Criss Angel life and biography

Christopher Nicholas Sarantakos and raised in East Meadow, New York, better known by the stage name Criss Angel, is an American illusionist, stunt performer, musician, and actor. He is best known for starring in the television show, Criss Angel Mindfreak and his live performance illusion show Criss Angel Believe in artistic collaboration with Cirque du Soleil at the Luxor casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

His father was also a big influence on him, especially after a long battle with cancer until his death in 1998. As a teenager, he performed as a magician at birthday parties, night clubs and private events. He got his pyrotechnics license at age 18. He also has a 7th degree black belt and a background in dance and gymnastics. Criss played in a band called "AngelDust" with friend Klay Scott, who produced and helped arranged his CD's and music for Criss' Mindfreak show. He performed in "World Of Illusion" at Madison Square Garden in 1998. Criss then scored a show on Broadway titled "Mindfreak", which ran up until Jan. 6, 2003 with almost 600 performances. He has had many television appearances and specials such as The Science of Magic (1997) (TV), The Science of Magic II (2003) (TV), the ABC Family special Criss Angel Mindfreak (2002) (TV), and the Sci-Fi channel's Criss Angel Supernatural (2003) (TV). He became a household name with the A&E channel "Criss Angel Mindfreak" (2005) television series airing every Wednesday night. Seasons 1 & 2 were filmed at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas with season 3 filmed at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas.

He made numerous special television guest appearances on WWE Raw, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Megan Mullally Show, The Ellen Show, AVN Awards Show 2007 and Larry King Live on CNN. He also made a guest acting appearance on the hit television shows CSI: NY and Las Vegas.

Angel is the only magician to have won the Merlin Magician of the Year award twice: in 2001 and 2004. He holds the world records for longest time submerged underwater (24 hours), the longest body suspension (5 hours, 42 minutes), fastest time to perform the "Metamorphosis" illusion (under a second) and the fastest straight-jacket escape (2 minutes & 30 seconds). One of his favorite musicians is Korn and he is now a personal friend of Jonathan Davis, who has appeared on his television series.

In 2002, Angel married his longtime girlfriend JoAnn Winkhart (now JoAnn Sarantakos). The couple filed for divorce four years later. Although Angel was seen with his wife in the buried alive illusion (season 1, episode 6, 2005) and the body suspension illusion (season 1, episode 5, 2005), she was not credited as his wife; rather, she was listed as "Criss's Girl". During the divorce proceedings, the attorney for Angel's estranged wife claimed that their relationship was kept secret to further Angel's career.

In November 2008, Angel began dating Holly Madison, former girlfriend of Hugh Hefner. The relationship ended in February 2009.

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