Derren Brown
Magician
Born	Feb. 27, 1971 Purley, Croydon, London, United Kingdom
Nationality	British

Derren Brown is a famous British illusionist, trickster, mentalist, hypnotist, skeptic, writer and painter. He has done numerous TV appearances, stage performances, and British TV series such as Trick or Treat, Trick of the Mind and Mind Control. Derren has also written several books for the general public as well as for magicians.

Early Years

Derren Brown was born in Purley, England, in 1971, to parents Chris and Bob Brown, and he was the first of two children. Brown was educated at Whitgift School where his father was a swimming coach. He went on to study Law and the German language at the University of Bristol.

While at the university, Derren got inspired by the performance of hypnotist Martin S. Taylor and decided to pursue hypnosis as a career. During his undergrad studies, he started to work as a conjuror and performed traditional close-up magic tricks in bars and restaurants. At the age of 21, he started performing stage shows at the university.

Personal Life

As a teenager, Derren was an Evangelical Christian, but he turned in to an atheist in his twenties. His study of the Bible and other texts related to Christianity could not answer his questions and he jumped to a conclusion that there is no basis for his belief in religion.

Derren stated in an interview in 2007 that he is a gay. He has talked openly about his sexuality in interviews and he stated in an interview in 2011 that he is happily involved in a relationship.

Derren Brown is said to have been banned from all casinos in Britain. However, some casinos do welcome the publicity that his visits bring to them. Brown is also a patron of the Parrot Zoo Trust in eastern Lincolnshire, England. He is a big fan of parrots and he finds these birds very interesting.

Major Achievements

Derren Brown has used an array of techniques and tricks to achieve illusions in his shows. These include traditional magic techniques, cognitive psychology, hypnosis, memory techniques and cold reading. In fact, he is known for his mind-reading acts.

This multi-award-winning master of psychological illusion has performed several stage shows as well as television shows. Known as the dark manipulator of magic and mind control, Brown uses intriguing methods to hypnotize people and to create illusions.

The stunning tricks of this British magician have enthralled millions of TV viewers. He has created and starred in a variety of TV shows, including Derren Brown: The Events and Derren Brown: The Experiments, just to name a few.

His TV shows combine the skills of a magician as well as hypnotist to form a psychological illusion. His shows often utilize so many layers of secrecy and deception.

Awards and Recognition

Derren Brown has been awarded with two prestigious Olivier Awards for his stage shows – one for for Something Wicked This Way Comes (2006) and Svengali (2012). Some of his other famous stage shows include Infamous, Enigma, and An Evening of Wonders.