Cyril Takayama

Cyril Takayama
In front of ION Orchard in Singapore.
Born	September 27, 1973 (1973-09-27) (age 38) ) Hollywood, California

Cyril Takayama (born September 27, 1973) is an American-Japanese illusionist of Japanese and French descent. He is perhaps best known for his magic performances around Japan.

Early life

Cyril Takayama was born and raised in Hollywood, California. His father is a Japanese from Okinawa prefecture in Japan, while his mother is French of Moroccan descent, both of whom were beauticians. Cyril Takayama had an eventful yet troubled upbringing. A recent profile in Magic (“The Magazine for Magicians”) describes him being expelled from school at 15 and then dropping out of school at the age of 16. Cyril's father, upset at his behavioral problems, sent him to Japan. While traveling he got off the plane during a stopover in Tokyo and never got back on. Cyril wound up busking on the streets of Shinjuku, and at times had so little money that he could afford just one meal a day. He attempted to contact Japan magic circles though they viewed him as an outsider. At the age of 17, Cyril met a rich Japanese businessman who saw his talent and employed him to work in his hotel paying him for each short range performance 4 to 5 days a week. For two years Cyril performed as a magician for weddings and parties. Within 2 months Cyril created his own stage magic show. Ito, impressed at Cyril's progress, sent Cyril to magic assemblies and competitions. In 1991, Cyril's dedication began to pay off. He was awarded a top prize by magic's international governing body, the International Federation of Magic Societies, as well in 1994. In 1992, he joined the International Brotherhood of Magicians. In 2001, he and his partner Jane won the Golden Lion Award at Siegfried and Roy’s World Magic Seminar in Las Vegas. He is a member of the short-lived television series T.H.E.M.(2004). In 2007 he won first place in The Magic Woods Awards, Best Magician Category.^[1]

Career

Takayama became interested in magic when he was six years old when he went to a magic show in Las Vegas where he saw a guest magician levitate a woman and cut himself in half. The first time Cyril ever performed magic in front of people was during his junior high school's talent show. At the age of 12, he entered the junior program at the Magic Castle in Hollywood.

Some of Cyril's signature tricks include the hamburger in the menu trick, having his head fall off his shoulders, and the card through window trick. His most dramatic trick was above the Circus Circus hotel, where he bungee jumps into the hotel pool with a sword and spears the chosen card of his co host from a deck floating in the water. To promote Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Cyril performed magic with the game itself, surprising the audience. Because of his large popularity in Japan, Cyril frequently goes out in a disguise, his most notable one being "Sero jisan" (セロ爺さん^?) or Old Man Cyril.

Since 2005 Cyril has been steadily increasing in popularity in Japan as well as on the Internet, due to many of his magic shows being uploaded and viewed on the popular video-sharing site YouTube. He has been dubbed Magic's first cyber celebrity.

Appearances

In his 2006 magic specials, Cyril visited Thailand to put on a show for orphans with HIV. He also did the same with orphans in Nepal.

He appeared on the MTV series called Room 401 (2007) where magicians prank unsuspecting victims. On May 31, 2008 he hosted the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards in Japan.

Cyril doesn't limit his work to television only. He travels around Japan performing grand magic stage shows known as "Magic Revolution: The Xperience".

He also appeared in the movie Redbelt, playing a minor role as the magician.

He has started appearing in a new show called "Cyril Simply Magic" on AXN.

He was a speaker and performer at the 2010 Essential Magic Conference, that took place in Portugal.

Performances on TV

Cyril has been very active in Japan. Since 2004, he appeared in

• Four "Super Street Magic Magazine" episodes (broadcast on TV Tokyo)
  • Date Unknown
  • Date Unknown
  • June 21, 2004
  • Best Selection (September 12, 2004)
• Three "Super Street Magic CYRIL MAGAZINE" DVD Product
  • September, 2004
  • October, 2004
  • November, 2004
• 13 "Magic Revolution" episodes (broadcast on FujiTV)
  • September 12, 2004
  • January 4, 2005
  • June 30, 2005
  • January 10, 2006
  • June 20, 2006
  • September 30, 2006
  • January 23, 2007
  • July 24, 2007
  • September 29, 2007
  • May 27, 2008
  • December 12, 2008 (Live performance; including previous episodes)
  • February 24, 2009 (Date changed to March 12, 2009)
  • May 24, 2011
• Two 90 minute Korean magic specials
  • October 6, 2006
  • September 25, 2007
• Three "Cyril: Simply Magic" episodes (broadcast on AXN-Asia)
  • November 19, 2009
  • November 26, 2009
  • December 3, 2009
• Guest Appearance(s)
  • January 6, 2007- What a cool weare! (Mecha Ike)
  • July 19, 2007- Marumaru Chibi Maruko chan
  • July 23, 2007- SMAP SMAP
  • September 13, 2008- TBS Japan
  • January 8, 2009- BAKA-TONO (A Stupid Lord)
  • June 18, 2009- Guest at the release of the Sony Ericsson phone.

References

1. ^ "The Magic Woods". http://www.themagicwoods.co.uk/. Retrieved 2008-01-09. 

• Official website of Cyril Takayama

External links

• (English) Cyril Takayama Official English Website
• (English) Cyril Takayama Official Japanese Website
• (English) Cyril Takayama Official Twitter Website
• (English) Cyril Takayama at the Internet Movie Database

Persondata
Name	Takayama, Cyril
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	September 27, 1973
Place of birth	Hollywood, California
Date of death
Place of death