My life, from Hollywood to quadriplegic. Daredevil Illusionist / Actor appeared on ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, Fox Family, NHK, NBC, PBS, ProSieben, truTV & WB networks.
Detroit / Los Angeles
Joined August 2012
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A career in the entertainment industry, as an actor / Daredevil Illusionist, which spanned over 20 years.
Live international stage, television & movie appearances.
Performer of the largest illusion ever attempted in history.
Successfully performed the one escape that eluded even the great Harry Houdini, being buried alive.
And it all came to a crashing halt in 2014, while rehearsing an escape stunt for my own reality show, which was set to premiere later that year.
The equipment malfunctioned, resulting in neck, spinal & multiple brain injuries, leaving me paralyzed & not expected to live.
Yet, all these years later, while my recovery is still ongoing, I have made tremendous progress & am now working on finishing up the book to tell the entire whirlwind of my life story, with emphasis on my life since the accident & how I have learned to adapt.
The main focus is to inspire others, no matter what the challenges they face, to work hard, keep pushing, fight & most importantly, to NEVER GIVE UP...!
All proceeds will be donated to paraplegic, quadriplegic & neurological injury research, in general.
I look forward to getting the finishing touches on this wrapped up & if reading it changes the outlook for even one person, then my entire journey will have been well worth it...!
never.give.up.
My Quadriplegic Life…! 🚨♿️ ✨
“My uncle’s slingin’ paint...and got hit by a train!”
Therapy was fine. Uneventful. Except for the part where Miss Gina and I were still howling in the van because my uncle had been complaining that his head was sore from full-contacting a chandelier at lunch yesterday. He’s still not amused by our sense of humor. We remain thoroughly amused. 😆
Back home, an early lunch was annihilated. Then it was time to put the man to work.
There are old magic props in the collection that need a little TLC. The rare or historically significant pieces stay as-is. Everything else? If it needs repair or paint touch-up, it gets handled. My uncle built a little tabletop paint booth in the garage so he can spray them for me. The man is out there treating decades-old illusions like they’re going to a car show.
Gina and I are sitting outside when he comes out to check on us and casually reports that he just finished the clear coat on one prop.
He looks at Gina: “He’s got me working around here like I’m Earl Scheib.”
Gina: “Who is that?”
Me, doing my best gravelly impersonation: “I’ll paint any color… any color… for $29.95!”
Gina: “I’m confused.”
Uncle: “It was some f****** a****** who had a chain of body shops and they’d paint cars cheap.”
Gina: “So wait! was he really an a******…?”
Uncle: “I don’t know. Probably.”
Gina: “So wait! They would paint a whole car for thirty bucks?”
Me: “Yep. The car. The windows. The trim. The emblems. The tires. The whole thing.”
Gina: “That doesn’t sound right.”
Me: “They were notorious for overspray. Masking tape was optional."
Uncle: “You know what though. I had that ******* **** ****** paint a car for me in the ’70s and he did a damn good job. After it was done, you couldn’t even tell I got hit by a train.”
Gina and I look at each other. Full stop. The air leaves the conversation.
Gina: “So wait! You got hit by a train?”
Uncle: “Yeah. I was trying to beat it at the crossing. No gates. Got clipped.”
Gina: “So wait! Did you get hurt?”
Uncle: “No. I was in a massive Caddy. I think the train took more damage than the car.”
Me: “And Earl 'I don't believe in masking tape' Scheib did a good job?”
Uncle: “Yeah, it wasn’t bad. Look, I was in a hurry. I needed to get the car fixed before Ole Eagle Eyes G****** (my father, his brother) found out about it. Scheib said they could get it done the fastest.”
Gina: “Was it his car?”
Uncle: “No, it was my car. But I knew he’d be pissed.”
Gina (still processing): “So you pulled one over on him?”
Uncle: “Not even close. There was nothing that went on in that city that he didn’t know about. He knew which shop it was at before they had even started on it.”
The conversation kept going for a while. Gina and I were just sitting there, fascinated that this man casually mentioned getting clipped by a train the same way most people mention tying their shoes. Absolute cinema. And some of the things he called Earl Scheib...if this is what he refers to him after a satisfactory paint job, I'd hate to hear what he'd call him if he wasn't happy...! 😆
For anyone curious, I’ve attached a link to an old Earl Scheib commercial. Jump to about 0:30 and watch them spray right over the unmasked emblem lettering on the hood. Nothing masked off. Nothing. Masking tape...?! Fuggedaboutit...!😂
This is the life. Magic props getting the Earl Scheib treatment in the garage. Family stories that go completely off the rails. Gina and me vibrating in our wheelchairs because my uncle treats a train collision like a minor inconvenience. The chandelier still has the upper hand. The show keeps rolling anyway.
On with the show…Oh, the places we’ll go…! ✨❤️♿️
youtube.com/watch?v=_V3Rowpn…
#MyQuadriplegicLife #FromHollywoodToQuadriplegic #QuadriplegicJourney #SCIWarrior #EnabledNotDisabled #QuadLife #DisabilityHumor #NeverDoubtAQuad #ImPossible #SicilianStyle #TheMagicIsBack #QuadriplegicAndDating #EarlScheib #DisabilityPride
My Quadriplegic Journey… ♿️✨
Headed off to occupational therapy with Miss Gina for our side-by-side torture sessions.
Boo… hiss…! 😈
(I love the people. I just don’t love the process.)
More than walking, I really want these hands fully back. Not just for everyday stuff...so I can finally graduate from OT and get back to the kind of magic that used to live in my fingers. The pain is real. Even after all this time, it still just plain hurts. I know that’s the name of the game… but ugh.
Still, I see the bigger picture.
Like mine, Gina’s recovery is finally doing AMAZING. We’re both healing, adapting, and getting stronger...even on the days that feel like pure work. Every session is another step toward the version of life (and stage) we’re building.
Pain now. Progress later. Worth it.
On with the show…Oh, the places we’ll go…! ✨❤️♿️
#QuadriplegicJourney #SCIWarrior #FromHollywoodToQuadriplegic #EnabledNotDisabled #NeverDoubtAQuad #ImPossible #TheMagicIsBack #QuadLife #DisabilityPride #SpinalCordInjury #TBISurvivor
Escapades with Uncle Guido...
"The Time He Quit Smoking and Got Stabbed Because of It"
I loved Uncle Guido more than words can really capture. The man was pure old-school NYC cool... always dressed like he was about to walk into a meeting with the C...er...um... (sharp suit, perfect tie, shoes you could see your reflection in, jet black hair always slicked back), hilarious without even trying, and the kind of tough guy who didn’t need to announce it. He also had a brand-new Cadillac every single year. Black on black. Leather so pristine it was basically a crime to sit on it.
I think this was 2005 and he had just picked up his latest DeVille. He had quit smoking a couple years earlier and was genuinely proud of it… until he replaced the habit with something arguably more dangerous: Lifesavers. Not the occasional one. Full-blown addiction. We’d be driving around and he’d suddenly pull into a gas station like the car was about to explode if he didn’t get his fix. Sometimes twice in one outing.
One afternoon we’re in a suburb outside NYC, cruising in the new Caddy. He needs Lifesavers. We stop. He hops out in his suit and tie, runs inside, comes back with the candy, and slides into the driver’s seat.
Then he immediately launches out of the seat like someone lit a fire under him, screaming in Italian so fast I only caught every third word (most of them unrepeatable).
I stare at him. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
He’s still yelling, half out of the car, pointing at his own ass.
“Something stabbed me!”
I look at him like he’s lost it. He insists I check. I very clearly do not want to inspect that particular area of my uncle at all much less while he’s in a suit at a gas station. He keeps insisting. I finally lean over, fully prepared for something gross or weird, and there it is:
A wooden toothpick. Sticking straight through his suit pants. Like a tiny spear that had somehow committed an acrobatic assassination attempt on his rear end.
I lost it. Full, uncontrollable laughter. The kind where you can barely breathe. Meanwhile he’s still swearing and hopping around in pain.
“Pull it out!” he yells.
Hard no. Absolutely not. That was a boundary I was not crossing.
He eventually yanked it out himself. Later he told me it bled pretty good and that the toothpick had also punched a hole through the brand-new leather seat. He had to get the seat replaced. Uncle Guido was not about to drive around with a puncture wound in his Caddy.
To this day I have no idea where that toothpick came from or how it managed to position itself with such lethal precision. All I know is that the man quit smoking, switched to Lifesavers, and still somehow got stabbed in a gas station parking lot in a brand new Caddy.
Some habits are dangerous. Some are just… creative.
#FromHollywoodToQuadriplegic #EscapadesWithUncleGuido #UncleGuido #TrueStory #Hilarious #FamilyStories #NYC #ItalianFamily #OldSchool #Cadillac #QuittingSmoking
My Quadriplegic Life…! 🚨♿️ ✨
Miss Gina and I just rolled back from the weekly quad support group… and the meeting itself was almost suspiciously calm. We kept our little announcement in our back pockets for another week. Real talk, real warriors, then it was time for the party.
It was another member’s birthday, so the whole crew migrated to lunch. My uncle, naturally, paid for the entire group (Sicilian hospitality doesn’t clock out).
Then the cake arrived.
Gina’s slice was less a “slice” and more a geological event. I’m talking a wedge so large it almost needed its own table. She took a few heroic bites, waved the white flag, and we hauled the rest of the world’s largest piece of cake home like we were transporting evidence.
But…!
When we got there, we’re getting settled on the far side of the table when my uncle comes around to join us and immediately introduces his forehead to a chandelier. Full contact. Clear sound effect. Gina and I lost every ounce of composure. Howling. Roaring. Tears. The kind of laughter that makes other tables turn. He was not amused. We were vibrating our wheelchairs. Absolute cinema.
Then one of the other members’ moms starts telling a story about leaving their house and getting stuck behind a big, dark, “spooky” SUV with tinted windows. She keeps looking at me while she talks.
Why me…? I don't even drive.
The SUV just… stops in the middle of the road. Both vehicles sit there for several minutes. Then it takes off. She looks at me again, pauses, and says, “I think it might have been…” and trails off.
The entire group goes silent. Every head turns. Every eye lands on me.
Again… why me?!
Me, completely lost: “Was it a Caddy or a Lincoln?”
She describes the taillights.
Me: “Definitely a Caddy.”
Her: “Do you know them?”
Um… no? I don’t know every single person who drives an Escalade. I’m not the regional Cadillac liaison. 😆
Gina swears I know exactly what she was talking about. I maintain my innocence: “I don’t know nothin’ ’bout that.”
Support group: solid. Birthday lunch: unhinged. Uncle vs. chandelier: 0-1. Cake: still undefeated. Random Escalade interrogation: ongoing mystery.
Now we’re home to finish the geological cake and check on the forehead that met lighting fixtures. This is the life. Real people. Real laughs. Real rolling. Even the weird moments count as living.
On with the show…Oh, the places we’ll go…! ✨❤️♿️
#MyQuadriplegicLife #FromHollywoodToQuadriplegic #QuadriplegicJourney #SCIWarrior #EnabledNotDisabled #QuadLife #DisabilityHumor #SupportGroup #NeverDoubtAQuad #ImPossible #SicilianStyle #OhThePlacesWellGo
My Quadriplegic Journey… ♿️✨
Hitting the road with the always amazing Miss Gina for our weekly quadriplegic support group meeting.
The past few weeks I’d been feeling a little “meh” about going. Today is different. I’m actually looking forward to it again.
Some of that shift is stuff I’ve been working through on my own. Some of it is something Gina and I, as a couple, are ready to share with the group.
And after everything she went through yesterday… I’ve got a very special surprise planned for her today.
I already know it’s going to brighten her day.
Which means it’s going to do the same for me.
Here’s to a strong meeting, real connection with the people who truly get it, and creating new memories with the ones who matter most.
On with the show…Oh, the places we’ll go…!✨❤️♿️
#QuadriplegicJourney #SCIWarrior #FromHollywoodToQuadriplegic #EnabledNotDisabled #NeverDoubtAQuad #ImPossible #QuadLife #DisabilityPride #SpinalCordInjury #SupportGroup #TheMagicIsBack
Just all sorts of not happy right now...
Making Miss Gina cry? Yeah… that’s a problem.
I told her from the beginning I didn’t want her on here. I said it clearly. This place can get ugly fast, and she already navigates more than enough in real life.
She makes her own decisions though. Always has. And I support her 100%… and then some.
It only took a couple of days for some weirdo to target her. Random. Unprovoked. The kindest, sweetest, most genuine woman I’ve ever met...and one of the strongest people I know...gets targeted by a jerk with nothing better to do.
Really cool. Targeting an amazing woman who already faces more than most, just because she showed up to a place where she hoped she would be welcomed.
She decided this place isn’t for her. I respect that completely. Her peace matters more than any platform.
The real magic was never going to happen in a comment section anyway. It’s still happening offline… in the lakeside chats, the House of Pain sessions, the everyday battles, and the laughter that keeps us rolling forward together.
She doesn’t need this space to shine. She already does.
At least now I won’t have to worry about her dealing with that kind of bullshit on here.
Aaron Balcom retweeted
#Urgent #Alert #Warning 🚨
Euthanasia Date: 10/27/2026
Kitties at risk of being murdered.
Please adopt or foster if you can.
Shares and/or pledges welcome.
Please Help. Please Help Now!🙏
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Please adopt/foster if you can.
Shares and/or pledges welcome.
Please help. Please Help Now!🙏
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Kitties at risk of b#
My Life: From Hollywood to Quadriplegic… 🎥♿️
“The time I did what Houdini never mastered.”
1/7
On this day in 2012 (one year to the day after vanishing Michigan Central Station, the largest illusion in history), I came back to Detroit and performed the one escape my lifelong idol never perfected: escaping from being buried alive.
Not a stage “version.” Not a watered-down trick. The real thing...
6/7
Above ground (well, still in the "hole", but not covered in dirt) I could now hear the audience. People were getting nervous. Some saying I needed help.
I waited a few more minutes.
Then one arm. Then the other. Then I climbed out. Dirty. Successful.
Exact formula and escape Houdini was never able to perfect. Done in his honor, 86 years later.
One guy in the crowd yelled, “Someone get that man a beer!”
I only performed it one more time (for the TV show). It was every bit as hard. We had to replace the coffin...the first one had taken too much stress from the weight...
7/7
What an honor it was to master the one escape that eluded my idol.
On with the show… Oh, the places I’ll go…! ✨❤️🪄♿️
#FromHollywoodToQuadriplegic #Houdini #BuriedAlive #EscapeArtist #MagicHistory #Detroit #QuadriplegicJourney #NeverGiveUp #Daredevil #Magic #SCIWarrior #ImPossible
My Life: From Hollywood to Quadriplegic… 🎥♿️
"Why I chose Michigan Central Station to vanish."
1/7
Yesterday I shared how, on October 26, 2011, I made magic history by vanishing the 500,000-square-foot Detroit landmark...the largest illusion ever staged.
Today: the real reason it had to be that building...
6/7
My favorite behind-the-scenes photo (still hunting for it with my rockstar assistant) is from a cold, overcast early-spring day.
I’m walking in front of the station in all black...dress pants, shirt, loafers, overcoat...looking more like I belonged in my bio father’s world than planning a magic trick.
By this point, my father decided it was best for me to have some "friends" around...
So, walking behind us: about half a dozen very nice guys on loan from NYC. Super polite. Wouldn’t hurt a fly. Wink wink. Very Sicilian.
That’s the one I can’t wait to find and share...
7/7
And that’s how the landmark was chosen.
Stay tuned for another history-making event I pulled off exactly one year to the day later… also tied to Houdini.
On with the show...Oh, the places I'll go...! ✨❤️🪄♿️
#FromHollywoodToQuadriplegic #DetroitsMegaIllusion #MichiganCentralStation #Houdini #MagicHistory #QuadriplegicJourney #NeverGiveUp