BACKROOM

An interview with magician and actor Billy Kidd

Edmonton-born magician and actor Billy Kidd has performed internationally and appeared in several documentaries and TV shows about magic. billykiddshow.com.

What drew you to stage magic?

It was only around ten years ago that I saw my first magic show and it was in that very moment I knew I was in the wrong career and had to become a magician. I’ve spent my entire life performing on stage as an actor, but I got too comfortable and stopped getting nervous. This worried me. Magic changed all that for me. To this day I get terrified performing magic and I love it!

Do you have any recommendations for young people looking to get into magic?

If you want to become a magician, the best secrets are in the books. That’s why they are kept secret. Once you find the type of magic that you love, practise is so important but so is performing. The only way to get good at magic is to perform for an audience.

Are there any female performers who have inspired you?

A female artist that inspires me is dancer and choreographer Galen Hooks. She is the queen of vulnerability and revealing the dirty and scary sides of human movement. She can tell a story by just moving her fingers—I love the specificity in that. I’m also a huge fan of the late, great actor Madeline Kahn. She found an elegant way of doing comedy and I love watching her different tactics in delivering a line. One of the best indeed.

Do you believe in magic? What does magic mean to you?

I do believe in magic. Magic is what brought me to magic. It was an unexpected turn of events that I cannot explain, yet deep down I knew I had to become a magician. Magic to me is believing in something so strongly that, no matter what happens, you will always find a way to make that belief come true. And that is why, for some strange reason, I’m somehow travelling the world performing as a magician. That’s magic.