Anna DeGuzman is a master magician of the digital age. The 24-year-old Filipina-American knows her way around a few intricate card tricks, but she’s built a loyal online fanbase using newer stunts like iPhone illusions and cracking phone passwords. Her charisma can make a group of grown men giggle. “Brilliant,” Simon Cowell expressed his approval of her 2023 Season 18 America’s Got Talent audition that launched her into virality.
Just ask Lil Uzi’s friends, who lost their minds when she unlocked their phones behind the scenes of Uzi’s latest GQ Hype shoot. “This is the number one thing every girl has asked me to teach them,” DeGuzman remarked.Even Uzi, courter of the grotesque, was a bit terrified—accusing her of witchcraft at one point. (Though Uzi did ask to learn the passcode trick to unlock their significant other’s phone).
DeGuzman’s skill routinely baffles audiences. “Oh yeah, you crazy,” Uzi says after a calculator app trick. Alchemizing random numbers, such as the day Uzi and their friend met, the cost of their jewels, and the number in their bank account—a staggering amount that doesn’t phase them—she conjures a nostalgic date for Uzi.
With 2.1 million views and counting on Youtube, DeGuzman’s audition video continues to win her admirers. But, the journey there started six years ago when, after a lifelong love of magic, she decided to pursue it professionally. Now, she has carved a lane for herself in cardistry, one of the few women to do so, and performed for audiences on ESPN, Disney, The CW, and MTV.
From the big stage, packed club, and cramped green room, DeGuzman will have you questioning reality and, like Uzi, wondering “How’d she do that?”