J C Sum

Sum was born in Singapore in 5 December 1976. He studied at Victoria School and Victoria Junior College.[8]

Sum first found his interest in magic at a very young age of 12 years and began performing professionally at the age of 16.[1] In 1993, Sum joined the International Brotherhood of Magicians, Singapore Ring 115 and took part in the 1994 Close-up Competition where he took 2nd place with an original cups and balls routine. He subsequently won the Most Entertaining Magician title at the 1996 IBM Ring 115 Close-up Magic Competition.[9][10]

Sum performed his first show in 1993 for a children's party. In 1998, his "One-Man-Parade" was published in the March issue of The Linking Ring, the official publication of the International Brotherhood of Magicians. This collection of original magic effects earned him two coveted Linking Ring Awards the next year.

Throughout his junior college days and time in national service in the army, Sum performed shows and was also booked to perform close-up magic weekly at hotels at restaurants such as Shangri-la, Hilton, Four Seasons, Tony Romas and Lion City Hotel.[1][9][10][11] After national service, he was admitted to the National University of Singapore where he majored in English language and sociology, with a minor in philosophy. He gave up a 4th year honors degree to pursue magic full time.[12]

His early influences in magic include David Copperfield, Dai Vernon, John Carney, David Williamson, Darwin Ortiz, Paul Harris, Wayne Dobson, Jim Steinmeyer, Lance Burton, the Pendragons, Franz Harary, Frank Garcia, Michael Ammar, Richard Ang, Tang Sai Thong, Michael Lim and Pastor Lawrence Khong.[2][9][10][13][14]

By the new millennium, Sum was performing illusion shows for corporate and special events across Asia.[15][16][17][18]

Sum's first television break came in the 2004 President's Star Charity where he performed a series of illusions including his Crystal Striptease illusion with former radio personality Jamie Yeo, a personalized card routine of S.R. Nathan, the 6th President of Singapore, and finally making a car appear along with Singapore sports Olympians. Together with a host of local celebrities, the show raised S$2.83 mil for various beneficiaries.[19][20][21][22][23][24]

In 2006, Sum starred in Singapore's first street magic television series, as part of Jack Neo's popular Top Fun variety show for Channel 8, MediaCorp Studios. The series was created specifically for J C by MediaCorp Studios.[14][18] The segments were subsequently compiled and released as a VCD/ DVD titled Street Illusions, distributed by TS Group in Singapore and Malaysia. The same year, he also appeared in 3 episodes of a variety television show performing street magic for the Shanghai Oriental Television Station, China.[2]

In 2007, Sum starred in Magic in Motion, a 24-part street magic series produced for Singapore Press Holdings' MediaBoxOffice (SPHMBO).[3][9][25]

From 2009 to 2012, Sum, together with Magic Babe Ning appeared on several television shows around the world including: Channel 8's "Five Stars Carnival",[26] "Asia Uncut",[27] AXN EBuzz,[28] Sony Style TV Magazine, The Amazing Race Asia 4, "Duel Mahakarya Magician" on RCTI, Indonesia TV,[29][30] Le Plus Grand Cabaret du Monde in Paris, France (2011 & 2012),[31] Itte-Q![32] and Italian TV, La Grande Magia.[33]

From 2007 to 2013, Sum performed with Magic Babe Ning many notable projects. On 18 August 2007, Sum successfully presented the largest single live illusion ever staged in South East Asia,[34] "The Impossible Teleportation" Mega Illusion.[9] He teleported himself in 5 seconds, from street level while surrounded by more than 9000 spectators and reappeared on the roof of a skyscraper, 50 floors above, within a ring of witnesses. The Mega Illusion was staged at Raffles Place, the heart of the business district in Singapore.[34][35][36][37][38][39]

J C Sum at "Magic Day @ the Arena" in February 2009

February 2009

Since then, Sum has designed and staged a wide variety of mega illusions and stunts including teleporting 3 people across the iconic Singapore River in 2.5 seconds.,[9][13][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49] performing 15 grand illusions in 5 minutes.,[28][50][51][52][53][54][55][56] teleporting a Volkswagen Golf 1.4 TSI from the Volkswagen showroom to the stage in 8.5 seconds,[57][58] predicting the Singapore 4D lottery,[59][60][61] making five audience vanish while they were elevated 24 ft (7 m) high up in the air,[62][63][64] reading the minds of 100 random people in under 60 minutes[65][66][67][68] and performing a tandem straitjacket escape suspended upside 75 ft in the air from a burning rope.[69][70][71]

Sum's next mega illusions include the teleportation of a large inanimate object,[50][51] reading the minds of 1000 people, vanishing a train[4][13] and an illusion that will showcase Singapore's racial harmony.[41] He was in talks with Sentosa years ago to make the Merlion tower vanish but the project got canceled due to the SARS outbreak.[13]

Sum and Ning established Ultimate Magic, Singapore's first permanent illusion show from 2008 to 2009.[9][11][13][43][72][73][74][75]

J C Sum in m Idea Youth Choice Awards 2011

Sum's new technology digital magic act, the "iFrame" was officially launched in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 23 March 2016 to corporate clients, event planners and media. The original creation took three years to conceptualize and design, and one additional year to build and rehearse.[76][77][78]

In 2016, Sum performed on Asia's newest and largest cruise liner, Royal Caribbean Cruise Liners', "Ovation of the Seas" as the resident headline entertainer from June to November 2016.[79]

On 2 May 2020, Sum announced his retirement from the entertainment industry on his Facebook page. He revealed that he had spent the past year working with consulting clients and got certified as a management consultant and marketer.[80][81]