Billy Kidd (b. 1982)Profile
Billy Kidd's Real Name Gia Anne-Marie Felicitas Aliases None Occupation Magician, Street performer, Entertainer Place of Birth Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Height 5' 4 1/2" Eyes Brown Hair Dusky Brown Abilities Billy Kidd possesses the supreme ability of manipulation skills. As a student of famed street performer Gazzo, Billy is a master in all facets of busking. She also involves live monkeys in her show, and combines the arial arts with magic. Her signature magic effect is straight jacket escape. Interesting Fact Billy is the conductor, choreographer and creator of Canada's
Slappyfeatherwhistle Nose-Flute Ensemble.
Bio
Billy Kidd was born Gia Anne-Marie Felicitas in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. She has been involved in the performing arts at an early age. At 12, she was making a professional living working as an actor in theatre, film and TV in Canada. Because of her acting career, the art of magic never came into her life until quite late. However, as a young teenager she unknowingly foreshadowed her career in busking; she and her ballet/dancer colleagues formed a group called Chewakamufasa, and would often meet and do artsy tableaux and statue work in Edmonton late at night. They wore no costumes, no make-up - just themselves freezing on the sidewalk. She never even considered it busking back then, just a fun way of making money. At 18, her best friend Cameron Mckinlay (a dancer with Cirque) showed her the ball and vase trick. 
Though Cameron was not a magician, they both started to dabble in magic all summer long. Continuing her career path in theatre, Billy was accepted into Canada's top theatre schools and spent the next 4 years honing her craft as an actor. In 2004, she graduated with a BFA in Acting from the University of Alberta, and made a living in the theatre. She had a gig working with the Edmonton Street Performers Festival where she first became friends with street performer Nick Nickolas. Billy soon started gravitating back into magic realizing how deprived she was of it all those years amid her acting career. Nickolas took Billy under his wing steering her as to what books to study from, and to find a magician named Gazzo. However, It took her another whole year to realize that she was eventually going to try and quit being an actor, and just focus on magic. Her decision in changing careers was very stressful because her entire life she had trained and worked only as an Actor; she knew nothing except for theatre. Very few actors say no to work, but eventually she gathered enough gumption to distance herself from the theatre world, and to make a go of it as a magician.
She then remembered the unique name Gazzo, and discovered that his reputation preceded him as a guru in the field of busking. She found out he was teaching in America and started training with him in his workshops in Seattle, and also in Las Vegas for about a year - on and off. To this day they now collaborate on new ideas and routines. Today Billy Kidd has become one of magicdom's sought after entertainers. She has performed for a variety of different events from Burlesque, to Vaudeville, to Corporate events. Her unique style, skill and charm has taken her all around the world performing in Japan, UK, London, Canada and Portugal. For more information, visit
Billy Kidd's official website.
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