Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Jane Peterson.
Hi Jessica Jane, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m Jessica Jane, and I’m a professional magician, host, daredevil, and magic consultant for tv and film.
I grew up in a ‘magical’ family with my mom working as a magician’s assistant, my dad designing illusions, and my godparents running a big illusion show. I toured with them from a really young age and just thought everyone’s family was full of magicians. Little did I know…that wasn’t the norm!
As a teenager, I was injured while being sawn in half and decided I no longer wanted to be the woman in the box…I wanted to be The Magician. I went to Magic Camp (yes it’s a real thing and it’s called Tannens) and I flew to Las Vegas every year to study with Master Magician Lance Burton at an event he sponsored called the ‘Teen Magic Seminar’.
At 16, I decided to run away with a circus sideshow at the NJ State Fair. It was called the World of Wonders Circus Sideshow, and there I learned to eat fire, walk on broken glass, emcee, set up a tent and even eat lightbulbs! And yes…it was all real. I learned so much from that show and its owners Ward Hall and Chris Christ.
From there I experienced everything from being homeless in New Orleans to living and creating a show at a real-life palace: Havencrest Castle. I worked for over ten years in Gatlinburg TN, ended up opening my own afternoon show, appeared on Penn & Teller Fool Us, and started headlining on Cruise Ships.
I’m currently living in Los Angeles and performing my full evening show at performing arts centers, corporate events, on cruise ships (Celebrity Cruises & Virgin). I work as a magic consultant for television, movies and production shows creating magic/illusions and teaching actors how to carry them out. I’m a Harry Houdini historian and own several of his personal belongings, as magic history is one of my passions. And, I was just cast to star alongside three other amazing entertainers in Penn & Teller Presents: The Foolers LIVE. It’ll be coming to a city near you soon!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Entertainment has its ups and downs, but it’s the times you get back up that teach you the most. Occasionally it was a struggle in the early years being a woman in such a male-dominated feel, but once I got my confidence and started booking my show so frequently, I felt accepted into the community and I’m fortunate to have mentors like Lance Burton who have supported me from the very beginning. Whatever you are, just be a good one!
Some of the stunts I do can also be very challenging. Two of the escapes I’m currently working on are the hardest I’ve ever attempted. I’m in training to put Houdini’s Water Torture Cell in my show within the next few months. I’ll be handcuffed and locked underwater for three minutes while I attempt to pick the locks in full view of the audience with no curtain.
I’m also training to perform Penn & Teller’s Casey at the Bat Upside-down Straitjacket Escape that they featured on SNL, Jay Leno, and their Broadway show! I’ll be doing Teller’s part, hanging upside-down over the spikes.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I think what sets my performance apart is my connection with the audience. I watched a Master Class with Steve Martin asking why he chose the type of comedy he did. He said he looked at the world around him and decided what it needed was silliness. So he shaped his persona to give the world what he felt it was missing. In Magic, I felt like it needed authenticity, vulnerability and just someone being REAL! I’m the same person onstage that I am offstage, and audiences enter strangers and then leave as my friends. It means the world to me.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
I end my show with a song I sing to a piece of sleight of hand that accompanies my favorite quote: “Being on the tightrope is living, everything else is waiting.” Karl Wallenda, The Great Tightrope Walker.
Karl lived for the tightrope, I live for magic, and I just hope that audiences leave my show realizing what their ‘Tightrope” is. That’s what my job is all about.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.JessicaJane.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessicajanemagic/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JessicaJaneMagic/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/jessicajanemagi
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLiWDk12ARw
- Other: www.FoolersLive.com
Image Credits
Staci Sagliano Michael Messing Jaybea Rizzi Travis Cloer Tom Vorjohan Dana Wolpert
