Criss Angel is an illusionist. Despite his youthful looks he has been spending years perfecting his craft and looking into new ways to do his illusions bigger and better. Some of his escape illusions are truly spectacular because his escapes count on so much in the way of perfect timing and being sure of his abilities – I mean a few seconds too long on some of his things he could be seriously hurt or even killed.
He does seem to be quite family oriented though. He has many brothers and cousins involved with his show as either technical advisors or managers and I think he brings his mother along for some of his onsite shoots. Several of his “Mind Freak” shows have also featured him back in his old home town doing things at his school, too. Also, some of the old photos from his childhood clearly show him in a church – Greek Orthodox I believe. Unless this is all a stunt of some kind it at least shows he isn’t ashamed of where he is from, gives back to the community in some way and keeps close family ties. I think that says a lot about him as a person.
His illusions also, in my opinion, don’t focus on gory or macabre subjects either. They are primarily escape tricks or making things disappear or levitation. I remember seeing a few videos on Youtube with him showing how a few of his more simple or basic tricks are done. He is really dexterous and a master at distracting people long enough to put something in place or to take it out of place. So imagine these simple tricks writ large and you get an idea of how he plans and develops things.
Does all this make him a Christian? I don’t know, but he doesn’t claim to have any supernatural or unworldly powers. He got to where he is the old fashioned way through hardwork and persistence.
ChadS
