Oz Pearlman

Oz Pearlman (born July 19, 1982) is an American mentalist, magician and athlete. He performs as a mentalist under the name "Oz the Mentalist", and has successfully appeared on America's Got Talent, winning third-place in Season 10 (2015).

Oz Pearlman
Pearlman after a mind reading show
Born	(1982-07-19) July 19, 1982 (age 43) Israel
Other names	Oz the Mentalist
Education	University of Michigan (BSE EE, 2003)
Occupations	Magician mentalist athlete
Spouse	Elisa Rosen ​ (m. 2010)​
Children	5
Website	ozpearlman.com

Pearlman has also achieved success as a long-distance runner in marathons and ultramarathons.

Personal life

Early life

Oz Pearlman was born on July 19, 1982, in Israel.^[1] He moved to the United States at the age of 3 as a result of his father pursuing an engineering job.

Education

Pearlman earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan in 2003, while already earning income from magic. He began performing magic at restaurants, kids’ shows, and corporate events at the age of 14, and has stated that he always had a deck of cards on him between the ages of 13 and 18.^[2][3]

Career transition

Pearlman was originally employed at Merrill Lynch in their global technology services department, at that time only performing magic and mentalism as a part-time profession. After he was hired by his employer to deliver a corporate entertainment show to upper management within the company, he quit his full-time job at Merrill Lynch in order to focus on being a full-time entertainer.^[3] Since then he has focused on a full-time career performing as a mentalist.

Marathon athlete

Marathon achievements

On April 4, 2022, Oz Pearlman broke the world record for most number of miles run in Central Park (New York). The total distance he ran was over 116 miles (16 loops), and it was completed in 17 hours, 40 minutes, and 59 seconds. The New York Times, Reuters, Runner's World, and CBS News published articles about the event. The event raised money to help Ukrainian citizens afflicted by Russia's war against Ukraine.^{[4][5][6][7][8]} On August 5, 2022, Oz ran 130 miles in 21 hours, 52 minutes, and 33 seconds from Montauk to Manhattan. The Audacious Report produced a short documentary about the run and New York Times published an article about it.^[9][10][11] Pearlman won the New Jersey Marathon four times. He won the 50-mile Chicago Ultra Marathon in 2015 in 5 hours, 25 minutes, and 26 seconds,^[12] and has ranked within the top 30 fastest Americans for 50-mile races. He has also participated in the Hawaii Ironman World Championship, Western States 100 Mile Run, Spartathlon 153 Mile Run, Leadville 100 Mile Run, and Badwater 135 Mile Run.^[13]

Media appearances

Pearlman won third-place on America's Got Talent, Season 10 (2015).^[14][15] On January 13, 2020, he returned as a contestant in America's Got Talent: The Champions.^[16] In January 2022, Oz performed for Ellen DeGeneres on the final season of The Ellen Show.^[17]

NBC TV (national) aired a travel show called Oz Knows in 2018, which was about Pearlman traveling to various tourist attractions and performing mentalism. Oz won an Emmy Award in May 2018 for the show.^[18][19] In August 2023, he appeared on HBO Hard Knocks and performed for the New York Jets. Stories about this appearance were featured in Sports Illustrated, Esquire, USA Today, GQ, ESPN, Bleacher Report, New York Post, Deadspin, and other media publications.^{[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]} In July 2023, Pearlman was a featured performer for ESPY Awards on ESPN.^[28][29]

Pearlman was a guest on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on April 15, 2010.^[30][31] He also made guest appearances on NBC Today Show on August 23, 2015,^[32] and in 2016,^{[33][34][35][36]} and predicted the American Super Bowl result on January 26, 2017.^[37] Other TV appearances include the Megyn Kelly TODAY Show,^[38] The Meredith Vieira Show,^[39][40] and the Rachael Ray Show.^[41][42] In 2022, Oz was on ESPN multiple times. During one ESPN appearance, he performed for the Seattle Seahawks. For another ESPN appearance (still in 2022), he performed for the Baltimore Ravens. In 2022, Pearlman appeared on ESPN and performed for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.^{[43][44][45][46][47]} Oz also appeared on the top live YouTube show premiering weekly at 1:02 pm, The Yak featuring Bigcat and Co. on 11/8/22 blowing Kates mind.

On December 17, 2024, Pearlman was a guest on The Howard Stern Show. Back in 2014, guest Valerie Harper while discussing her terminal illness, told Howard in private a secret code word that only the two of them would know, which could be used after her death to prove if psychics were real. This idea for a secret word was based on a pact Harry Houdini had made with his wife Bess where they promised each other that the first one to die would attempt to contact the surviving spouse from the afterlife, using a code the couple had created to verify any spiritualists or psychics claiming they had made contact. Oz correctly guessed that the word was "curly," shocking the shock jock.^[48][49]

Pearlman has appeared multiple times on Fox Business talk show Varney & Co.,^[50] and on CNBC Squawk Box.^[51][52] In December 2022, Oz reemerged on CNBC Squawk Box.^[53] Further media appearances include The Dr. Oz Show,^[54] the Bravo TV series Million Dollar Listing,^[55] the CNBC show Power Lunch,^[56][57][58] ABC World News Tonight, CBS’s Early Show, ESPN,^{[59][60][61][62]} and the radio show Elvis Duran and the Morning Show.^[63]

He has performed as a guest at the Wall Street Journal's studio.^[64] Pearlman was featured on a commercial for Mohegan Sun in China.^[31]

He also appeared on the Joe Rogan podcast where he correctly guessed Joe’s pin code for his bank account.^[65]

Teaching

Pearlman made numerous instructional video tutorials while working for magic retailer Penguin Magic, particularly in the area of card magic. In 2003 Pearlman created an instructional DVD for Penguin called Born to Perform Card Magic that teaches techniques of magic. The filming for the DVD took place in Las Vegas. The DVD sold over 100,000 copies. The ratings were among the highest in the history of the magic supplier selling the DVDs.^[66]