Will Tsai is a Taiwanese-Canadian visualist magician. He is a former contestant on America's Got Talent Season 12.

Background

Tsai was born in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

, and immigrated to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

with his family at the age of 15. His parents fell on difficult times, and Tsai had to work multiple jobs to assist his family financially. After stumbling on a magician's

street performance Street performance or busking is the act of performing in public places for gratuities. In many countries, the rewards are generally in the form of money but other gratuities such as food, drink or gifts may be given. Street performance is pr ...

, he was inspired to become a magician himself. He has been practicing magic for 13 years. During a job in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, Tsai contracted a lung infection with a slim chance of survival. He made a full recovery.

Career

Tsai has been producing magic videos and products under the company name SansMinds since 2010, and has created multiple tricks, props, and devices for magicians and performers. Tsai operates under the nickname The Visualist, as according to him, he dos not see his act as "a magic performance" but instead is about the "emotion and story" of his performance. In May 2017, Tsai successfully auditioned for America's Got Talent Season 12 with an act he had developed himself. He was promoted to the next round by all four judges. As of 2017 the video of the performance at ammassed well over 100 million views. According to Tsai, he had originally intended to perform a different act, but had to change plans when his equipment was held up by customs. The authenticity of the audition, however, has been questioned, with youtuber Captain Disillusion arguing that it had been digitally altered. Due to logistical errors in customs, his original intended act could not be performed. Tsai developed the aired AGT act within a week, and was able to perform on stage with no issues. Tsai was featured on the cover of Vanish International Magic Magazine Edition 35, which was released in June 2017.

Personal life

Tsai lives in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, British Columbia, Canada He has a strong relationship with both his grandmothers, and is cited saying they are his main source of inspiration.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsai, Will Canadian magicians Living people Year of birth missing (living people) America's Got Talent contestants