Criss Angel (born Christopher Nicholas Sarantakos on December 19, 1967) is a Greek-American magician, musician, mentalist, hypnotist, escapologist, stunt performer, and actor.
Born December 8, and raised in East Meadow, New York, Angel grew up loving music (played drums and accordion), and always had an interest in magic. Two of his biggest magic influences are Harry Houdini and Aldo Richiardi.His parents are John and Dimitra Sarantakos. He has two brothers, JD (who used to own Monster Music, a music store in Levittown, New York) and Costa. Criss Angel first became interested in magic at the age 7, when his Aunt Stella showed him a card trick.
One of Criss's biggest influences has been his father, who passed away due to stomach cancer. As a teenager, Criss performed at birthday parties, at night clubs, at home to entertain his family, and at private events doing magic. Criss played in a band called AngelDust with friend Klayton Scott who produced and helped arrange the music for his show, Mindfreak.
Angel performed in World Of Illusion at Madison Square Garden in 1998. Criss then scored a show on Broadway titled "MINDFREAK," which ran up until January 6, 2003. He also starred in several television specials. His Broadway production, "Criss Angel Mindfreak," ran for 600 1/2 performances at The World in the The World Underground Theater in Times Square, ending January 6, 2003.
Angel has become famous as the star and creator of the A&E Network show Criss Angel Mindfreak. Seasons 1 & 2 were filmed at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, with Season 3 at the Luxor Hotel. Premiering on July 20, 2005, the illusions have included walking on water, floating between two buildings, and cutting himself in half in full view of an audience. Guests have included Celldweller, Korn's Jonathan Davis (who also co-produced the show's theme music), Rob Zombie, Carrot Top, the Amazing Johnathan, Vince Neil, Mandy Moore, Penn & Teller, Jeff McBride, Jason Hervey, Dog the Bounty Hunter, Lance Burton, and Ice Cube. Criss will begin filming Season 4 of Mindfreak in September of 2007, and the show will run for 2 more seasons after that.
Criss will appear in a new illusion-based Cirque du Soleil production at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas. The new show is expected to open in September 2008. Criss has recently said that there are plans for this attraction to run for 10 years, including 4,600 shows with a possible 5 year renewal option of his contract. The show is a permanent Las Vegas show and will not be in any other city.
Criss Angel won the Academy of Magical Arts' Magician of the Year award in 2005 and the IMS Magician of the year for 2007 and 2008. Many magicians have also shown how Angel performs his tricks. Angel has written a book titled Mindfreak: Secret Revelations, which was published April 24, 2007 and hit the Los Angeles Times The Best Sellers list the week of May 13th, 2007
During the second season, Criss Angel introduced a "Spectator's Point of View camera", a hand held video camera given to a random person in the audience to shoot the action in any way he or she wants. However, the camera has seemingly fallen out of favor as the second season continued, only showing up very sporadically. He has even revealed the methods for some of his tricks to viewers at home on TV and in videos, although the effects revealed are usually very simple such as making a toothpick disappear, picking a pocket, or making a styrofoam cup float. More complicated illusions, such as levitation, self-disappearances, and stopping his pulse have not been revealed.
In the first episode of season three of his series "MINDFREAK", Criss demonstrated his levitation skills at the Luxor Hotel, Las Vegas. In one scene, he levitated from the 26th floor inside the hotel, slowly descending through the hotel's atrium to the entrance lobby. Later, he levitated above the 500-foot-high apex of the hotel at night, in the middle of the famous Luxor's spotlight which has an output of 42.2 billion candlepower. This episode was viewed by almost 3 million viewers making it the most watched episode in series history and the number 1 show in its timeslot on cable television.
Angel was the featured guest starred on CSI: NY on February 28, 2007 in an episode titled "Sleight Out of Hand" as a character named Luke Blade, a famous magician whose assistants die in unusual circumstances. He performed three illusions (being sawed in half, being lit on fire, and a version of his "Submerged" illusion). Criss' most notable television appearances include but are not limited to Las Vegas, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, The Ellen Degeneres show, as well as VH1's Rock Honors Awards performing and introducing legendary Honoree Ozzy Osbourne. In June 2007, Criss appeared on the cover of the DUB magazine. On June 8, 2007, Criss stated on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson that Richiardi was one of his greatest influences.
Criss Angel is cast to star in the upcoming movie Mandrake the Magician.
The first two season DVDs for Angel's television show have been the #1 and #2 best selling DVDs in A&E’s history[citation needed]. A publishing house, Harper Entertainment, released Criss' first book, Criss Angel MINDFREAK: Secret Revelations in April 2007. He was named Magician of the Year, making him the first five-time, back-to-back recipient ever to be awarded these accolades. (This About.com article cites his 2005 Magician of the Year announcement). Angel was also selected as the recipient of the 22nd Louie Award for outstanding achievement in the art of magic.
Angel was married to Joann Winkhart/Sarantakos for 5 years before they split in early 2006; before marrying, they dated for almost 10 years.
He has been romantically linked to actress Minnie Driver, hotel heiress Paris Hilton and actress Cameron Diaz. On June 5, he dedicated a performance to Diaz. On a radio interview with Ryan Seacrest, Angel stated "I'm Greek. I tell everyone I love them." "We are just friends." Diaz's publicist, meanwhile, has already disavowed any adulterous wrongdoing on his client's behalf.
"When Cameron met Criss Angel in May of this year, he had been separated from his wife for over a year and she had already filed a petition to divorce him in 2006," Brad Cafarelli said in a statement to E! News. "These are meaningless, attention-seeking attempts to unfairly and unnecessarily exploit Cameron's celebrity by trying to involve her in matters she has nothing to do with..."
