Max Maven (born Philip Goldstein 1950 in Ithaca, New York) is an American magician and mentalist. He often appears on television magic shows to perform "interactive" mind reading tricks that work for the television audience.While his public persona and performances fall squarely within the genre of mentalism, Maven's contributions to the magic community span far wider. He is respected within the industry for being a prolific author and innovating many of the magical and mentalist effects that are used by other magicians. He has been a magic consultant for such performers as David Copperfield, Penn & Teller, Siegfried & Roy, and Doug Henning, and he is a frequent contributor to industry journals such as Genii, The Linking Ring, and M-U-M. He has also been the featured magician at the annual conventions of both the Society of American Magicians and the International Brotherhood of Magicians.He hosted a 12-part series for HTV (Harlech Television) in Britain, "Something Strange with Max Maven", a talk-show exploring all aspects of the paranormal. The show set a ratings record, and led to a second series the following year. He also starred as the title role in FOX's 1992 Halloween special Count DeClues' Mystery Castle. It was shot at The Magic Castle.Maven occasionally plays a magician character (often as himself) on various television series, such as, "Magic", "The Art of Magic", "Something Strange with Max Maven", "Fresh Prince of Bel Air", and "The MAXimum Dimension".His father, Jack Goldstein, was a professor of Astrophysics and dean of faculty at Brandeis University. The finance blogger Emma Needleman is his cousin.Having performed often in Japan, he is "quite functional" in Japanese, although by his own admission his literacy in the language isn't as proficient.Maven also appears as a part of the traveling science exhibit "Magic: The Science of Illusion" in the "Magic of the Mind Illusion," which has toured in science museums such as Los Angeles and Boston. His name has been changed legally to Max Maven but he still uses "Phil Goldstein" as a pen name for technical writings.In 2007, he won The Magic Woods Award for Best Teaching Video for his mentalism DVD "Nothing". He has appeared on the cover of numerous magic-related journals and periodicals.Recently he has started his own show in Israel.
He played the examiner who gives Mork his driving test in the "Drive, She Said" episode of Mork and Mindy. This is ironic because Max does not know how to drive.
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Living in Hollywood, California [May 2003]
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Magician, mentalist, magic consultant and author.
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
Brain Hacker
2014
TV Series
Guest
Celebracadabra
2008
TV Series
Judge
Nada x aquí
2006
TV Series
Guest star
The MAXimum Dimension
1998
TV Series
Max
Max Mystery Show
1995
TV Series
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
1995
TV Series
The Great Mentos
Count DeClues' Mystery Castle
1994
TV Movie
Count DeClues
Something Strange with Max Maven
1994
TV Series
Max Maven's Mindgames
1984
Video
Mork & Mindy
1982
TV Series
S. Devlin
Miscellaneous
Title
Year
Status
Character
Derren Brown Presents the 3D Magic Spectacular
2009
TV Special interactive game consultant
Derren Brown: Séance
2004
TV Special documentary interactive consultant
The Magic of David Copperfield XIII: Mystery on the Orient Express
1991
TV Special minigames consultant
Search for Haunted Hollywood
1989
TV Movie documentary seance
Writer
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Max Maven Thinkshow
2007
TV Movie
Max Maven's Mindgames
1984
Video
Thanks
Title
Year
Status
Character
David Copperfield: 15 Years of Magic
1994
TV Special documentary magical thanks
The Magic of David Copperfield XIV: Flying - Live the Dream
1992
TV Special special thanks
The Magic of David Copperfield XI: The Explosive Encounter