Oz Pearlman is an Emmy-Award-winning Israeli mentalist, speaker, magician, and athlete who won third-place on America's Got Talent, Season 10. On January 13, 2020, he reemerged on America's Got Talent as a contestant in . NBC TV aired a travel show called Oz Knows in 2018. The show was about Pearlman traveling to various tourist attractions and performing mentalism. Oz Knows won an Emmy Award in 2019. Oz was a guest on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on April 15, 2010. He also made guest appearances on NBC Today Show on August 23, 2015, and three times in 2016. On January 26, 2017 he appeared on NBC Today Show again and appeared to predict the American Super Bowl result. He performed for Megyn Kelly on the Megyn Kelly TODAY Show. Oz aired on The Meredith Vieira Show on December 1, 2015 and February 8, 2016. He aired on the Rachael Ray Show on October 26, 2016. He made another guest appearance on the Rachael Ray Show on April 11, 2018. Pearlman appeared on Fox Business talk show Varney & Co. multiple times in 2018. Oz was a guest on CNBCSquawk Box on December 23, 2015 and again on December 26, 2018. He returned to Squawk Box and aired again on December 27, 2019. Pearlman appeared on The Dr. Oz Show on December 20, 2016. Oz was aired on Episode 7 of the Bravo TV series Million Dollar Listing on September 12, 2019. Oz was aired on the CNBC show Power Lunch in 2018 and twice in 2019. He appeared on ABC World News Tonight on July 24, 2009. Oz made a guest appearance on CBS’s Early Show on May 30, 2009. Pearlman appeared on ESPN in 2017, 2018, and 2019. He appeared as a guest at Wall Street Journals studio on April 7, 2016. InStyle released a video of Oz performing as a guest in 2017. Pearlman was featured on a commercial for Mohegan Sun in China. Pearlman was a guest on the national radio showElvis Duran and the Morning Show. As an athlete, he won the Chicago Ultra Marathon when he completed the 50-mile marathon in 5 hours, 25 minutes, and 26 seconds.
Personal life
Early life
Oz Pearlman was born on July 19, 1982 in Israel. Three years later, he moved to the United States. His father’s reason for moving was to pursue an engineering job. Oz participated in sports such as soccer and swimming. Oz read works of science fiction and attended summer camp at the Wisconsin Center for Academically Talented Youth. When Pearlman was only 12 years old, he achieved a score of 800 for the area of mathematics when he completed his SATs.
University education
Pearlman earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan in 2003. He began at the university when he was 16 years old. Income earned from performing magic at restaurants, kids’ shows, and corporate events starting at age 14 funded his college tuition there. He said he always had a deck of cards on him between the ages of 13 and 18.
Award-winning Marathon athlete
Oz Pearlman won the New Jersey Marathon four times. He ranks within the top 30 fastest Americans for 50-mile races. His current top record was set when he ran 50 miles in 5 hours, 25 minutes, and 26 seconds; this accomplishment established him as the 1st Place winner of the Chicago Ultra Marathon in 2009. Other races in which he has participated include Hawaii Ironman World Championship, Western States 100Mile Run, Spartathlon 153 Mile Run, Leadville 100 Mile Run, and Badwater 135 Mile Run.
Press coverage
On August 7, 2019, New York Post published an article on Oz that was titled "Magician Oz Pearlman snaps up $4.5M Brooklyn penthouse". On June 14, 2018, Sports Illustrated published an article about Oz that was titled "Famed Mentalist Oz Pearlman Leaves Crossover TV in Shock". On October 19, 2017, New York Post published an article about Pearlman titled "This mentalist specializes in freaking out celebrities". On October 5, 2019, Entrepreneur released an article titled "Want to Reach Your Goals? Adopt and Embrace " that mentioned Oz. On February 21, 2016, Pearlman was featured in the Leadership section of Forbes. The article was titled "5 Ways Your Body Language Give You Away: A Famed Mentalist Shares His Secrets". Techniques of nonverbal communication Oz applied during television appearances and corporate event entertainment were disclosed. On August 5, 2015, Pearlman was featured in an article by The Huffington Post called "The Art of Hustling: America’s Got Talent star mentalist on goals and persistence". On March 30, 2015, Forbes published an article on Pearlman titled "Mastering Illusions of the Mind". Pearlman was featured in a New York Times article titled "Oz, The Great Wizard". On July 1, 2013, Pearlman was featured in an article published by Sports Illustrated. On March 20, 2004, Pearlman was featured in an article by New York Post titled "Do You Believe in Magic?" On June 7, 2013, USA Today featured an article on Oz Pearlman called "Ultramarathon running magician has 135 mile race up his sleeve".
Performances
Oz performed for a number of C-level executives; these associations eventually inspired his transition from a part-time entertainer to a full-time entertainer. After Pearlman performed for Jeffery Immelt, Chairman and CEO of General Electric, Immelt responded, "He just turned one dollar bills into hundreds. Amazing!" James P. Gorman, the current CEO of Morgan Stanley, was working at Merrill Lynch when Pearlman was hired to deliver a corporate entertainment show for the senior management of the company. This event was later described by Oz as the experience that sparked his transition from a day job employee to full-time entertainer.
Transition to full-time entertainer
Pearlman was employed at Merrill Lynch in the company's global technology services department and performing magic and mentalism as a part-time profession. The company hired him to deliver event entertainment to upper management within the company. James Gorman, who experienced the entertainment, asked Pearlman what he is doing as a regular employee at the company. Two months later, Oz quit the day job at Merrill Lynch and became a full-time entertainer.
Teaching
In 2003 Pearlman created an instructional DVD called Born to Perform Card Magic that teaches techniques of magic. The filming for the DVD took place in Las Vegas. The DVD sold over 100,000 copies. The ratings were among the highest in the history of the magic supplier selling the DVDs. An expanded and updated version of the DVD was produced in 2013, which was completely re-filmed and features twice the length of video footage.
