The Story of Shin Lim | Beyond America's Got Talent:The Champions

Shen Lim is held by many as one of the best sleight of hand magicians in the world the second of three boys Lim was born in Vancouver Canada where his father was doing his postgraduate studies his family returned to Singapore when he was three and then moved to Acton Massachusetts when he was 11 before magic Lim showed an interest in music as early as nine years old it took some time but after a few years of lessons things started to fall into place with Lim developing into a late-blooming piano prodigy piano is the first thing that I was like oh wow I'm able to express my emotions says Lim piano wasn't Lim's parents first choice at the age of six his grandmother bought him a violin Lin's father required Lim to spend at least 15 minutes a day playing the instrument one day his father returned home to find the violin smashed into pieces on the floor Lim later admitted he had become frustrated and destroyed the violin after a practice session I just didn't want to play it anymore said Lim as a teenager Lim began to shape his destiny he attended the highly competitive acton-boxborough high school although he was a good student academics were not his main focus for Lim playing the piano had become the plan it was during this time that he also became interested in magic his older brother Yi had shown him a simple slip force magic trick when Lim asked how it was done his brother told him to look it up on YouTube Lim researched the videos available online and told himself several tricks as he started to improve his skills and develop his own tricks Lim had a revelation this was so amazing like I can learn sorcery says Lim before that he thought magic was some unknown mystic craft and then I went on YouTube and I'm figuring out all these tricks he says Lim was obsessed with magic often practicing 8 hours a day although magic had become an obsession it remained a hobby music was still the path after high school living rolled at the School of Music at Lee University in Tennessee on a music scholarship he pursued a dual degree in piano performance and film technology in 2010 during his first year in college Linn was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome he continued to juggle music and magic but eventually doctors told him he would have to make a choice devastated he was forced to stop pursuing his dream of becoming a concert pianist and eventually dropped out of Lee University in 2012 Lim had no idea what he was going to do with his life magic was his passion but Lim was a practical man he was unsure if magic was something he could actually make a living doing at that point just four years after learning his first trick he didn't have a real sense of what the industry entailed or what it had to offer however Lim was learning there was a lucrative market for people who create the tricks and sell the tutorials to up-and-coming magicians I was already creating new tricks for sale worldwide he said in fact let me - already sold his first trick in the fall of 2011 only a few months after requesting medical leave from Lee University selling that first trick made Lim feel the future in magic was possible the magicians selling their tricks online were some of Magic's biggest names and now Lynn was part of that group no matter what he could always fall back on selling the tricks even if his live performances did not go well but Lim knew he would never be satisfied with just selling the tricks in his heart he knew he was a performer it was something he heard from every piano teacher he ever had Lim always felt his performance was as good or better than other magicians that competed with him at small magic events what he needed was a challenge that could show he could perform with the world's best in 2012 he found that challenge at the FSIA M World Championship of magic Lim challenged himself to place in the top three but ultimately finished sixth directionless and depressed Lim wondered if magic was the right decision twenty-one and living in his parents basement he had sold a few tricks online he had never performed for a paying audience with few prospects Lim asked himself how am I going to make a career out of this still unsure of his career Lim was contacted in 2013 by an agent who had seen his performance at the World Championship of magic the agent offered Lim the opportunity to tour across China it was the big break he needed but it also posed a problem Lim was not fluent in Chinese until now Lim had spoke to the audience to help guide them through the show in China he had to come up with a different approach this would be the catalyst for what would become Lim signature hallmark of his performances with only two weeks to prepare Lim completely reconstructed his routine eliminating all talking and performing the card tricks set to music all of the years performing the piano and learning music theory had paid off Lim was able to naturally synchronize his magic to the music every beat every movement choreographed to evoke a sense of mystery by the end of the tour Lim was featured as the final artist of the show I had been following a traditional path said Lim from that point forward Lim wouldn't speak during his performances in 2015 Lim once again competed at the FIM World Championship of magic this time he was crowned the FI SM world champion of close-up card magic two weeks later Lim was featured on Penn & Teller's foolís the object of foolís is to leave Penn & Teller dumbfounded so that they cannot explain how a trick was done Lim successfully fooled both magicians opening the doors for performance invitations from around the world limbs appearance on foolís was uploaded to YouTube and went viral achieving over 50 million views in fact limbs magic videos have earned him over 500,000 subscribers on YouTube in 2017 Shin Lim appeared for the second time on Penn & Teller's foolís only a select few magicians have fooled Penn & Teller but Shin managed to fool them a second time as well limbs appearance on fool oz brought sudden recognition from the outside world he previously told the Boston Globe I feel like a lot of Americans don't know who I am yet I perform way more outside than inside America around March 2016 limb injured two tendons in his left thumb while practicing a new routine he had to undergo surgery and feared that he would lose his ability to perform after an intense therapy regimen Lin recovered without losing any of the skill required to perform his routines in 2018 limo auditioned for America's Got Talent and was featured on the season 13 premiere episode judge Howie Mandel called the performance the best magic act he's seen and judges Heidi Klum and Mel B were left speechless Lynn received yes votes from all four judges and advanced to the judge cut round where he performed the first half of his 52 shades of red trick the performance was strong enough for the judges to send him to the quarterfinals along with fellow magician probably for a second quarter final performance limb performed the second half of his 52 shades of red trick and earned enough votes to advance to the semi-final round the performance earned standing ovations from all four judges but Simon Cowell felt Lim needed to do more after the quarterfinals he told me I needed to get away from the table to move away from being small and get bigger Lim told USA Today that kind of stayed in my brain and I'm thinking I've gotta try something bigger if I'm going to do well on this show for his semi-final Lim performed one of his close-up routines known as the dream act judge Simon Cowell called the act sensational saying that this time his presentation was better than he's seen before and that it made his overall act much better Lynn once again earned standing ovations from all four judges and received enough votes to advance to the season 13 finale Shin Lin's final consisted of performing a close-up trick with host Tyra Banks he once again earned standing ovations from all four judges and received enough votes to earn a spot with the top five contestants for the night as the voting continued Lim was announced as the winner of season 13 ahead of the contestants Brian King Joseph Michael carrier Samuel Jake on row and zu Caro in addition to winning the 1 million dollar prize Lynne would also be a headline act at the Paris theater at Paris Las Vegas Lim later told People magazine he still couldn't believe host Tyra Banks announced Tim as the winner of season 13 for me the whole thing was kind of like a dream when Tyra announced my name I went into a state of shock says limb I couldn't really hear anything because the cannons went off behind me it was quite memorable definitely going to remember that feeling for the rest of my life he headed limb currently lives near Boston Massachusetts and engaged to Australian dancer Casey Thomas he proposed to her in 2017 during a magic show at the house of magic in Macau while 2018 has been a memorable year for limb 2019 maybe the most exciting yet Lynne will once again attempt to mesmerize viewers when he appears on America's Got Talent the champions in January of 2019 Lynn won season 13 of America's Got Talent but the competition will be much tougher this time around do you think shin lim has what it takes to win America's Got Talent the champions let us know in the comments below and thank you for watching you [Music]

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Id: TEHddM57DKw

Length: 10min 45sec (645 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 01 2019