David Copperfield Biography

Quick Facts

NAME: David Copperfield
OCCUPATION: Magician
BIRTH DATE: September 15, 1956 (Age: 55)
EDUCATION: Fordham University
PLACE OF BIRTH: Metuchen, New Jersey

Originally: David Seth Kotkin
ZODIAC SIGN: Virgo

more about David

Best Known For

David Copperfield is a world-famous magician whose tricks include making the Statue of Liberty disappear and walking through the Great Wall of China.

Print Cite This

David Copperfield

APA Style

David Copperfield. (2012). Biography.com. Retrieved 10:54, May 25, 2012 from http://www.biography.com/people/david-copperfield-9542629

Harvard Style

David Copperfield [Internet]. 2012. http://www.biography.com/people/david-copperfield-9542629, May 25

MLA Style

" David Copperfield." 2012. Biography.com 25 May 2012, 10:54 http://www.biography.com/people/david-copperfield-9542629

MHRA Style

' David Copperfield', Biography.com,(2012) http://www.biography.com/people/david-copperfield-9542629 [accessed May 25, 2012]

Chicago Style

" David Copperfield," Biography.com, http://www.biography.com/people/david-copperfield-9542629 (accessed May 25, 2012).

CBE/CSE Style

David Copperfield [Internet]. Biography.com; 2012 [cited 2012 May 25]. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/david-copperfield-9542629.

Bluebook Style

David Copperfield, http://www.biography.com/people/david-copperfield-9542629 (last visited May 25, 2012).

AMA Style

David Copperfield, http://www.biography.com/people/david-copperfield-9542629 (last visited May 25, 2012).

Synopsis

By age 16, David Copperfield was teaching a course in magic at NYU. He now performs his magic feats more than 500 times a year. According to Forbes magazine, he earned $57 million in 2005 in merchandise and tour revenue. He has won 21 Emmy awards and has opened the International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts in Las Vegas, dedicated to preserving the history and art of magic.

Profile

Illusionist and entertainer. Born David Seth Kotkin on September 16, 1956, in Metuchen, Jersey. One of the wealthiest entertainers in the world, Copperfield got his start with magic as a twelve-year-old, the youngest person ever admitted into the Society of American Magicians.

By age 16, he was teaching a course in magic at New York University and performing under the name David Copperfield after the Charles Dickens novel. After a brief stint at Fordham University, he was cast as the lead in the Chicago musical The Magic Man.

The successful show led to a job hosting an ABC magic special, which Copperfield parlayed into a lucrative career. He now performs his magic feats more than five hundred times a year. According to Forbes magazine, he earned $57 million in 2005 in merchandise and tour revenue. He has won 21 Emmy awards.

Copperfield's most popular illusions include walking through the Great Wall of China', making the Statue of Liberty disappear, and escaping from a flaming raft over Niagara Falls.

In 1982, the magician established Project Magic, a rehabilitation program that uses sleight-of-hand magic as a method of physical therapy. The program is accredited by the American Occupational Therapy Association and used in hospitals across the globe. He also opened the International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts in Las Vegas, Nevada, dedicated to preserving the history and art of magic.

David Copperfield was famously engaged to supermodel Claudia Schiffer in the late 1990s, but the couple parted ways before wedding.