Magician · Sydney

A SYDNEY MAGICIAN
HOLLYWOOD HIRED FOR THE CARD WORK.

Close-up, roving and comedy magic for Sydney corporate events, galas and private parties. Sleight of hand built over more than thirty years, including the card work for a 20th Century Fox feature and more than a thousand shows at sea.

Phoenix on set with Taylor Kitsch, who is holding a fanned deck of cards, during X-Men Origins: Wolverine — On set with Taylor Kitsch during *X-Men Origins: Wolverine*. The fan in his hands is the job.

The card work

TAUGHT AN ACTOR TO HANDLE CARDS
LIKE A CAREER HUSTLER.

On X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Phoenix was the magic consultant and card trainer for the character Gambit. IMDb lists the role as card expert to Taylor Kitsch, uncredited on screen as film consultants usually are.

The poker table

He coached the card work for the table scene. Taylor Kitsch, Hugh Jackman, will.i.am and World Series of Poker champion Daniel Negreanu are all in that film, and all of them were working to the same card handling. The story.

What the job actually was

Making an actor’s hands read as a lifelong card hustler’s. Which flourishes to use, how to hold a deck, how to deal without it looking learned. A teaching problem before it is a magic one.

On the crew

Issued production pass W407 for site access by Wolverine Films Pty Ltd, the film’s Australian production company. Kitsch described the arrangement himself in a published magazine interview.

Phoenix being prepared for a locked water tank escape — The locked water tank escape, performed on live television.

What you can book

FOUR WAYS IT GETS PERFORMED.

Close-up and roving magic

Table to table through a reception or a dinner, with the work happening in your guests’ own hands. No stage, no sound, no set-up time.

Parlour magic

A seated room of thirty to a hundred, close enough that everyone can see a deck clearly. The format nearest to the film work above.

Comedy magic

A stage set built to get laughs as well as gasps, for awards nights and conference dinners where the room needs lifting rather than hushing.

Stage illusion and escape

Including the locked water tank escape performed live on television. It is a stunt, and it is sold as one.

On screen

THE MAGIC THAT MADE IT TO TELEVISION.

Underground Magic

Prime Video, 2025. The invite-only New York magic show, credited as himself.

Australia’s Got Talent

Channel Seven, 2009. The locked water tank escape, across two episodes.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

20th Century Fox, 2009. Magic consultant and card trainer for Gambit.

Among magicians

JUDGED BY MAGICIANS.
THEN ASKED TO JUDGE.

Winning is competing. Being asked to assess other magicians is the trade treating you as the standard.

Judged the junior magicians

Melbourne Magic Festival 2015, on the panel for the junior magicians alongside Cosentino, assessing the ones coming up. Both were presented with their own awards at the same event.

Two awards at the festival

The “Gluttony” (Adelaide Fringe) Award in 2014, and the Most Popular Show (People’s Choice) Award in 2015, that one voted by the public. Both for PSYCHE!, which was a mentalism show. The festival is magicians judging magicians, which is why standing there counts.

Sydney Fringe Festival judge

Four of the last five years, missing only a year spent performing overseas. The panel assesses the whole festival, theatre, comedy, dance and acting, not one trade.

Also on offer

MIND READING IS A DIFFERENT BOOKING.

A magician performs a prepared effect. A mentalist works with whatever your guests are thinking on the night, with nothing rehearsed. If that is the night you are planning, it has its own page, and here is the difference in full.

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR SYDNEY EVENT

Date, venue and roughly how many guests is enough to start. If this is the wrong call for your night, I will say so.

Enquire 1800 MINDGUY (1800 646 348)

A SYDNEY MAGICIANHOLLYWOOD HIRED FOR THE CARD WORK.

TAUGHT AN ACTOR TO HANDLE CARDSLIKE A CAREER HUSTLER.