Performing street magic is challenging work for many illusionists. However for Petey Nguyen, a street magician of Vietnamese ancestry, it is a passion and a way to communicate with the world.

After watching people do card tricks on a website, Petey decided to study magic. He joined a magic club and shared his experiences with his friends, who also have a passion for magic. Day by day, Petey realized that he had fallen in love with the art.

“Magic is so interesting to me because it brings pleasure, which is hard to find in such a busy world, to the audience,” he said. “Some of them have even asked if I can turn paper into cash.”

Petey has taken part in many big shows, such as the Brisbane Ekka in Australia, Muay Thai Kickboxing in Thailand and Magic Castle in Los Angeles.

After traveling to Vietnam several times, he decided to stay for a period and to become a street magician in the country. Usually wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt and carrying a pack of cards, the young street illusionist performs magic for everyone he meets and everywhere he is.

Street magic is a very new kind of performance to Vietnamese locals, who have not yet become familiar with ‘free pleasure’ gifted by strangers, such as Petey Nguyen, someone who only wants to bring joy to others with his talent.

Although born and raised in Australia, Petey quickly got used to the Vietnamese lifestyle. Right after finishing his magic tour around Australia in March, he came back to HCMC in order to prepare for the second season of the Street Magician program, part one of which had 14 episodes and was broadcast on HTV2 every Saturday from June 23th last year. The program has received a lot of enthusiastic feedback from the audience.

“The biggest joy that magic brings to me is friends. I have made a lot of friends around the world via Facebook,” Petey shared. “I usually show them several of my tips because I don’t want to hide my light under the bushel.

After the movie ‘Am Muu Giay Got Nhon’ (The Conspiracy of the High-Heeled Shoes) is finished filming, I will start to shoot part two of the Street Magician program,” he added.

Petey also shared that “since HCMC life is so fast, stressful and polluted, I sometimes go back to Kien Giang Province’s Rach Gia, which is my parents’ hometown, to enjoy nature. For me, living in Vietnam is so great. My mother often asks me why I don’t marry a Vietnamese girl.”