Guy Bavli

Guy Bavli
Born (1971-08-24) August 24, 1971 (age 53)
Tel Aviv, Israel
OccupationCEO: Master of the Mind
Years active1979–present
Known forMentalist, illusionist, lecturer, TV personality
Websitewww.masterofthemind.com

Guy Bavli (Hebrew: גיא בבלי; born 1971)[1] is an Israeli mentalist, illusionist, actor and lecturer. He is known for being the first Israeli citizen to win an international magic competition in the United States. He owns the entertainment company "Master of the Mind", based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Early life

Guy Bavli was born in Tel Aviv, Israel in 1971. He served in the Israel Defense Forces for three years, when he developed a mind reading act and became a member of the Israeli Air Force Performing Group as an actor and singer,[2][3][4] In 2002, he moved from Israel to the United States. Bavli became interested in mentalism and illusions as a source of solace from the divorce of his parents and childhood obesity.[2][3][4][5][6] He was particularly influenced by Uri Geller,[2][7] Charlie Chaplin,[2] and Roni Shachnaey.[2][8]

Bavli began performing before audiences at five years of age. When he was eight years old he had his first professional performance at a swimming club in Tel Aviv.[1][2][3][4]

Career

Guy Bavli
Guy Bavli doing a spoon bending demonstration in Denmark in 2010[9]

In 1996, Guy successfully predicted the outcome of the 1996 Israeli general election on the prime time live television show in Israel, two weeks before the election took place. His predictions were put inside an envelope, which was sealed and signed by the television host Dan Shilon, Mayor of Tel Aviv Roni Milo, and former Mayor of Jerusalem Teddy Kollek. Afterwards, the envelope was locked inside the steel safe until the election results were revealed.[10] He also appeared in a product advertisement for Jaguar, where he was blindfolded and then maneuvered a new Jaguar X-type through an obstacle course in front of a live audience.

Bavli has performed at The Magic Castle in Hollywood, California,[2] Carnegie Hall in New York,[6][11] and Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.[1][2][4][6][7][11] In 2007, Bavli appeared on NBC's television show Phenomenon, where he performed a heart stopping demonstration, a Russian roulette demonstration using 8 jars of hydrochloric acid, and a spoon bending demonstration.[4][12] In 2011, he appeared in Stan Lee's Superhumans, where he performed his telekinetic demonstration.[13] He also appeared in television shows such as Sábado Gigante with Don Francisco, Patty Show aired on Estrella TV, Dan Shilon's Talk Show, and Korea TV show named "Magic Hole".

Filmography

Year Film Role
1990 Ba Li Balon Magician
1994 Snurre Snups Søndagsklub As himself
2007 Phenomenon As himself
2008 Masters of Illusion As himself
2012 Stan Lee's Superhumans As himself
2012 Magic Hole Korea As himself

Awards

In 1986, Bavli was given an award at the Tannen's Magic Camp competition in New York City.[2][14] In 1988 and 1993, he was ranked first in the category Stage Performer of the Year, and in 1990, he was named magician/performer of the Decade (1980-1990) by the Israeli Society for Promoting the Art of Magic.[2]

In 2000, Guy was named as the best performer at the "National American Broadcast" in Las Vegas, while he was merited for the best show at the International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam, representing Dream Team Ltd. in a trade show. In 2007, he took fourth place in TV show Phenomenon.

In 2013, he was awarded Dunninger Memorial Award for his distinguished professionalism in the performance of mentalism, given by Psychic Entertainers Association. The award was previously awarded to mentalists such as Derren Brown (2006), Uri Geller (2010) and Kreskin (2012).[15]

Personal life

Bavli moved from Israel to the United States in 2002.[1][4][6][16] He is married and has two children.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Israel's new utensil-bender touts powers of the sixth sense | j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California". Jweekly.com. 2005-01-07. Retrieved 2011-01-17.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Hey, Graham (January 2010). "Guy Bavli Still Flying High". Magicseen - the Magic Magazine for Magicians & Mentalists. 5 (30): 34–41. He's performed in more than 55 countries, headlined in over 1200 shows at Caesar's Palace Las Vegas and has performed on TV too many time to mention
  3. ^ a b c d Jicha, Tom (February 1, 2009). "Magic man - Heart-stopping MyNetwork series puts Davie illusionist on YouTube. That's some trick". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Archived from the original on May 21, 2014. Retrieved April 12, 2012. Although Bavli, 37, is well-known to television audiences in South America, Europe and his native Israel, American TV is the big room, where you roll out your best material.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Phenomenon TV Show, Series - Contestant Bio - Actor Online Biography – NBC Official Site" (Press release). Nbc.com. 2010-07-19. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
  5. ^ Rocchio, Christopher (November 10, 2007). "NBC reveals the identities of 'Phenomenon' contestants and host". Reality TV World. Retrieved April 12, 2012. NBC has revealed the identities of the 10 contestants competing on Phenomenon, a new reality series ...
  6. ^ a b c d Bowling, David. "Master of the mind". Miamilifemagazine.com. Archived from the original on 2012-04-15. Retrieved 2012-04-15.
  7. ^ a b Jonathan, Margolis (25 October 1999). Uri Geller: Magician or Mystic? (1st ed.). Welcome Rain Publishers. ISBN 9781566490252. OCLC 1151673663. Retrieved 17 January 2011. Bavli, who at the age of 28 often plays Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas Alt URL
  8. ^ Browning, Craig. "Roni Who?". Visions, The Online Journal of the Art of Magic. Archived from the original on November 29, 2011. Retrieved March 16, 2012. Roni's influence as a mentor and guide would bring into the world a few other names of note such as Guy Bavli
  9. ^ Randi, James (January 4, 2008). "A Simplified Art". SWIFT January 4, 2008. James Randi Educational Foundation. Retrieved March 23, 2012. The state of the art of spoon-bending – so beautifully demonstrated by our buddy Banachek and by Israeli magician Guy Bavli, among others – has progressed far beyond what Uri Geller first showed the media back in the 1970s.
  10. ^ Mind reader Guy Bavli predicts 1996 Israeli election result two weeks early (Dailymotion). 24 February 2014.
  11. ^ a b "Israel Center. Retrieved: 2010-10-20" (Press release). Israelcentersf.org. Archived from the original on 2010-11-24. Retrieved 2011-01-17. Guy Bavli has appeared at the world's most famous entertainment venues, including Ceasar's [sic] Palace in Las Vegas, Carnegie Hall in NY
  12. ^ "I Like to Watch - I Like to Watch". Salon.com. 2007-11-04. Retrieved 2011-01-17. After a few minutes, Guy's pulse slowed until he was slumping in his chair, and then there was a flat line on the heart monitor.
  13. ^ Kinetic Man. History Channel. 4 November 2011.
  14. ^ Singer, M. (1987). "Tannen's Magic Camp". Grand Street. 6 (2): 167–175. doi:10.2307/25006969. ISSN 0734-5496. JSTOR 25006969. Guy Bavli is an exception. The judges share my opinion that it's a nice idea to award a prize to Guy Bavli, in part because he has such striking personal appearance
  15. ^ "Psychic Entertainers Association Awards". Psychic Entertainers Association. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  16. ^ "Biography" (Press release). Guy Bavli. Archived from the original on 2013-02-08. Retrieved 2011-02-06. In 2002 Bavli moved to live in the USA