Simon Pierro grew up in
Waldbronn (
Baden-Württemberg), South Germany and now lives in
Munich. At the age of 15, he was conned out of $20 by a street magician playing a
shell game on the streets of
New York City. As a result of this encounter, Simon's sister gave him a book about magic and card tricks, where his passion for magic was ignited. Simon Pierro's presentations include modern elements of
popular culture and have little to do with the cliché of the "magician with tailcoat and top hat." With his
stage show "The American Dream - From Rags to Riches," developed together with director Eberhard Riese, he has won several magic awards. In 2002, the Magic Circle of Germany voted him Magician of the Year. Among other successes he became the German champion and award-winner in the World Championships of Magic (FISM). In 2004, he received the
Siegfried & Roy Award in
Las Vegas. Shortly after finishing his studies of Business Administration and Engineering at the
University of Karlsruhe, Simon was invited by
Frank Elstner to his German network TV show
Menschen der Woche (people of the week). Afterward, he was also chosen to perform on Elstner's Saturday evening show
Verstehen Sie Spaß? (the German equivalent of
Candid Camera), where he earned his own part as magic decoy and has since played magic pranks in more than 20 episodes to date. In addition to other worldwide TV appearances, he works off-camera as a consultant and, for example, developed an illusion for
Heidi Klum's ''
Germany's Next Top Model.'' Since 2008 he has been heavily involved in digital magic, a combination of magic and technical innovation. Pierro is now known as "The iPad Magician," and was the first German magician to be invited to an
Apple Store. He uses Apple's tablet and
sleight of hand techniques to make objects appear to be pulled out of the iPad, sometimes appearing to have
psychokinesis connecting the iPad into the real world. One of his signature illusions is to attach a beer tap to the screen of an iPad and then serve glasses of beer pouring from it to audience members. With video clips such as "Preview of
iOS 5" and "
iPad Horror," videos of Pierro's iPad magic act have seen notable success online, with views topping 80 million as of June, 2015. After an appearance on
The Ellen DeGeneres Show, a video of his performance on that broadcast was viewed on
YouTube more than 20 million times, more than any magician who has ever appeared on Ellen's show. He has also appeared on
Angry Birds Toons, as the Official
Angry Birds Magician. His latest promotional appearances have been with
LEGO, performing his iPad magic where he builds various LEGO objects on-screen and then hands them to children. == References ==