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Christopher Nicholas Sarantakos (Greek: Χριστόφορος Νικόλαος Σαραντάκος; born December 19, 1967), known professionally as Criss Angel, is an American magician, illusionist and musician. He is often referred to as one of the world's most successful illusionists, generating in excess of $150 million in tourism revenue for Las Vegas in one year. Angel began his career in New York City, before moving his base of operations to the Las Vegas Valley. He is known for starring in the hit television show MINDFREAK and the stage show Criss Angel MINDFREAK LIVE! (previously Criss Angel Believe) at the Luxor casino in Las Vegas. Following his departure from The Luxor after a decade-long run, Angel opened the new MINDFREAK show in the Criss Angel Theater at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. He also produced and starred in the TV series Criss Angel's Magic with the Stars on CW, Criss Angel BeLIEve on Spike TV, a one-hour special Trick'd on A&E, and the reality competition show Phenomenon on NBC. He also holds multiple world records made during his magic performances, and was named Magician of the Decade in 2009, Magician of the Century in 2010 by the International Magicians Society. In 2017, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Vanish magazine awarded him the "Greatest of All Time" award in 2019. In addition to his career as an illusionist, Angel was the lead singer for his industrial band Angeldust, which released five albums. He also authored the book Mindfreak: Secret Revelations. Early life Criss Angel was born on December 19, 1967, at Hempstead General Hospital in Hempstead, on Long Island, New York. He is of Greek descent. Angel was raised in Elmont until fourth grade, when his family moved to East Meadow, New York. His father, John Sarantakos, owned a restaurant and doughnut shop. He developed an interest in magic at age seven and took inspiration from the great illusionist, Harry Houdini. Angel performed for an audience after five years of practising his craft at age 12, for which he was paid $10. By age 14, Angel was performing throughout high school at restaurants in East Meadow, including the Wine Gallery. Angel's first major illusion was making his mother float in their family den. Early in his career he was helped by animal breeder and reality-television host Marc Morrone, who helped Angel find and train a set of doves for his act. By the time he graduated from East Meadow High School, he had decided to pursue a career as a professional magician instead of attending college as his parents wanted. According to the Biography Channel, "Angel hit the road and began touring with other traveling performance acts. Between traveling and performing, he attempted to further his education on his own by studying the history of magic in public libraries. He also studied the art of mysticism, music, martial arts and even dance." Early career Angel has said that, "I stayed away from magicians when I was younger because I didn't want to think like them and wanted to create my own style." His first television appearance was in 1994, where he performed as a part of Secrets, a one-hour ABC primetime special. One of the early supporters of Angel was horror director Clive Barker. In 1995, Barker asked Angel to work with him on his film Lord of Illusions. He also later recorded the intro to Angel's album World of Illusion: System One. Barker started in the mid-1990s, "Criss Angel is extraordinary, a spectacular mix of visionary magic. This is the future, and it can't come quickly enough." During that year, he collaborated with musician Klayton to form Angeldust, a show that combined magic with music. They released their first album, Musical Conjurings from the World of Illusions, in 1998. Also that year, Angel performed a 10-minute show over the course of the "World of Illusion" conference in Madison Square Garden, performing 60 shows per day. However, by 2000, Klayton's name was removed from Angel's website. Angel also starred in the 1997 television movie The Science of Magic and its 2003 sequel The Science of Magic II. Criss Angel Mindfreak, which would later become Angel's first television series, was originally an off-Broadway show by Angel, which in 2001 was picked up by the World Underground Theatre. When not performing the show, Angel worked the streets promoting the show to pedestrians. Criss Angel Mindfreak ran for more than 600 performances between 2001 and 2003 at the World Underground Theater in Times Square. His 24 hours in a tank of water set a world record for the longest amount of time for a human to be completely submerged under water. This performance would also become a part of his first television special. Angel has also been known to actively discourage a belief in mediumship, stating that there is no way for mediums to speak with people beyond the dead. He has said, "If somebody's doing that for entertainment purposes, that's one thing. But if they claim to be communicating with the dead, I don't care if they're from my hometown, I don't care if they're my family members: I'll expose them and tell them what they really are." Water torture cell in Times Square (2002) In August 2002, Angel spent 24 hours shackled underwater in a phone booth-sized water torture cell in New York's Times Square. The act was said to be inspired by the great escape artist, Harry Houdini. WWE corporation being the owners of the World Underground Theatre where Angel had been performing his stage show. To prepare for the trick, he practiced in a neighbor's backyard swimming pool next to his mother's house in East Meadow, New York. Prior to the performance he had only managed to spend 12 consecutive hours in the water. He fasted for 24 hours before the performance to make it through the period without need to exit and use the bathroom. During the trick, he went through 16 oxygen tanks. After the trick, he was required to remove his own shackles and chains before exiting the water. Within an hour, his skin began to react substantially to the water. At the end of the performance, according to Ted Shaffrey, "Before he emerged from the phone-booth sized contraption of clear plastic and steel, Angel yanked out the air hose that allowed him to breathe. Then assistants pulled a black curtain over the 220-gallon (832-liter) chamber to block the view of television cameras and about 100 people gathered outside the window in which he was displayed. Under cover, Angel apparently escaped from the shackles that bound his arms, legs and neck, before pulling himself from the watery chamber with a celebratory scream." Upon successfully completing the trick, he was described as having "skin crinkled and his eyes bloodshot", and upon emerging from the tank he was taken to St. Clare's Hospital and treated for severe dehydration. He reported afterwards that he had suffered from overheating, jaw fatigue, and semi-consciousness while in the tank. Television specials and promotional appearances .... Discover the Janine Driver Mariska Van Aalst popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Janine Driver Mariska Van Aalst books.