Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alain Nu. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alain, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
My mission is to help inspire anyone to realize that we can reach our dreams. My mission is to show people that there are specific clues and deeper perspectives which can motivate us past our “stuck places,” and possibly even make one discover how to find “real magic” in one’s life. It seems that lately, a lot more people are getting “stuck” and finding they are unable to find inspiration or even the motivation to get past their mental obstacles. There are more excuses than ever to find yourself lost in the complexities of our post pandemic world. My mission is to Entertain, Amaze and Inspire. Further than that, I would like to bring it in a manner that will show how such synergy can be used to improve the way we communicate, and overall, our communities and our culture.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I have studied magic throughout my entire life. I was born in the bay area of California during the revolutionary 1960’s to Asian immigrant parents. I didn’t fit in anywhere it seemed. Being a magician, I guess, helped me to embrace an identity that I felt would empower me, even though I was a bit of a social outcast. My parents were both librarians, so that made finding the knowledge relatively easy. It was my dream, since I was seven years old, to be a “great magician” one day. By 1999, I was headlining at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas at the theatrical experience known as Caesar’s Magical Empire. By 2005, I became the star of my own four part TV series called “The Mysterious World of Alain Nu.”
Within the industry of “mentalism,” I would also become fairly prolific, publishing much of my original works in trade journals, lecturing, holding special workshops, and consulting and teaching private students. I was living in Maryland at the time and was performing for many political, corporate and fundraising events, whenever I wasn’t doing other unusual projects. The International Spy Museum used to present a special show I put on entitled “The ESP in Espionage” annually, I performed for both Presidential Inaugurations during the Obama administration, and held short residencies at both the Watergate Hotel in Washington DC as well as the Lexington Hotel in New York City. By 2020, I would end up moving permanently to Las Vegas and set up residencies at the OYO Hotel and Casino, The Alexis Park Resort, and just recently, a six-month run at The Notoriety Theater in downtown Las Vegas.
My style, as a mentalist, is to realize that first and foremost I am an entertainer. So although I use those “talents” to engage entertain and amaze my audiences, my most specific choice is to use mentalism, mindreading, and mind over matter demonstrations, without clouding it with too much “traditional magic,” This creates a genuinely authentic feeling that ends up being less about “corny magic” and replacing it with a more inspirational and memorable experience and discussion. I want people to ask themselves “What if magic was real?” How would that feel? How might it be manifested?
I want my audiences to ask these questions because “wonder” is one of the few reasons that makes our reality worth knowing. Wonder is the drive that makes us continue to think. I believe well-played mentalism can invoke wonder like few other things can with such ease. So my presentations tend to fall into this theme of “What if?” And my audiences feel, by the end, as if they were given a chance to truly witness something mysteriously mind blowing. I know, it’s basically what every magician tries to do, but when I do it, it’s a little different. It’s actually hard to explain, hahaha. But go read my TripAdvisor page- my show is actually now number 10 of 257 shows in Las Vegas. It’s not #1 yet– but nothing to sneeze at!
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
The one thing I have learned by now as a creative is that non-creatives really don’t get you. They don’t get the inconsistencies. They don’t get the “creative ladder to success.” Freelancing blows their minds, much less putting value on a talent. But here’s the funny part: I don’t really get them either, haha… What I do get is that we have to work together. That’s why I have a personal manager. He’s also a bit of a creative, but he keeps all my highest career priorities in focus while my fiancée helps me with my more immediate priorities. This gives me more time to focus on my creative projects. I tend to listen to everything my manager(s) tell me to do so long as we all understand the deadlines needed for the creative work to be completed. As such, I have successfully starred in four TV specials on the TLC network, self-published two books, held residencies at all those prestigious hotels, and completed writing a new one man show in 2023 in time to headline at the Notoriety Theater in downtown Las Vegas for six months. During that time, I rode the TripAdvisor reviews of that show all the way to number 9 of 257 shows in Las Vegas.
As a creative, I do everything I can to stay balanced between those things that require creative content. I try my best to keep organized, stay healthy, and act with clarity. Unfortunately, many creative types find it difficult to possess any of those characteristics. Patience is probably the most important attribute to possess when dealing with other creative people. Leadership is also important, as most creatives may lack in timeliness and accountability. Finally, you want to watch out for creatives who are too narcissistic. In the creative world, you will be dealing with a lot of these types. Do not let yourself be affected by their mood swings and “alpha energy.” Working with people who are not like this is basically key.
The main thing that a non-creative might have trouble understanding about a creative, is that all creatives are not all equal. Some creatives are young and just getting out of high school or college, but youthful creativity also has its limits in that it usually lacks in experience. I was recently at a major casino and in talking to a director there, I made sure to let them know that I live only a mile away. If the director can recognize the fact that I am an exceptional talent who lives only a mile away, he would be able to see the value that he would be getting by hiring me, But not all non-creatives are able to see that kind of value.
The other thing that is best recognized in creative people, is their overall ability to be creative. I am a “mentalist” by trade, and that’s even a subcategory to being a “magician.” But as a creative, I am not limited to only my skills as a mentalist. It’s the overall way that I think that offers the value I have as a creative.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I think resilience is the key to being a successful creative. Growing up, I always took the “hard road,” I performed on the streets, at bars, and loud clubs, just to test my ability to adapt to those unaccommodating conditions. By 2016, I was going through a pretty bad split-up. I suppose there aren’t any great ones. We were splitting the cost of our house in Kensington, MD, so I was basically losing the home I thought would one day become my daughter’s. I became so depressed, I gave up on being a performer, traded in my old Audi for a newer Hyundai Elantra and started driving for Uber. I drove for Uber for eight whole months, until March of 2017, when an agent asked me if I would take a street performer job at National Harbor to perform for tourists and passers by. I would be paid plus they allowed me to perform for tips. By the end of that day, even though I was performing at what I perceived to be the lowest rung on the performing ladder, and yet, I ended up making more money in that one day (from mostly tips) than I would have made driving Uber for a whole week.
It was during that time performing on the street, that I realized that it didn’t matter who was watching me, young or old, low brow or Ivy League, nerd or hipster, child or obnoxious teen– They all loved me and the manner in which I performed my material. I decided to ask all of my agents to just schedule me on any event that they had confidence I could be a good fit. Suddenly, I was then sent to an inner-city day camp to perform for 800 kids between the age of 6 and 17… I was sent to open for rock singer, Allan Rayman in which his young millennial audience was at standing-capacity only and belly-up to the stage… I was sent to perform for brain trauma patients and their families at a treatment facility, for an Alzheimer’s Association fundraiser…Yet everywhere I went, the one thing I noticed was that everyone was always happy and feeling dazzled and entertained. That was when I realized that I had a one-of-a-kind thing happening with this show of mine. No matter who saw my show, they all still seemed to love me for it. That might have been the first time I realized that I could embrace being my own artist. I was my own creative spirit, and I was getting great feedback no matter where I presented it.
It wasn’t long after that, that I was asked back to Las Vegas to start my residencies at the OYO, The Alexis Park, and most recently at the Notoriety, where I was able to install my one man show for this year. At my current age, one tends to wonder if one “still has it”; Or if one might have performed past one’s sell-by date.
What I can say about myself, is that although I was able to successfully install my “2023 dream show” in a theater in Las Vegas, that this won’t be my last run in a Vegas venue. Even though Caesar’s Palace is a Las Vegas “strip property,” I have not yet been able to install my new one man show into one of the newer casino showrooms on the strip as of yet. So it’s plain to see that my life is a never-ending adventure, and it is my resilience that is what keeps me on this adventure.
Resilience, is what also got me through the months that we were filming my first four TV specials. So that said, I’m here to tell you that you can still power through your visions and reach your dreams.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://themanwhoknows.tv/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alain_nu/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlainNuTheManWhoKnows
- Linkedin: https://twitter.com/alain_nu
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/alain_nu
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/alainnu
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/alain-nu-the-man-who-knows-las-vegas
- TripAdvisor: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g45963-d20017489-Reviews-Alain_Nu_The_Man_Who_Knows-Las_Vegas_Nevada.html
Image Credits
Lynzey Donahue