33 Facts About Shin Lim

Liang-Shun Lim, known professionally as Shin Lim, is a Canadian-American magician, recognized for his use of card manipulation and sleight of hand.

Shin Lim is known for elaborate close-up card magic routines, during which he remains silent with the tricks set to music.

Shin Lim is self-taught, having learned most of his skills from watching YouTube, and has in turn shared some of his own techniques in videos on the site.

Originally educated to be a pianist, Lim took up magic as his career after being diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome.

Shin Lim was discovered around 2012, began to tour internationally, and subsequently won the 2015 Federation Internationale des Societes Magiques in Close-up Card Magic.

Shin Lim is the second of three children of Singapore-born parents.

Shin Lim was born in Vancouver, where his father was completing postgraduate studies.

Shin Lim's family returned to Singapore when he was 2 and moved to Acton, Massachusetts, when he was 11.

Shin Lim's grandmother had originally given him a violin, but he became frustrated with that and smashed it after a practice session and switched over to piano.

Alongside music, Shin Lim was interested in magic during his younger years.

Shin Lim delved into the videos available there and taught himself several tricks.

Shin Lim credited David Blaine's early television specials as part of his inspiration for magic, which moved away from large stage performances to simple but effective tricks such as card magic.

In 2011, at the age of 20, Shin Lim was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome.

Shin Lim opted to stick with his passion in magic, first taking a planned year-long sabbatical from the school.

Shin Lim continued to develop tricks and produce YouTube videos of his magic, as well as developing tricks to be sold to interested fans.

At this point, Shin Lim was unsure of his career and was still considering music, but he was contacted in 2013 by an agent who had seen his performance at the World Championship, and who offered him the opportunity to tour across China.

Shin Lim agreed, and he implemented some changes to his routine as a result.

Shin Lim considered the 2015 Fool Us appearance as the moment that he realized his "magic's pretty special", and he decided then to stay on his career choice of magic over music.

Around March 2016, Shin Lim injured two tendons of his left thumb while practicing a new card trick.

Shin Lim credited his surgeon and physical therapist for saving his career.

Shin Lim had been contacted by the producers of America's Got Talent after his 2015 appearance on Fool Us to see his interest in performing, but he initially turned it down as he had only one major act he could perform.

Thomas encouraged Shin Lim and provided him with advice from her own work to improve his routines.

Shin Lim was selected for the 13th season of the show, and on September 19,2018, he was announced as the winner.

Shin Lim said that one of the show's judges, Simon Cowell, advised him after his quarterfinal act that he needed to show more of his personality, and he needed to step back from the card table and add larger elements to his show if he wanted a chance to win.

Shin Lim was invited back to participate in the first season of America's Got Talent: The Champions, which started filming immediately after his 2018 13th-season win, and he edged out American ventriloquist and season 12 champion Darci Lynne.

Shin Lim began participating on tour with The Illusionists, a theatrical magician troupe show, as well as his own United States tour in 2020.

Shin Lim made numerous guest appearances on talk shows since his wins on America's Got Talent, including The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and The Today Show.

In 2020, Shin Lim made special guest appearances on the second season of America's Got Talent: The Champions, first in a cameo as part of a magic trick performed by Britain's Got Talent contestant Marc Spelmann, aka "Magician X", and second as part of a trick by AGT semi-finalist Colin Cloud.

Shin Lim describes his approach to magic as more of an artistic show, rather than an attempt to trick people.

Shin Lim compares his act to the movie Inception, in that it is artistic, yet accessible to the masses.

Shin Lim considered his magic approach similar to playing the piano, as much of his magic involves similar concepts of timing and synchronization.

Shin Lim said that most of his tricks involve card-switching, but doing the switch either in a way that viewers cannot see where the switch occurred, or in a manner that completely hides the switch.

Shin Lim became engaged to Casey Thomas, whom he had met during his Macau tour in 2015, when she was performing at the theater next door to his.