The magic of...podcast with Paul Roffman

Billy Kidd knew she wanted to become an actor by the age of 5. Every day after school she trained extensively in ballet, jazz and tap dance as well as Piano, Saxophone and voice lessons to help further her acting career. By age 11 she was getting paid to play. She was a working actor in theatre, film and tv for many years. In addition she also educated people worldwide about a lost instrument called the Nose-Flute. Billy proceeded to train, teach and perform with her group the Slappyfeatherwhistle Nose-Flute Ensemble to critical acclaim in theatres, radio and tv. When she turned 18 she was accepted into the top theatre schools in the UK and Canada including RADA and Trinity College in London, the National Theatre School and the BFA Acting programs in Canada. After graduating from theatre school she was lucky enough to still be making a living as an actor. Everything was going according to plan until she saw a street magician.

Then she went into a deep depression, sat in the dark drowning in tears because she knew she had to become a bloody magician. Fuck! This was not the plan.

Since that dark night Billy abandoned her job as an actor, escaped and made an uneven living doing card tricks on the streets of Bath England. Within a matter of months she got cast doing magic for a national advert for O2. She then hosted two series of Breaking Magic on Discovery Channel and was featured on ITV’s Next Great Magician. Billy was also a regular on the series Wizard Wars with Penn & Teller in the USA where she earned the only standing ovation from the popular duo. Her work has been seen on numerous documentaries and televisions shows for the BBC, Channel 5, CBC, CW network, and Discovery Channel.

She divides her time by performing in theatres all around the world, the cobbles in Europe, Disney Cruise Lines, and her home play space Krowd Keepers Magic Theatre.

R Paul Wilson is a writer, director, producer, actor, expert on the art of deception and a world- renowned magician. His show “The Real Hustle” ran for eleven seasons on the BBC and was sold to over fifty countries.

As writer and presenter, Paul has pulled more scams on real people than anyone in history in his mission to inform and protect the public. In “The Takedown” (Tru TV), he formed a team of experts to cheat businesses and casinos using high-tech and old-school techniques before revealing their methods and explaining how to “protect the house” and for his two-hour special “Scammed” (History Channel) Paul re-invented an age-old scam and pulled several classic con games on real people, businesses and investors in Charleston, SC.

He is the author of “The Art of the Con” (Lyons Press, 2014) and has written countless articles on con games, consulted for high profile legal cases and advised both casinos and players on methods of deception.

Paul was the senior consultant and producer on the hit BBC show “The Magicians”, designing and directing brand new illusions for a ground-breaking live Saturday night show with an audience of over seven million viewers. He has acted as consultant for numerous television shows and feature films, advising writers, producers, directors and actors about magic, con games and the inner workings of deception. As a magician, he performs around the world on stage and in private, intimate shows where he demonstrates cheating, magic and miracles. He is considered to be one of the finest living exponents of sleight of hand and has created effects and material for many of the world’s best-known performers.

As a filmmaker, Paul began as cheating consultant and second unit director on “Shade” (RKO Pictures, 2002) and expert consultant for Joe Carnahan’s “Smoking Aces” before returning to the UK for The Real Hustle, an innovative hidden camera show featuring real scams pulled on real people.

Paul has directed television, shorts, a feature documentary and two scripted features. “The Magic Box” (2013) is Paul’s award-winning homage to nostalgia and the art of magic and his feature-length documentary “Our Magic” is a deep insight into the world of magicians with thirty one of it’s most respected performers and thinkers sharing their thoughts and feelings about the art. His first scripted feature “Con Men” is a zero budget indie that drew on his experience as a con artist and helped to attract investors for “Isolani”, a thriller set in Glasgow where a young mother becomes a pawn in a deadly game of deception. Isolani premiered in London at the Raindance Film Festival, was nominated for best feature, a BIFA and for best debut at Camerimage.

Paul is currently in the early stages of his third feature while working on several TV projects that combine elements of magic, deception and storytelling.

LINKS:

ISOLANI TRAILER: https://vimeo.com/222539329

CON MEN TRAILER: https://vimeo.com/131299482

OUR MAGIC TRAILER: https://vimeo.com/98007553

MAGICONTHEGO.COMBorn in Scotland, raised near London, Steve has been performing since age 5. That  was the year he started THEATRE and DANCE training and took a passionate, lifelong  interest in MAGIC. His first job was playing the child Prince in ‘THE KING AND I’. From those humble  beginnings, Steve has appeared in over: 250 HOURS OF TELEVISION, A DOZEN  MOVIES, COUNTLESS COMMERCIALS, TWO MULTI AWARD WINNING VIDEO  GAMES, and starred in FOUR TV SERIES: CROSSING JORDAN for NBC, as Criminologist ‘Nigel Townsend’ , NIKKI for the WB, as choreographer ‘Martine’. I’M IN THE BAND for Disney, as 80‘s rock legend ‘Derek Jupiter’. ESTATE OF PANIC for SYFY. (nominated for a Rose D’or) Steve has carved out a unique place for himself in show business, constantly changing  and morphing into a myriad of wild, quirky, funny, dangerous and always unique  characters.One thing’s for sure, you never get the same person twice, from rock stars to serial  killers, to drag queens to criminologists, to Victorian singing and dancing mustache  twirling villains to knights in shining armor. And its Steve’s morphic skill in character and voice that has kept him so much in  demand in the highly competitive world of TV and Film. Recently Steve made a big splash as Bronx based ‘Barry Greenhouse’ in the Robert  Zemeckis movie THE WALK, and the serial killer (spoiler alert) in the feature MIDNIGHT MAN, the Egyptian Priest Aye in Mr. Peabody and Sherman, and also  killing in NBC’s One Big Happy, Mom, Big Bang Theory, CSI, Supernatural, Psych, Beauty and the Beast, Hot In Cleveland and the deliciously evil Les Camembert in  Disney’s massive hit Teen Beach Movie, in addition to voices on Mickey and the  Roadster Racers, Turbo Fast, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Tinkerbell, Sofia  The First, UnCharted and Bioware’s DRAGON AGE series, earning a massive  international fanbase for his acclaimed performance of Alistair. All that, while recurring on many different TV shows such as: MOM, Ghostwriter  Major Crimes, Mike and Molly, Blunt Talk, and Anger Management. STEVEVALENTINE.COM STEVEVALENTINELIVE.COM. MAGICONTHEGO.COM 

MAGIC:  Steve is highly sought after and highly respected for his work on and off stage as a  world class magician. A multi-award winner at the world famous Magic Castle in Hollywood:  MAGIC CASTLE TWO TIME CLOSE UP MAGICIAN OF THE YEAR,  TWO TIME LECTURER OF THE YEAR, RECENTLY VOTED THE STAGE MAGICIAN OF THE YEAR! Steve has literally toured the world performing his brand of high energy mind-blowing  magic, headlined in Las Vegas and has created original magical pieces for himself and  other professional magicians, including a mind bending 22 hour video course on his  favorite trick, called C2P. In 2019 Steve lead a three month National Tour with The Illusionists, the most  successful touring Magic show of all time, and plans to helm the Now You See Me -  Live tour sometime in 2021.

Marvin Berglas is an award winning magician and entrepreneur.

He is the founder and creator of Marvin’s Magic who’s tricks and sets can be found in top stores in over 60 countries worldwide. These include Hamleys and Harrods in London and FAO Schwarz in New York.

As a performer he is much in demand, particularly on the celebrity circuit and was the first resident magician in the Premier League at Arsenal Football Club – since 1993.

As an industry leader, Marvin & Marvin’s Magic continue to attract regular multi media attention, with impressive social media, radio and television coverage as well as trade and national press on both sides of the Atlantic.

He has inspired literally millions of young magicians and has made a significant mark in world magic.

He comes from one of the most famous and respected families in magic as his father David Berglas was the first TV magician and President of the Magic Circle. Marvin with his father were guest artists and lecturers at both The World Magic Congress and the prestigious Essential Magic Conferences for the leaders in world magic.

Rob Zabrecky 

Douglas Hodge is a Tony, Olivier, Drama Desk and Outer Critic Circle award winning actor, composer, director and writer. Recent films include Alfred in Joker, Gemini man The Report and Red Sparrow. Recent TV includes The Great, Black Mirror, Lost In Space, Catastrophe and Penny Dreadful. Tony and Olivier awards on Broadway and the West End for La Cage Aux Folles and originated the role of Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the Drury Lane in London's West End. Ten years working as an actor and director with Harold Pinter. Major Shakespearean and classical roles at the Royal National Theatre and R.S.C. and The Globe. New plays by Pinter, Barker, Penhall, Johnson and more at the RoyalCourt, Almeida, Classic Stage and Donmar Associate Director at Donmar Theatre and director of many plays on West End and on Broadway Stiles and Drewe Best Song Award and composer and lyricist of 101 Dalmatians, Meantime and Wigmaker on the West End. Trained at RADA and a council member alumni of the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain for many years.