A total of $50 million dollars has been estimated to be the net worth of Criss Angel, an American illusionist, magician, and musician. Criss Angel Mindfreak, which aired on the A&E network from 2005 to 2010, and Criss Angel BeLIEve, which aired on Spike TV from 2007 to 2010, were both established by him (2013).
“Criss Angel Believe,” a stage performance at the Luxor casino in Las Vegas that ran from 2008 to 2016, was created in collaboration with Cirque du Soleil, and sold more than $5 million in advance tickets. Previously, he appeared in “Mindfreak LIVE!” at the Luxor from May 2016 to October 2018, and then began a residency at the Criss Angel Theater at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in December 2018 as part of the “Criss Angel MINDFREAK” series.
He has made numerous appearances on television series such as “CSI:NY,” “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,” “WWE Raw,” “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” “The Megan Mullally Show,” and “Larry King Live.” Criss has also appeared on radio shows such as “The Larry King Show.”
He is also the author of the 2007 book “Mindfreak: Secret Revelations,” and he was the lead vocalist of the rock band Angeldust, who issued four studio albums during his tenure. The International Magicians Society awarded Angel Magician of the Century honours to him in 2010.
Early Life
Criss Angel’s real name is Christopher Nicholas Sarantakos, and he was born on December 19, 1967, in Hempstead, New York, the son of Greek immigrants. Father John (the owner of a restaurant and doughnut shop) and brothers Costa and J.D. raised him in Elmont and East Meadow while his mother Dimitra worked as a nurse. Criss became interested in magic at the age of seven after his aunt, Stella, taught him a card trick.
Five years later, he performed his first magic act in front of a live audience. In his adolescence, he began performing at local establishments, including the Sarantakos family den, where he created a float for his mother, which was his first major illusion. Despite the fact that his parents wanted him to go to college, Criss chose to pursue a career in magic after graduating from East Meadow High School and began touring with other magicians following graduation.
Magic Career
Criss made his television debut in a 1994 ABC special titled “Secrets,” and the following year, horror writer/director Clive Barker cast him in the film “Lord of Illusions,” which was released the following year. Afterward, he made cameo appearances in the television movies “The Science of Magic” (1997) and “The Science of Magic II” (2003), and he was the headliner of the play “Criss Angel Mindfreak,” which was performed more than 600 times at New York City’s World Underground Theater between 2001 and 2003.
Around this time, Angel had his own special on ABC Family, “Criss Angel Mindfreak: Postmodern illusionist” (2002), and appeared on the SciFi Channel special “Supernatural” (2003) and the TBS special “Made in Japan” (2003). The television show “Criss Angel Mindfreak,” which premiered in 2005 on A&E, was based on the book “Criss Angel Mindfreak.”
According to Angel’s official website, “Mindfreak,” which ran for 85 episodes, “is the most successful magic show in television history, resulting in more hours of magic during primetime than any other magic show ever.”
Criss was a judge on the NBC reality show “Phenomenon” with Uri Geller in 2007, and he also appeared at the MTV Video Music Awards during Britney Spears’ performance. A commercial for Orville Redenbacher’s Pop Up Bowl aired in 2011, and in 2013 he appeared in the Spike TV show “Criss Angel BeLIEve.” Mindfreak LIVE!, The Supernaturalists (an ensemble show comprising nine magicians), and Cris Angel RAW – The Mindfreak Unplugged were all inaugurated by him in 2014, 2015, and 2018.
Criss Angel MINDFREAK” was rated “The #1 Show in Las Vegas” by Celebrity Radio earlier this year. Criss cancelled some “Criss Angel MINDFREAK” shows and postponed his “Criss Angel RAW” tour dates in 2020 due to the Coronavirus epidemic.
Personal Life
As of 2006, he was divorced from his first wife, JoAnn Winkhart. Hugh Hefner’s former girlfriend Holly Madison, star of E”The !’s Girls Next Door,” dated Angel from November 2008 to February 2009. In 2012, he began dating singer Shaunyl Benson, with whom he has two boys, Johnny and Xristos, who were born in 2014 and 2019.
At the age of two, Johnny was diagnosed with leukaemia; he was put into remission, but in late 2019, the illness reappeared. As of 2016, the Johnny Crisstopher Children’s Charitable Foundation was renamed to “promote awareness of childhood cancer and offer funds for research, treatment, and – ideally – a cure” by Criss, the founder of the nonprofit organisation Believe Anything Is Possible. A Chris Greicius Celebrity Award was bestowed upon Angel in 2007 and he was awarded the most supporting celebrity by Make-A-Wish in 2010.
Awards and Achievements
Five times, from 2001 through 2008, the International Magician Society named Angel Magician of the Year, and in 2009 he was elected Magician of the Decade. Since 2001 and 2004, he has been crowned Merlin Magician of the Year by the World Magic Legacy Awards.
Criss was the International Magician Society’s Magic Hall of Fame’s youngest inductee when he was admitted at the age of 21. A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2017 and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Brotherhood of Magicians in 2018 made him the youngest magician to be recognised for his achievements.
In less than a second, he performed the “Metamorphosis” illusion and escaped from a straight-jacket, all world records that Angel has set. His performance at Luxor in May 2010 set a Guinness World Record for “the most persons to disappear in one illusion” when he made 100 audience members disappear.
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