User:SophieKinsley/Kiu Li

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Kiu Li
Kiu Li (pronounced /kju lee/; born 29 May 1987) is an Chinese-Australian actor, magician and philanthropist. He was born in Sydney, Australia, but spent the majority of his youth residing in different countries including Japan and Hong-Kong before finally moving with his family to California, United States. By the age of 10, he had already displayed a natural talent in playing cards as well as a keen interest in the field of magic. Unfortunately, his parents had no such plans in mind for their son's future career in being a magician, but instead promptly entered him into private-schooling at Quarry Bay School (Private K-9 School) in Hong-Kong in order to groom and prepare his advancement in the field of law.

In 1996 his family moved to Cupertino, California where he received his middle-school (Harker School) and high-school (Menlo School) education. It was there that he met Seth Gimlan (who later turned out to be one of his closest friends), who sparked his interest in movies and entertainment industry. After graduating high-school, Li was accepted into University of California, Santa Barbara where he received his B.A in Political Science and minor in French. It was there that he met Jason Latimer (FISM 2003 World Champion Of Magic Grand Prix (Close-up) winner) during a late-night impromptu performance in the dorms. Jason was kind enough offer his vast-knowledge and served as his mentor in the field of magic. During these 3 years, Li's talent as a magician excelled and under Jason's wing he immersed himself in his spare time pursuing what he really loved doing and performing for crowds as a magician. A couple months later, another opportunity had immersed itself into his life: Kiu auditioned for a "Heinz Ketchup" commercial. He negotiated with the commercial director and opted to receive role credit instead of monetary compensation. Unfortunately, the commercial director did not uphold his end of the bargain. In summer of 2007, Li auditioned and landed his first role in the movie "Under The Gaydar"(2009). Four months later, he proceeded to land a role in "The Intruders (2009)". Li also auditioned for a role in the block-buster hit "Easy A (2010)" summer of 2008. He did not land the role. However, the production company called him up and asked if he was willing to be a featured background actor and he agreed. After working on the film for a month and half, Li fell in love with the entertainment and film industry and decided to pursue his acting career.

In September 2009, Li moved to Los Angeles, California where spent the majority of his time doing background work meeting new people and networking. In December of 2009, Li auditioned at The World Famous Magic Castle (A prestigious and exclusive club-house for the Academy of Magical Arts) where he prepared and performed a 10 minute routine in front of a panel of nine executive judged and concluded his audition with his most renown effect that he created "Dreams".