I don’t watch alot of magic acts, but i can definately recognize, David Blaine, Chriss Angel,Copperfield and Penn & Teller. Are there any female illusionists?
Well, there’s Misty Lee.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, she’s married to Paul Dini.
I asked this not too long ago. List of famous female magicians - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board
Rebecca Watson, AKA Skepchick.
Ha, I didn’t know she was actually a magician. That adds a whole other layer of humour.
There are female magicians, and female illusionists, in the US and in many other countries. To date, none have become as well-known among the general public as the male magicians mentioned in the OP, but it could happen and I hope it will one day, as this would hopefully inspire more women to take up magic and perform professionally. There is certainly no difference between men and women in terms of skill, talent or ability.
It is the case that the magic community is severely male-dominated. As to why this is so, there could be many reasons or none. At the pre-teen stage, there are almost as many girls interested in magic as boys. I used to work a lot with the Young Magic Circle (YMC), a sort of club for youngsters who are interested in magic and who can meet at the Magic Circle HQ in London once a month. About 30-40% of YMC members are female. But among working professionals, across all styles and types of magic, I’d say at a rough estimate there are at least 50 men to every woman, and this includes the women who work as magician’s “assistants”.
May I provide just a few examples of the excellent female magicians and illusionists who are out there, if perhaps not yet as well-known as they deserve to be among the general public.
Joan du Kore is a terrific magician based in Las Vegas who can do it all - close-up, sleight-of-hand, big stage illusions, comedy, cabaret. She’s very talented, with a strong personality and a great sense of fun. Arian Black is also very talented and has been a very successful professional for many years. In addition she runs a ‘Divas of Magic’ group for female magicians. Jinger Leigh is one half of illusionist duo ‘Kalin & Jinger’ but the act doesn’t work in the stereotypical ‘magician + silent assistant’ way. Jinger is just as much a part of the act as partner Mark Kalin; she talks, she presents some of the illusions, she does solo spots and she is an excellent all-round entertainer whose charm and wit adds immensely to the act. The same is true of Charlotte Pendragon. Anyone who says Charlotte is ‘just’ the assistant had better make sure Charlotte is not within earshot! Angela Funovitz is another excellent magician. She specialises in areas like mind-reading and mental effects, which not many female performers do. Youngster Krysten Lambert has all the makings of a truly great magician, and if she sticks with magic as a career she could well be a big, big name of the future (the YouTube links don’t really show her at her best.)
There are also excellent female magicians elsewhere in the world. Here in the UK, Fay Presto is probably as well-known as any other working professional magician (apart from Derren Brown, who is in a league of his own in terms of public awareness). There are others too, such as Mandy Muden who specialises in comedy and cabaret magic, and the amazing Romany, a former Magic Circle Stage Magician Of The Year whose amazing blend of illusion, burlesque and laughter is very much in demand in the UK and Europe.
Malin Nilsson is a well-knwon star of stage and cabaret magic in her home country of Sweden, but has performed at the Magic Castle in Hollywood and at this year’s ‘Magic Live!’ convention in Vegas. In Singapore, self-styled ‘Magic Babe’ Ning is quite a media star and performs large-scale illusions that often hit the headlines.
Charlotte Pendragon was the first one that came to my mind, though I did see Angela Funovits on The Phenomenon.
Ursula Martinez may not be a magician primarily but she has an act of sleight-of-hand in which you can see she has nothing up her sleeve. :eek:
It’s all over the net and is not remotely safe for work. Search terms: ursula martinez hanky panky