Randall James Hamilton Zwinge AKA James Randi AKA The Amazing Randi is a former Canadian-American magician who is best known for challenging paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. The retired magician skeptic has co-founded the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) formerly named CSICOP. According to James Randi wiki, he was born on August 7, 1928, which makes his age be 89 years old now.
People also recognize him for being the founder of James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF). After being a prominent magician, he later became keen on investigating supernatural claims, paranormal, occult i.e. “woo-woo” in his own words. He has already lived nearly three decades of retired magician life. Let’s explore in detail about James Randi biography below:
Early Life and Education
The Canadian-American magician was born in 1928 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada as Randall James Hamilton Zwinge (birth name). He was born to the parents named George Randall Zwinge (father) and Marie Alice (mother). He has spent good childhood days alongside his one younger brother and one younger sister. According to some source, he developed the interest in the magic field after being impressed from Harry Blackstone Sr. He used to spend hours by reading conjuring books especially during the 13 months where he was in a body cast because of the injury from the bicycle accident. Amazingly, he surprised the doctors who were stating that he would never walk again.
For performing conjurer in a carnival roadshow, Randi used to drop-out his school classes. Later, he started getting focused being as a mentalist in local nightclubs as well.
Career and Professional Life
Randi started his professional stage magician and escapologist career in 1946. Those days, he was popular by the stage name Randall Zwinge and later was popular as The Amazing Randi. Most of his performances were related to acts escaping from jail cells.
His popularity was increasing rapidly and thus was invited to various programmes and television shows as well. He appeared on NBC’s Today show on February 7, 1956. While being in the show, he stayed for 1 hour and 44 minutes in a metal coffin sealed and submerged in a hotel swimming. he broke the record of 1 hour and 33 minutes held by Harry Houdini in 1926. During his long successful career, he has performed on various renowned stages and traveled across around the world. He is affiliated with International Brotherhood of Magicians (IBM), American Magicians (SAM) and The Magic Circle in the UK as its members.
According to Randi, the toughest people to fool are the children not the highly educated people because the children haven’t learned the body cues properly like adults.
Career as an author
Apart from being the professional magician, Randi has also presented his excellence as an author as well. As of now, he has presented more than ten books including the biographical history of noted magician i.e. Conjuring published in 1992.
James Randi Education Foundation (JREF)
It is an American grant-making non-profit organization founded in 1996 by James Randi. The main objective of JREF is to educate and aware the public about the dangers of accepting unverified claims and to promote critical thinking in society. You can join the James Randi Education Foundation official twitter profile @jref
Awards, nomination and honors
For his outstanding performance and contribution, the former magician has amassed numerous titles, honors, awards and nominations. Some of them includes Visiting Magician of the Year (1977), National Consumer Service Award (1988), Humanist Distinguished Service Award (1990), Distinguished Skeptic Award (1996), “In Defense of Reason” Special Lifetime Achievement Award (1999), First Richard Dawkins Award (2003), Philip J. Klass Award (2007), Lifetime Achievement Award (2008), In Praise of Reason Award (2009), Heinz Oberhummer Award (2016) and so on. He has also made the world record for being encased for 55 minutes in a block of ice.
Personal Life
According to some online sources, James Randi is married to Deyvi Orangel Peña Arteaga since 2013. Their wedding ceremony was organized in Washington, D.C., the United States. Though he was Candian by birth, James is a naturalized United States citizen since 1987. Up to this age, James has never tried smoking or consuming narcotics. Talking about his political views, James is Democrat supporter.
Body Measurements
Canadian-American professional retired magician James height, weight and body measurement details are not provided by his wiki.
Salary and Net worth
According to some wiki sites, James Randi net worth is 1.5 million USD. He generates a jaw-dropping volume of money from his successful professional career. However, his earnings ratio has declined compared to the past peak days of his professional life.
Wiki and Facts
James’s biography has been presented by Wikipedia and other renowned wiki sites. People are keen on knowing James interesting facts, quotes and conclusion that he has garnered from his long years of experiences. One can visit James Randi documentary (An Honest Liar)’s Instagram profile @anhonestliar. His documentary’s website can be reached www.anhonestliar.com.