Rising Stars: Meet James (Jimmy) Holguin

Today we’d like to introduce you to James (Jimmy) Holguin.

Hi James (Jimmy), so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was born in San Dimas, CA in 1978 and raised by my parents Jose and Jane in West Covina, CA. I Attended Covina high school and graduated class of 1996. During this time in high school was when I made the decision to make magic my life.

I was never particularly good at sports when I was a child. When I hit the age of about 12 or 13 my parents took me to Las Vegas. This is something they would do 2-3 times a year as they really enjoyed the scene there and I would often be dropped off in the arcade and they would go off and gamble. On this particular trip, my parents wanted to take me to see a live Magic show. I had just seen a David Copperfield television special titled Fires of Passion. In the show, he escapes from a straight jacket hanging upside down over flaming spikes. This I believe was the initial spark and interest in Magic for me and that was exactly what I wanted to do. Seemed like a legitimate, interesting and fun career choice to escape from a straight jacket hanging upside down over lots of flaming spikes. Though I didn’t know where or even if I (my parents) could afford a straight jacket, I made a makeshift one out of some old belts and a members-only jacket. I was very insistent on becoming an escape artist. Houdini and his story had always fascinated me growing up so this was an easy choice for me.

Lance Burton was the magician that they took me to go see back there in the early 90s in Vegas. It was this show that solidified in me that I wanted to become a magician and not an escape artist. He was this young man in a tuxedo and tails, making birds, candles and cards materialize at his fingertips. I was sitting front row, and he levitated a glass of wine right over my head. His interactions with the audience were genuine, funny, and heartfelt. This guy was a class act and I wanted to be just like him. After the show, my father immediately took me to a magic shop there in Vegas called magic masters. It was there that he purchased my first real professional magic kit. It consisted of about four different coin tricks that absolutely took tons of practice to get good at. I was very determined, and as luck would have it, there happened to be a magic shop nearby in La Puente, California called (cleverly enough) The Magic Shop. It was here where I would develop, learn, and get good at the craft. I would meet a few peers with the same interests and we would end up becoming lifelong friends. I took my first magic class there with world-famous magician, John Guastaferro.

At the time he wasn’t world famous, but I knew that would change someday as he is one of the most talented and creative artists I’ve ever had the pleasure to know. I would work behind the counter and sell magic tricks to the customers. Demonstrating a Svengali deck was something I became very proficient at. If I wasn’t working behind the counter or taking lessons, I was simply hanging out there, watching some of the magic videos or chitchatting with my fellow magic nerds. There would be a magic show about every two weeks, and I would make sure that I was always participating in some way, shape or form. During those lessons with John, he had helped me with a routine that I was going to audition with at the world-famous Magic Castle for membership to their junior program. The act consisted of a series of card tricks and a clever little ending with jacks. It couldn’t be more than five minutes and if it was, you were asked to come back to the next audition. The year was 1995 and I was honored and very proud to become a member of the Academy of magical arts Junior Society on the first audition.

My mom first took me to the Magic Castle shortly after my 16th birthday for their afternoon brunch program. This is a place dedicated to the art of magic and I was in heaven. It was a wonderful afternoon, and on the way out, my mother mentioned to the front desk that I was a young man interested in Magic and they informed us of the junior program. Once I became a member of this prestigious organization, that is when these dreams all of a sudden started to become a reality. The members of this group are all under 21-year-old magicians. This was yet again, a place for me to meet people my age who shared in this very unique interest. I would as well meet some lifelong friends here. A general meeting would consist of chatting about upcoming events where we would have opportunities to perform, workshops with constructive criticism, lunch, and any auditions for opportunities to perform at the Magic Castle during the brunch times.

The first year I kept quiet and sat in the back, as I tend to be an introvert at new places. The second year I was heavily involved. I acquired a tuxedo, some doves, and some props and began developing my act. The act was heavily influenced by my idol Lance Burton and I auditioned it a few times, but I was lucky enough to have the sponsors sit me down and talk to me about originality. I’m so glad this talk came early on in my career. Shortly after that, I tossed the tuxedo and got a bright purple zoot suit. It was the late 90s and swing dancing was all the rage again. I did my manipulation act to big bad voodoo daddy and performed on the main stage of the Magic Castle at only 18 years old for their annual future stars of Magic Week. I performed for this special week for three years until I turned 21 and graduated from the group which then led me to become a regular performing adult member of the castle. My time with the juniors not only gave me the opportunity to hone my craft but it also taught me about the business side of show business. I will always be grateful for my time there and I’m so happy to say that the group is thriving now more than ever. I popped my head into a meeting recently and was thrilled to see the up-and-coming talent.

At 21, I was traveling around the U.S. doing my 7-minute dove act and I had felt like I was top of the world. I did have regular jobs working at a movie theater, daycare center, and then I got a job as a survey taker at Disneyland. My love for Disney has always been there and working at the happiest place on earth was like another dream come true. I would approach guests at random and ask them questions about the theme park. The lessons I learned there I still carry with me. I remember doing surveys in Downtown Disney shortly after it opened. They would have street entertainment, and I would often fantasize about being the magician there at the Disneyland resort. I moved on from that job and got a more full-time gig selling tile. Though it wasn’t as exciting it certainly paid the bills a lot better than the other jobs. At this point, my run as a gigging magician was slowing down, and the reality of getting older and figuring out where my life was going to go was ever-present.

In 2006, I met the woman whom I was gonna marry. Zoey was finishing grad school and at the time, I was a handyman at a seminary school. We met, fell in love, and started our lives together. We got married in December 2007, and a few short months later, life came crashing down around us.

I was raised as an only child by two perfectly imperfect parents. I was very lucky to have the support of both of them but they were older and mom was very overbearing throughout my life. I lost my father to cancer in January 2005, which I don’t talk about because it still hurts very very much. In March 2008, my mom had a severe stroke. I was already out of the house and living in Pasadena but I would call every day to make sure she was OK. This one time she didn’t answer all day and most of the night so I got worried and headed to the house only to find mom on the floor next to her bed with the dogs by her side completely unconscious. That was the moment when life took a hard left. Half of my mom’s body was paralyzed, she was incontinent and basically full care. She could no longer talk but would try to communicate with mumbles and rumbles. She was a heavier woman, so moving her around took machines and wheelchairs. Being an only child, the responsibility of taking care of her was thrust upon me alone, and I could not have done it without the love and support of Zoey, who put a year off of grad school to help me take care of my mother. Navigating through our healthcare system here in America is one of the toughest and most challenging things you can do. Getting something as simple as a wheelchair approved for my paralyzed mother took about two years. It was hard times. Money was short, living paycheck to paycheck, I had to leave work to be my mother’s full-time caretaker because we couldn’t afford to have one all the time. This is a job that I do not recommend for anyone. Being a caretaker for a loved one especially a parent who is full care is taxing on the mind, body and soul. I lasted a bit over a year but realized I didn’t have it in me to continue the job. My new marriage was in shambles, as there was no time for us to become a married couple. We placed my mom in a skilled nursing facility nearby. This is one of the hardest things I ever had to do because of my mother’s stubbornness of telling me most of my life that she doesn’t want to be in a home. We did it though, and it was absolutely for the better; however, the damage to the fresh marriage had already been done.

Once mom was in the facility, I had to figure out my next move. Do I go back to the regular 9-to-5 workforce or do I give Magic one more crack? With the support of Zoey and her encouragement, I decided full-time Magic was the way to go. Got to make that dream come true and I was very lucky to have a supportive partner and friend. The hustle of being a full-time magician is very real. Some weekends you would do up to six birthday parties, and some weekends you would have absolutely nothing and wonder where your next dollar was coming from. It was exciting, scary, and stressful but the rewards of doing what I love and making real money at it showed me I was doing exactly what I needed to do and that I was on the right path. I developed an update to a popular magic trick that a well-known magician decided to perform on his touring show as well as on TV. Things were looking up in the career department, Zoey helped a ton with the business side and I would’ve never been a full-time magician without her. Sadly, a few years passed and some poor choices on my part lead to the end of our marriage. Though separation and divorce is so devastating, I know that it was the right choice for her. I feel very lucky and privileged to have had someone so special in my life to build me up, help with the tough times, and love me unconditionally. We are still friends and care for each other very much.

After the divorce in 2014, I sailed off to continue the dream of being a full-time magician. I had lost the house we had lived in and moved into a small apartment. I was still gigging as much as I could but like always, it was a bunch of ups and downs in the financial department. I wasn’t quite ready to give up the dream, but I could see this was going to be an uphill battle, and the odds were not in my favor. I would do odd jobs to supplement my income when I wasn’t making enough. The one constant positive light that began in 2010, shortly after my mother was placed in the skilled nursing facility was that I became a scare actor.

Since I was a child, I’ve always been into Halloween, horror, and the macabre. As a teenager on, I would attend Knotts Scary Farm’s, Halloween Haunt, and all the haunts that would follow in the years to come. My love for this form of entertainment is equal to my love for Magic. Once mom was in the facility and I was reassessing life, the opportunity to become a scare actor presented itself at The Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor. The event made its maiden voyage in October 2010 and I was there for it. I was a DH original and I learned the art of the scare. After that first year, I couldn’t see me spending the Halloween season doing anything else. I would meet a whole new group of like-minded individuals that were creepy and cool. I was a misfit, and I found my people. I would show up to the Queen get in costume, makeup, and head out and scare the hell out of people. It was the best time and I became heavily involved in the Southern California haunt world. After a few years of haunting, it was suggested to me that I gel my love for magic and the macabre together so in 2013, “Mudd The Magnificent” was born. They gave me a performance time slot at the Queen and I did my magic as Mudd and everything started to feel right in the world. I continued being a Monster Magician at the Queen Mary through 2015. I then started to do Mudd at various independent haunts in SoCal, as well as Halloween conventions like Midsummer Scream. The good people over at Midsummer have always been in Mudd’s corner and always showcase him at the convention. I loved being the character and the only sad thing about it was that I got to do it about a month and a half out of the year. After 2016 everything started to taper off and I ended up moving out to the Valley.

A few months after moving in 2017 I received a phone call from an old friend asking if would I be interested in performing magic at Downtown Disney? Going back in time in my mind I realized things were going to come full circle and this opportunity was one to grab and hold onto. I performed there at the Disneyland Resorts downtown Disney for three years. It was wonderful to have a regular gig doing what I loved at a place that I loved. Though I was only making enough money to pay my bills, the opportunity for so much more was there and with Mudd in my back pocket for the Halloween season, I felt like I was getting back on my feet, and my path was becoming a lot more clear again. I did all of this and saw so much potential until yet again everything came crashing down in March of 2020.

I don’t need to go into how much the pandemic destroyed the entertainment industry overnight. Like most entertainers, I had a full calendar that disappeared fast. I relied on what I knew to make money. Doing side handyman jobs and collecting the occasional economic relief check was how I survived through that time in history.
When things started to come back in 2021, I still found myself without gigs and nothing coming in. The plethora of emails I had sent out to try and book something were not getting any responses. It was a very defeating feeling as I had been a performing magician for close to 30 years and it was like I was starting from the ground floor again. I don’t know quite how I got through 2021 financially, but things had to change, and I had to set myself on a new course.

In January 2022, I went back to a “regular“ job at the front desk and later as a locker room attendant at a very popular Southern California spa. In general, it’s a pretty good gig. I go to work and get about 20,000 steps in. I’ve lost the weight that I have been wanting to lose for most of my fat life. Most of the guests are happy and grateful to be in such a relaxing place however, there are a few that do make the job a bit challenging. Cleaning up after the entitled wealthy is a very hard jagged pill to swallow but if I want my bills to be paid, you better believe I do what I have to. The job does not pay a living wage for southern California so any side gigs or hustles I can do I will take. During the summer of 2022, I was sitting at a park, reassessing life and trying to figure out where the hell am I gonna go next and I asked myself when was the last time I was happy in my career and in life? The answer was simple. It was when Mudd was a regular part of me. Right then and there in July 2022, I decided that I was gonna pursue this passion project of Mudd The Magnificent for the rest of my days. How was I going to do a Halloween character all year long though? After a few more minutes of thinking about it, I realized it doesn’t have to be a seasonal thing. People love the strange and interesting and Mudd is absolutely both those things. A week later, I received a request for Mudd to be a part of SeaWorld San Diego’s annual haunt Howl-O-Scream. This gig sealed the deal as far as what I was gonna do for the rest of my life. I did the gig and made enough money to pay back all of my loans and have just a little leftover. Yup! I’m definitely making the right decision.

Here we are now in May of 2023. I’m still working at the spa as an attendant scraping by financially but I don’t feel down for myself anymore. I know I have a bright and successful future as a Monster Magician named Mudd. If you had told me that ten years ago, I’d of laughed and said, “Yeah right!” But here I am. I just finished a weekend doing Mudd up in Seattle at CrytiCon, will be at this year’s edition of Midsummer Scream in July, and am booked the first week of October at House of Cards in Nashville. Though this does still feel like a long, uphill journey, I’m here for it, I’m ready for it, and I WILL climb to the top.

It’s been a long, bumpy, crazy ride filled with ups, lots of downs, and the occasional great idea. It’s pretty clear to me as to how I’ll be spending my next 44 years on this planet. Playing make believe as a monster and doing magic tricks to bring smiles to faces. In my opinion, I am definitely on the right path and success is right there. I just need to do the work and reach out and grab it. Piece of Cake! 😉😂

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?
Not at all…

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I have been a professional magician for over 30 years. I believe I am known best in the Magic world for two things. Developing an update to a popular magic trick and performing as a monster magician named Mudd The Magnificent.

Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
Favorite books: Born standing up by Steve Martin, Andy Kaufman Revealed by Bob’ Zmuda, and Maximum entertainment by Ken Weber.

Favorite podcast: I’m a bit of a movie and theme park nerd so most of the podcasts I listen to have to do with those. Pop-culture leftovers and theme park duo are two of my favorites

I use the app checklist a lot. It is exactly what it sounds like but it helps. Keep me pretty organized.

Contact Info:

• Website: themuddshow.com magicjimmyh.com
• Instagram: @magicmudd
• Facebook: Mudd The Magnificent / Jimmy H, Comedy Magician
• Twitter: @magicmudd
• Youtube: @magicjimmyh @magicmudd