described as "the nation's top touring illusionist" and "one of the fastest rising young stars in the country" by the ''

Brookings Register The ''Brookings Register'' is a newspaper of South Dakota. The newspaper's offices are in Brookings, South Dakota. The newspaper is used for public notices including those published for the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission. The newspaper ...

''. From April 2014 until August 2015, Reza was a member of ''The Revollusionists'', a spinoff show from '' The Illusionists'', and in 2015, th
Starlite Theater
in Branson announced that Reza’s show, ''Edge of Illusion'', would be open from March until September 2016. According to the theater, who Reza performed for on his 100th show in Branson, "His stage props are the largest in town, and his act is engaging, enthralling and infused with humor and charm ... ''Edge of Illusion'' highlights the new age of magic and misdirection with sleek, seamless fun and a fresh take on all things ordinary. Reza currently performs at Reza Live Theatre. In 2018, Reza performed on the television show Penn & Teller: Fool Us. Although he did not win the competition that season, Reza nevertheless earned praise from Penn, who proclaimed the performance “an amazing trick!” Reza tours the United States, redeveloping his show as he does so. Reza claims that a lot of what he performs is inspired by music, movies and pop culture.

Other work

Reza has done a number of fundraisers for charity. In 2010, Reza partnered with the Brookings Red Cross chapter in order to stage a benefit show for the organization, and August 2015 he teamed up with the charitable organization Star of Hope to make Hunger Vanish, in a campaign to provide 640,000 school lunches for Haitian children. In 2013, Reza appeared on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

alongside '' Never Shout Never''. More recently, in 2016 Reza appeared on a 1 hour episode of the popular Japanese TV Show, ''Sekai No Hatte Madde Itte Q'', and in 2017, Reza appeared on '' Duck Dynasty''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Borchardt, Reza Living people American magicians Year of birth missing (living people)