DAVID BLAINE

Blaine was born in Brooklyn to a father of Puerto Rican-Catholic descent and a mother of Russian-Jewish descent. His mother, Patrice Maureen White (1946–1995),was a school teacher living in New York, and his father William Perez was a Vietnam veteran. He was raised by his single mother and attended many schools in Brooklyn. When he was ten years old, his mother married John Bukalo and they moved to Little Falls, New Jersey,where he attended Passaic Valley Regional High School.He has a half-brother named Michael James Bukalo.

Career

Street Magic and Magic ManOn May 19, 1997, Blaine's first television special, David Blaine: Street Magic aired on the ABC network. According to The New York Daily News, “Blaine can lay claim to his own brand of wizardry. The magic he offers in tonight’s show operates on an uncommonly personal level.” When asked about his performance style, David explained, “I'd like to bring magic back to the place it used to be 100 years ago.

”' Time Magazine commented, "his deceptively low-key, ultracool manner leaves spectators more amazed than if he'd razzle-dazzled. The New York Times wrote, “He's taken a craft that's been around for hundreds of years and done something unique and fresh with it.
In Magic Man, Blaine is shown traveling across the country, entertaining unsuspecting pedestrians in New York City, Atlantic City, Dallas, San Francisco, Compton, and the Mojave Desert recorded by a small crew with handheld cameras.

Jon Racherbaumer commented, "Make no mistake about it, the focus of this show, boys and girls, is not Blaine. It is really about theatrical proxemics; about the show-within-a-show and the spontaneous, visceral reactions of people being astonished."USA Today calls David “The hottest name in magic right now”?Buried Alive David Blaine buried underneath a 3.5 ton tank of water in New York.On April 5, 1999, Blaine was entombed in an underground plastic box underneath a 3-ton water-filled tank for seven days across from Trump Place on 68th St. and Riverside Drive. According to 'CNN, "Blaine's only communication to the outside world was by a hand buzzer, which could have alerted an around-the-clock emergency crew standing by." BBC News reported that the cramped plastic coffin offered six inches (152 mm) of headroom and two inches on each side. During the seven days of the endurance stunt, Blaine ate nothing and drank only two to three tablespoons of water a day.An estimated 75,000 people visited the site, including Marie Blood, Harry Houdini's niece, who said, "My uncle did some amazing things, but he could not have done this."On the final day of the stunt, April 12, hundreds of news teams were stationed at the site for the coffin-opening ceremony. A team of construction workers removed a portion of the 75 square feet (7.0 m2) of gravel surrounding the six-foot deep coffin before a crane lifted the 3-ton water tank.Blaine emerged from his underground coffin and told the crowd "I saw something very prophetic ... a vision of every race, every religion, every age group banding together, and that made all this worthwhile."Reiterating Marie Blood's remarks, BBC News stated, "The 26-year-old magician has outdone his hero, Harry Houdini, who had planned a similar feat but died in 1926 before he could perform it."During the preparation of the stunt, Jonathan Demme told Time Out New York, “He’s the most exciting thing in America...And I’m not just talking entertainment