41 Facts About Derren Brown

Derren Brown was born on 27 February 1971 and is an English mentalist, illusionist, and writer.

Derren Brown is a self-described "psychological illusionist" whose acts are often designed to expose the methods of those who claim to possess supernatural powers, such as faith healers and mediums.

Derren Brown has since starred in several more shows for stage and television, including Something Wicked This Way Comes and Svengali which won him two Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Entertainment, as well as The Experiments which won him a BAFTA for Best Entertainment Programme at the 2012 awards.

Derren Brown made his Broadway debut with his 2019 stage show Secret.

Derren Brown has written books for both magicians and the general public.

Derren Brown was born in the London Borough of Croydon on 27 February 1971, the son of Chris and Bob Brown.

Derren Brown was raised in Croydon's Purley area, which he described as "the epitome of middle-class suburbia", and he has a brother who is nine years younger than him.

Derren Brown was privately educated at Whitgift School in South Croydon, where his father was a swimming coach, before going on to study law and German at the University of Bristol.

In 2008, Derren Brown made a brief cameo in the supernatural drama series Crooked House.

An interview with Derren Brown was featured in Richard Dawkins' 2009 two-part documentary series The Enemies of Reason.

Derren Brown explained various psychological techniques used by purported psychics and spiritual mediums to manipulate their audiences.

In January 2014, Derren Brown appeared as himself in the Sherlock episode "The Empty Hearse", as part of a theory regarding how the title character faked his own death.

In February 2021, Derren Brown appeared in a trailer for the horror video game Little Nightmares II, in which he discussed the nature of nightmares while some of the monsters featured in the game appeared around him.

Derren Brown believes that the presence of a television camera increases suggestibility.

Derren Brown describes the NLP concept of eye-accessing cues as a technique of "limited use" in his book Pure Effect.

Derren Brown employs a variety of techniques to ensure his audience cannot deduce the methods behind his illusions.

An episode of Trick or Treat, which appeared to show Derren Brown convincing someone to press a button even though they thought it would electrocute a kitten inside a metal box, caused charity Cats Protection to complain and news outlets to label Derren Brown a "cat killer".

Self-proclaimed psychic Joe Power, the subject of the Derren Brown Investigates episode "The Man Who Contacts the Dead", complained to Ofcom about being misled and treated unfairly and said the programme "presented, disregarded or omitted material facts".

Derren Brown alleged he had received threats from sceptics and had to move home because of it.

Derren Brown has faced allegations of using stooges in his work.

In 2007, at the age of 36, Derren Brown came out as gay via an article in The Independent on Sunday.

Derren Brown was dating a designer named Marc at the time, though they later separated after eight years together.

Derren Brown has been the patron of the Parrot Zoo Trust in Friskney since 2004.

Derren Brown's signature look consisted of short brown hair with sideburns and a goatee until he shaved both his head and face in 2013, though he now occasionally sports stubble.

Derren Brown has written seven books: Absolute Magic, Pure Effect, Tricks of the Mind, Confessions of a Conjuror, Happy, A Book of Secrets, and Notes From a Fellow Traveller, and released books of his street photography and painted portraiture.

Derren Brown has written a book exploring the history and philosophy of happiness; Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine.

Pure Effect is a more traditional book of trickery and technique and offers an insight into some of the methods that Derren Brown employs, and offers a starting point for development for the reader's own use.

Derren Brown has said that he pulled them from the market when he found that non-magicians would bring them to his shows for autographs.

Derren Brown applies his insight to the paranormal industry, looking at the structure of beliefs and how psychology can explain why people become 'true believers'.

Derren Brown offers autobiographical stories about his own experiences as a former Christian, and discusses his scepticism about religion, allegedly 'psychic' phenomena and other supernatural belief systems.

Derren Brown co-presented two web-based series for Channel 4; The Science of Scams and The Science of Attraction.

Derren Brown has recorded some audio extracts from Tricks of the Mind.

The extracts last around 40 minutes each, disclosing tips and techniques Derren Brown uses in his acts and narrating the highlights of his book.

International Magic Presents: The Derren Brown Lecture is an 80-minute lecture DVD of close-up mentalism and subsequent discussion of various aspects of Brown's performance.

In 2007, Derren Brown performed in the short film Medium Rare.

In 2008, Derren Brown made a guest acting appearance in BBC Four's Crooked House as Sir Roger Widdowson.

In 2008, Derren Brown provided caricatures for "The QI 'F' annual".

In 2010, Derren Brown appeared in a special Comedy Gala for Channel 4 and Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Derren Brown appeared with Kevin Bishop, who played his jealous annoying twin 'Darren'.

Derren Brown created a new virtual reality dark ride at the Thorpe Park amusement park, which opened on 8 July 2016.

In 2019, Derren Brown collaborated with playing card company Theory11 on a deck of cards that are sold on the company's website.