David Seth Kotkin (born September 16, 1956), known professionally as David Copperfield, is an American stage magician and illusionist described by Forbes as the most commercially successful magician in history."Houdini in the Desert". Forbes.com. May 8, 2006
Copperfield's television specials have been nominated for 38 Emmy Awards, winning 21. Known for his combination of storytelling and illusion, his performance, in a career spanning more than 40 years, has earned 11 Guinness World Records,Guinness World Records 2006, p. 197 a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and a knighthood by the French government."Reappearing Act: Inside The Multimillion Dollar World Of Illusionist David Copperfield". Forbes.com. September 5, 2013 He has been named a Living Legend by the US Library of Congress.
His illusions have included the disappearance of a Learjet aircraft (1981), the vanishing and reappearance of the Statue of Liberty (1983), levitating over the Grand Canyon (1984), walking through the Great Wall of China (1986), escaping from Alcatraz prison (1987), being locked in a safe and attempting to escape from Hotel Charlotte before it imploded (1989), the disappearance of an Orient Express train dining car (1991) and flying on stage for several minutes (1992).
As of 2006, he had sold 33 million tickets and grossed over US$4 billion, more than any other solo entertainer in history by a large margin. In 2015, Forbes listed his earnings at $63 million for the previous 12 months and ranked him the 20th highest-earning celebrity in the world.
Copperfield has faced multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, including a 2007 federal investigation that was closed without charges and a 2018 accusation regarding an incident in 1988.Fernandez, Alexia (January 24, 2018) "David Copperfield Accused of Sexually Assaulting Teen Model". People. Retrieved on 2018-02-02. In early 2024, unsealed documents identified him as an associate of Jeffrey Epstein and revealed photographs of him with Ghislaine Maxwell, though his lawyers denied he was a close friend. Subsequently, a May 2024 investigation by The Guardian detailed allegations from 16 women accusing Copperfield of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior spanning from the late 1980s to 2014, all of which his legal team has denied.
Early life and education Copperfield was born David Seth Kotkin in Metuchen, New Jersey,Witchel, Alex (November 24, 1996). "A Maestro of the Magic Arts Returns to His Roots". The New York Times. Retrieved on December 6, 2007. "David Seth Kotkin was born in Metuchen, N.J., 40 years ago; David Copperfield was born when David Kotkin turned 18, at the suggestion of the wife of a New York Post reporter. Which is why his passport reads David Kotkin, a k a David Copperfield." the son of Jewish parents Rebecca Kotkin (née Gispan; 1924–2008), an insurance adjuster, and Hyman Kotkin (1922–2006), who owned and operated Korby's, a men's haberdashery in Warren, New Jersey. His mother was born in Jerusalem in Mandatory Palestine while his paternal grandparents were Jewish emigrants from the Ukrainian SSR.Ike Hughes (2006). "David Copperfield has made a career out of dazzling people". Lansing State Journal. Retrieved on September 22, 2008. "His dad, who managed a men's clothing store, was the son of Russian immigrants. His mom was born in Jerusalem; both wanted him to go to college and into a profession."David Copperfield Bio (Biography) . / Celebrity Gossip (September 16, 1956). Retrieved on February 15, 2012. In 1974 he graduated from Metuchen High School.
Copperfield started his career as a ventriloquist at age eight with his own Jerry Mahoney puppet. When he was 10, he began practicing magic as "Davino the Boy Magician" in his neighborhood, and at 12, he became the youngest person admitted to the Society of American Magicians. A shy loner, the young Copperfield saw magic as a way to fit in and, later, to meet women. As a child, he attended Camp Harmony, a day camp in nearby Warren, New Jersey, where he began practicing magic and ventriloquism, an experience he credits with the origins of his creative style. As he described it, "At Camp Harmony, we spent two weeks searching for a guide who'd been kidnapped by Indians. It was just a game, but I was living it. My whole life goes back to that camp experience when I was three or four." As a teenager, he became fascinated with Broadway and frequently sneaked into shows, especially musicals by Stephen Sondheim or Bob Fosse. By age 16, he was teaching a course in magic at New York University.
Career
Early career At 18, Copperfield enrolled at New York City's Jesuit-based Fordham University, but, three weeks into his freshman year, he left to play the lead role in the musical The Magic Man in Chicago. At that time, he adopted the stage name David Copperfield, taken from the Charles Dickens novel, because he liked its sound. He sang, danced, and created most of the original illusions in the show. The Magic Man became the longest-running musical in Chicago history.
At age 19, he created and headlined for several months the first "Magic of David Copperfield" show at the Pagoda Hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii, with the help of sound and lighting designer Willy Martin. from A&E Copperfield's career in television began in earnest when he was discovered by Joseph Cates, a producer of Broadway shows and television specials. Cates produced a magic special in 1977 for ABC called The Magic of ABC, hosted by Copperfield, as well as several The Magic of David Copperfield specials on CBS between 1978 and 2001. There have been 18 Copperfield TV specials and 2 documentaries between September 7, 1977, and April 3, 2001.
1980s
Copperfield also played the character The Magician in the 1980 horror film Terror Train and had an uncredited appearance in the 1994 film Prêt-à-Porter. Most of his media appearances have been through television specials and guest spots on television programs.
One of his most famous illusions occurred on television on April 8, 1983: A live audience of 20 tourists was seated in front of a giant curtain attached to two lateral scaffoldings built on Liberty Island in an enclosed viewing area. Copperfield, with help from Jim SteinmeyerBiography. jimsteinmeyer.com and Don Wayne, raised the curtain before lowering it again a few seconds later to reveal that the space where the Statue of Liberty once stood was empty. A helicopter hovered overhead to give an aerial view of the illusion and the statue appeared to have vanished, with only the circle of lights surrounding it still present and visible. Before making the statue reappear, Copperfield explained in front of the camera why he wanted to perform this illusion. He wanted people to imagine what it would be like if there were no liberty or freedom in the world today and what the world would be like without the freedoms and rights we enjoy. Copperfield then brought the statue back, ending the illusion by saying that "our ancestors couldn't enjoy rights and freedoms, we can and our children will". Both the disappearance and the reappearance of the statue were filmed in long take to demonstrate the absence of camera tricks.David Copperfield – Vanishing the Statue of Liberty. YouTube (December 1, 2010). Retrieved on 2018-02-02.Jory, Tom (April 8, 1983) David Copperfield and the vanishing Miss Liberty. Associated Press via Kingman Daily Miner This illusion was featured in season four of The Americans, in an episode entitled "The Magic of David Copperfield V: The Statue of Liberty Disappears", and in the 2019 HBO documentary Liberty: Mother of Exiles.
In 1986, Copperfield debuted a new variation on the classic sawing a woman in half illusion. Copperfield's Death Saw illusion was presented as an escape gone wrong, sawing himself, rather than an assistant, in half with a large rotary saw blade which descended from above. Copperfield's Death Saw has become one of his most well-known illusions.
1990s In 1996, in collaboration with Francis Ford Coppola, David Ives, and Eiko Ishioka, Copperfield's Broadway show Dreams & Nightmares broke box office records in New York at the Martin Beck Theatre. Reviewer Greg Evans described the sold-out show in Variety magazine: "With a likable, self-effacing demeanor that rarely comes across in his TV specials, Copperfield leads the audience through nearly two hours of truly mind-boggling illusions. He disappears and reappears, gets cut in half, makes audience members vanish and others levitate. Copperfield climaxes his show with a flying routine, seven years in the making, that defies both logic and visual evidence, he could probably retire just by selling his secrets to future productions of Peter Pan".Evans, Greg – "David Copperfield: Dreams & Nightmares". Variety, December 5, 1996.
Also in 1996, Copperfield joined forces with Dean Koontz, Joyce Carol Oates, Ray Bradbury and others for David Copperfield's Tales of the Impossible, an anthology of original fiction set in the world of magic and illusion. A second volume, David Copperfield's Beyond Imagination, was published in 1997. In addition to the two books, Copperfield wrote an essay as part of NPR's "This I Believe" series and This I Believe, Inc.
2000s
In May 2001, Copperfield entertained guests at a White House benefit for UNICEF by performing a new illusion in which he sawed singer and actress Jennifer Lopez into six pieces while standing up."Diva Dissection", People, June 25, 2001 This illusion was an update of one he performed in one of his early TV specials on actress Catherine Bach, and has never been performed publicly in any of his stage or TV appearances.
In 2002, he was the subject of an hour-long biographical special on A&E's "Biography" channel.
On April 5, 2009, Copperfield made his first live TV appearance for some time when he entertained the audience at the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards with two illusions. First, he made singer Taylor Swift appear inside an apparently empty translucent-sided elevator as it was lowered from the ceiling; he then sawed her in half in his Clearly Impossible illusion.44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards (2009 TV Special) Trivia. IMDb.com.
On May 7, 2009, Copperfield was dropped by Michael Jackson from Jackson's residency at the O2 Arena after a disagreement over money. Copperfield wanted $1 million (£666,000) per show. Copperfield denied the reports of a falling-out, saying "don't believe everything you read." News of Copperfield's collaboration with Jackson first surfaced on April 1, 2009, and has since been described as a possible April Fool's prank.
In July 2009, he filmed a number of scenes for a cameo appearance in episode 8 of the short-lived TV drama The Beautiful Life. In these scenes, he worked alongside actresses Mischa Barton and Sara Paxton performing a number of illusions including a sawing in half of Barton's character Sonja Stone in a specially-developed box-less version of the illusion.Bryant, S. "David Copperfield To Debut New Boxless Sawing In Half On Fashion Industry TV Drama". Genii magazine, August 2009, (Vol 72, No 8.).Farmer, R., "David Copperfield Performs New Sawing In Half On Mischa Barton For TV Drama", Magic magazine, Vol.18 No.12 (August 2009). Due to the show's cancellation after just two episodes had been aired, episode 8 was never completed and the footage of Copperfield's performances remains unseen.
In August 2009, Copperfield took his show to Australia.Pete Hellard, "David Copperfield to bring magic act to Australia". Couriermail.com.au. March 15, 2009"More Than Meets the Eye". The Sydney Morning Herald, August 7, 2009
2010s