R. Paul Wilson
Encyclopedia
Ronald Paul Wilson is a close-up magician
,
and television presenter. He lives and works between London
, Los Angeles
, and his home in Scotland
. He lives in Glasgow with his wife Julie and their two children Conner and Cameron. He is represented by David Boxerbaum at the APA Agency in Hollywood, CA.
He has studied sleight of hand
, cheating and conjuring since the age of eight. After twelve years as an IT consultant
, he became a professional performer and lecturer
, studying film before moving into the industry.
Wilson was a second unit director
, advisor, and actor
in the 2004 film, Shade
. He directed and starred in the opening titles, which featured expert sleight of hand with cards. He later appeared as Mr. Andrews, a poker playing card cheat. He also had a small role in Joe Carnahan
's film Smokin' Aces
, in which he was also a magic advisor whose duties included teaching the lead actor to handle card
s like an expert.
Wilson has worked on projects with Sylvester Stallone
, Stuart Townsend
, Jamie Foxx
, Gabriel Byrne
, Thandie Newton
, Bo Hopkins
, Ben Affleck
, Ryan Reynolds
, Ray Liotta
, Alicia Keys
, Andy García
, Jason Bateman
, and Jeremy Piven
. He also produced A&E
's television show Mondo Magic, advised Criss Angel
on his television show, appeared on Modern Marvels casino technology episodes, co-created, produced and starred in Court TV
's The Takedown, and is the resident cheating expert on Italian television's Arcana show.
Wilson is currently a writer and presenter on the BBC
's The Real Hustle
. The show is now a hit in the United Kingdom
, with series nine having aired on BBC Three
on July 29, 2010. A United States
version has been commissioned by Court TV.
As a magician Wilson's television and film credits include the video series Royal Road to Card Magic (2005, L&L Publishing, based on a classic book
The Royal Road to Card Magic from 1949), Hit the Road with Paul Wilson and Lee Asher, Knock 'Em Dead, Twists Of Fate, The Restaurant Act, and The Unreal Work with Paul Wilson and Jason England.
Wilson has published several articles in MAGIC Magazine and Genii Magazine. His books include Chaos Theories, The Little Black Book, Obscure Acts, Omerta, Crash Course in Brain Surgery, The Inslow Effect, 13, Miracle Card in Beer Bottle, The Finnish Line, and over a dozen online manuscripts. Wilson is also the inventor of the "Triple Threat" version of Connie Hayden's original gaff. Jamie Schoolcraft's version of Paul's gaff is known as 3CM. He is also credited as the artist who drew the pictures in Richard Wiseman
's book "Magic in Theory".
Magic (illusion)
Magic is a performing art that entertains audiences by staging tricks or creating illusions of seemingly impossible or supernatural feats using natural means...
,
and television presenter. He lives and works between London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, and his home in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. He lives in Glasgow with his wife Julie and their two children Conner and Cameron. He is represented by David Boxerbaum at the APA Agency in Hollywood, CA.
He has studied sleight of hand
Sleight of hand
Sleight of hand, also known as prestidigitation or legerdemain, is the set of techniques used by a magician to manipulate objects such as cards and coins secretly....
, cheating and conjuring since the age of eight. After twelve years as an IT consultant
Information technology consulting
Information technology consulting is a field that focuses on advising businesses on how best to use information technology to meet their business objectives...
, he became a professional performer and lecturer
Lecturer
Lecturer is an academic rank. In the United Kingdom, lecturer is a position at a university or similar institution, often held by academics in their early career stages, who lead research groups and supervise research students, as well as teach...
, studying film before moving into the industry.
Wilson was a second unit director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, advisor, and actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
in the 2004 film, Shade
Shade (film)
Shade is a 2003 neo-noir crime drama starring Stuart Townsend, Gabriel Byrne, Thandie Newton, Jamie Foxx, Roger Guenveur Smith, Melanie Griffith and Sylvester Stallone...
. He directed and starred in the opening titles, which featured expert sleight of hand with cards. He later appeared as Mr. Andrews, a poker playing card cheat. He also had a small role in Joe Carnahan
Joe Carnahan
Joseph Aaron "Joe" Carnahan is an American independent film director, screenwriter, producer and actor best known for his films Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane, Narc, Smokin' Aces and The A-Team...
's film Smokin' Aces
Smokin' Aces
Smokin' Aces is a 2006 crime film, written and directed by Joe Carnahan. It stars Jeremy Piven as a Las Vegas magician turned mafia informant and Ryan Reynolds as the FBI agent assigned to protect him...
, in which he was also a magic advisor whose duties included teaching the lead actor to handle card
Playing card
A playing card is a piece of specially prepared heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic, marked with distinguishing motifs and used as one of a set for playing card games...
s like an expert.
Wilson has worked on projects with Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone
Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone , commonly known as Sylvester Stallone, and nicknamed Sly Stallone, is an American actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, film director and occasional painter. Stallone is known for his machismo and Hollywood action roles. Two of the notable characters he has portrayed...
, Stuart Townsend
Stuart Townsend
Stuart Townsend is an Irish actor and director. His most notable portrayals are of the characters Lestat de Lioncourt in the 2002 film adaptation of Anne Rice's Queen of the Damned, and Dorian Gray in the 2003 film adaptation of Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.-Early life and...
, Jamie Foxx
Jamie Foxx
Eric Marlon Bishop , professionally known as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, singer-songwriter, stand-up comedian, and talk radio host. As an actor, his work in the film Ray earned him the Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Actor as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a...
, Gabriel Byrne
Gabriel Byrne
Gabriel James Byrne is an Irish actor, film director, film producer, writer, cultural ambassador and audiobook narrator. His acting career began in the Focus Theatre before he joined Londo's Royal Court Theatre in 1979. Byrne's screen debut came in the Irish soap opera The Riordans and the...
, Thandie Newton
Thandie Newton
Thandiwe Nashita "Thandie" Newton is a British actress. She has appeared in a number of British and American films, including The Pursuit of Happyness, Mission: Impossible II, Crash, Run, Fatboy, Run and W....
, Bo Hopkins
Bo Hopkins
Bo Hopkins is an American actor.-Career:Hopkins has appeared in more than one hundred film and television roles in a career of more than forty years, including The Bridge at Remagen, The Wild Bunch, The Getaway, American Graffiti, White Lightning, Radioland Murders, The Killer Elite, Midnight...
, Ben Affleck
Ben Affleck
Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt , better known as Ben Affleck, is an American actor, film director, writer, and producer. He became known with his performances in Kevin Smith's films such as Mallrats and Chasing Amy...
, Ryan Reynolds
Ryan Reynolds
Ryan Rodney Reynolds is a Canadian film and television actor, best known for his roles in such films as National Lampoon's Van Wilder, Waiting..., The Amityville Horror, Just Friends, Definitely, Maybe, The Proposal, Buried, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and Green Lantern.One of his best known...
, Ray Liotta
Ray Liotta
[File:Ray Liotta is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Henry Hill in the crime-drama Goodfellas, directed by Martin Scorsese and his role as Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams...
, Alicia Keys
Alicia Keys
Alicia Augello Cook , better known by her stage name Alicia Keys, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and occasional actress. She was raised by a single mother in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan in New York City. At age seven, Keys began playing the piano...
, Andy García
Andy García
Andrés Arturo García Menéndez , professionally known as Andy García, is a Cuban American actor. He became known in the late 1980s and 1990s, having appeared in several successful Hollywood films, including The Godfather: Part III, The Untouchables, Internal Affairs and When a Man Loves a Woman...
, Jason Bateman
Jason Bateman
Jason Kent Bateman is an American television and film actor. After appearing in several 1980s and 1990s sitcoms including It's Your Move, and The Hogan Family, Bateman came to prominence in the early 2000s for playing Michael Bluth on Arrested Development, for which he won a TV Land, a Golden...
, and Jeremy Piven
Jeremy Piven
Jeremy Samuel Piven is an American film producer and actor best known for his role as Ari Gold in the television series Entourage for which he has won three Emmy Awards as well as several other nominations for Best Supporting Actor....
. He also produced A&E
A&E Network
The A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...
's television show Mondo Magic, advised Criss Angel
Criss Angel
Christopher Nicholas Sarantakos , better known by the stage name Criss Angel, is an American illusionist, writer, director, musician, and actor...
on his television show, appeared on Modern Marvels casino technology episodes, co-created, produced and starred in Court TV
Court TV
truTV is an American cable television network owned by Turner Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Time Warner. The network launched as Court TV in 1991, changing to truTV in 2008...
's The Takedown, and is the resident cheating expert on Italian television's Arcana show.
Wilson is currently a writer and presenter on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's The Real Hustle
The Real Hustle
The Real Hustle is a BBC television series made by Objective Productions and written by Alexis Conran and Paul Wilson. The show demonstrates confidence and magic tricks, distraction scams and proposition bets performed on members of the public by presenters Conran, Wilson and Jessica-Jane Clement...
. The show is now a hit in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, with series nine having aired on BBC Three
BBC Three
BBC Three is a television network from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel's target audience includes those in the 16-34 year old age group, and has the purpose of providing "innovative" content to younger audiences, focusing on new talent...
on July 29, 2010. A United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
version has been commissioned by Court TV.
As a magician Wilson's television and film credits include the video series Royal Road to Card Magic (2005, L&L Publishing, based on a classic book
Timeline of magic
-Timeline:2700 BCE - The reputed first known performance of a conjuring effect by the magician Dedi in ancient Egypt. Dedi had done other effects such as decapitating a birds head and reattach the head resurrecting it. -Timeline:2700 BCE - The reputed first known performance of a conjuring effect...
The Royal Road to Card Magic from 1949), Hit the Road with Paul Wilson and Lee Asher, Knock 'Em Dead, Twists Of Fate, The Restaurant Act, and The Unreal Work with Paul Wilson and Jason England.
Wilson has published several articles in MAGIC Magazine and Genii Magazine. His books include Chaos Theories, The Little Black Book, Obscure Acts, Omerta, Crash Course in Brain Surgery, The Inslow Effect, 13, Miracle Card in Beer Bottle, The Finnish Line, and over a dozen online manuscripts. Wilson is also the inventor of the "Triple Threat" version of Connie Hayden's original gaff. Jamie Schoolcraft's version of Paul's gaff is known as 3CM. He is also credited as the artist who drew the pictures in Richard Wiseman
Richard Wiseman
Richard Wiseman is Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom.Wiseman started his professional life as a magician, before graduating in Psychology from University College London and obtaining a Ph.D...
's book "Magic in Theory".