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How Anna DeGuzman Managed to Fool Herself During Her Magical Audition
Anna DeGuzman, a charming 24-year-old woman from New Jersey, impressed America's Got Talent Judges with her "cardistry," moving and shuffling cards in mind-boggling ways.
The auditions on America’s Got Talent have been nothing short of magical in Season 18. Anna DeGuzman’s performance, however, was so magical that even she was impressed by her own tricks.
Who is Anna DeGuzman?
Witty 24-year-old Anna DeGuzman comes from “a small town outside of New York called New Jersey,” she jokingly told AGT.
With dreams of one day performing in Las Vegas as the strip’s first headlining female magician, DeGuzman hoped to impress the Judges with “cardistry,” the art of manipulating your fingers to perform seemingly impossible tricks with playing cards.
DeGuzman has been working on making a name for herself for a long time. She previously competed on Australia's Got Talent, and appeared on Penn and Teller: Fool Us. She even offers magic lessons on her Passes account.
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DeGuzman told AGT Host Terry Crews she was inspired by magician and AGT Season 13 winner Shin Lim.
“I used to watch his YouTube videos when I was getting started,” DeGuzman said. “He set the bar really high, so hopefully, I can represent.”
DeGuzman has the backing of her mother, Tess, whom she described as “the stereotypical Filipino mom” who would have much rather preferred DeGuzman go into nursing. However, DeGuzman hoped to show her mother that magic could lead to a prominent career, using the AGT stage to prove her talent.
DeGuzman acknowledged she was “one of the few” female magicians to perform for Judges Sofia Vergara, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel, and Simon Cowell. But she hoped to “inspire more girls” with her audition.
“I’ve been doing it for around five or six years, but I feel like, my whole life, magical things happen all the time,” said the young woman.
Anna DeGuzman’s AGT Performance
DeGuzman began by asking for the Judges’ permission to join them at their panel, bringing an unopened deck of cards for “this cutie,” first referring to Cowell before jokingly giving the deck to Vergara. DeGuzman instructed Vergara to put them away, which Vergara did by putting the cards down her dress.
DeGuzman casually spoke as she performed mind-boggling tricks, which included turning a ripped and unfolded paper card case into a complete deck of cards, much to the audience’s surprise.
“Growing up as an only child with a single mother, I spent a lot of time alone learning how to entertain myself,” said DeGuzman. “When I found my first deck of cards, I was instantly captivated by the magic they seem to possess.”
DeGuzman showed the Judges “cardistry,” showing off surreal shuffles and visual tricks before asking Cowell to mix the deck she pulled out of thin air. She then had Mandel tell her when to stop ruffling the cards, picking a single one for Mandel and the others to see, though never seeing the two of spades herself.
After some more cardistry — and showing audiences that the deck was an authentic 52-card deck — she (literally) sucked a seemingly random card to reveal the two of spades.
DeGuzman had Klum pick a number from one to 52, with Klum picking 10.
Returning to the plastic-wrapped deck of cards still in Vergara’s top, DeGuzman instructed Vergara to “deal down 10 cards,” with the live audience counting along. The 10th card, to even DeGuzman’s surprise, was the two of spades.
Anna DeGuzman Fooled Everyone, Including Herself
As impressed as the Judges were, so was DeGuzman, bringing her hands to her mouth and admitting, “I thought I messed up, but everything is fine!”
DeGuzman continued to shriek as she made her way back to the stage.
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“I honestly didn’t think it was going to work at the end,” she said. “So, I fooled myself.”
Mandel laughed, saying, “There’s nothing more exciting when the magician amazes themselves.”
“It was the most adorable, fun, magical thing I have seen this season,” he added.
Klum called DeGuzman a “breath of fresh air,” noting her “$1 million smile.”
In the end, DeGuzman earned all four yeses from the Judges.
Tune in as the magic continues with new episodes of America’s Got Talent airing Tuesdays at 8/7c on NBC and streaming the next day on Peacock.
