Juliana Chen (b.?)

Profile:

Real Name
Chen Zhi Ling

Aliases:
The World's First Lady of Magic

Occupation:
Magician

Place of Birth:
China

Height:
5' 4"

Eyes:
Brown

Hair:
Black

Abilities:

Juliana Chen possesses supreme manipulation skills in card manipulation. Her specialty is card flourishing and scaling (throwing).

Chen has the capacity to scale a stream of cards at incredible distances. Aside from her sleight-of-hand wizardry, she also captivates audiences with her jaw-dropping illusions flavored with dance, music and theatrics.

Interesting Fact:

Chen has her very own magic set out on the market. The set includes 10 high quality magic tricks and a DVD which discloses the secrets of magic and mystery.

Bio:

Juliana Chen was born and raised in the Hunan Province of the People's Republic of China.

Her parents were proud when, at 10 years of age, she was selected for specialized training at the Hunan Academy for the Performing Arts.

At first Chen was trained in ballet, then later she moved on to acrobatics and juggling. As a teenager, she toured internationally with the famous Gungzhou Acrobatic Troupe.

After a couple of accidents which injured the same leg, she was advised by doctors to give up foot juggling.

While she was recovering she saw the famous Japanese magician Shimada on television. Chen was fascinated by the way he had integrated magic into his Asian culture; he was both unique and outstanding in his performance.

The Gungzhou's troupe manager encouraged Chen to develop as a magician. Secretly, she began practicing her skill with cards and ping-pong balls--the easiest props for her to find at the time.

The ambidextrous Chen had the ability, ambition and determination to succeed. Some four years later in 1986, she was recognized as the best magician in China when she won the All-China Best Magician competition.

Chen's desire to take her magic to the international level led her to apply for permission to study English in Canada.

In 1988, she left China for Vancouver, Canada.

There was not much work for magicians so she got a job in a furniture store while she studied English. Later she started her own graphics business.

In 1990, Chen met a friend who introduced her to the local magic stores and The Vancouver Magic Circle - the largest magical society in Canada.

Then in 1997, she won the world title for Manipulation (sleight-of-hand) at The World Congress of Magicians in Dresden, Germany.

She became the first woman, and first magician of Chinese heritage, to win a world title for a solo act in the 50-year history of The World Congress of Magicians. She was now The World's First Lady of Magic.

On her return to North America, Chen was featured on the cover of MAGIC magazine and included in The World's Greatest Magic IV, an NBC-TV special which is still seen in different countries around the world, A year later, Canada's leading TV current affairs program, The Fifth Estate, featured Juliana in a 12-minute profile.

They called her "The hottest new magician around." That same year, ABC Television featured Chen in a special called Champions of Magic hosted by Princess Stephanie of Monaco.

In the fall of 2002, Chen moved to Las Vegas to take her career to the next level. That October, she was awarded the Chavez Memorial Cup.

She was recognized for her professional excellence by the Chavez Committee of the Society of American Magicians' Hall of Fame and Museum in Hollywood.

The award was established in the memory of Ben and Marion Chavez founders of the world-famous Chavez Studio of Magic which trained some of the world's leading magicians.

In the Spring of 2003, she was nominated for Stage Magician Of the Year by the Academy of Magical Arts in Hollywood. That summer she was the subject of a four-page cover story in Saturday Night, Canada's oldest-established magazine.

She became the first Canadian magician to be featured on the cover of a national magazine since the late Doug Henning in the mid-seventies.

Since winning the world championship, Chen's career has blossomed around the world particularly in Europe, Asia and the USA.

Today, she happily tours Canada and the world, with regularly scheduled venues in Las Vegas and Germany.

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Juliana Chen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born Chen Zhi Ling
Hunan, China

Occupation Magician, illusionist

Juliana Chen is a Chinese magician, who was born in the Hunan province of China. She has appeared on the cover of The Linking Ring, published by the International Brotherhood of Magicians.

Early life
Chen was born Chen Zhi Ling in the Hunan provenance of China. At the age of 10 she was chosen to train at the Hunan Academy for the Performing Arts in the fields of ballet, juggling, and acrobatics. During a hospital stay for repeated leg injuries Chen witnessed a television performance by Shimada, prompting her interest in learning to perform magic. Chen would later immigrate to Canada in the hopes of achieving success outside of China.