Matthew Wayne Tomasko (born March 17, 1986), better known as Matt Wayne, is an American

illusionist Magic, which encompasses the subgenres of illusion, stage magic, and close up magic, among others, is a performing art in which audiences are entertained by tricks, effects, or illusions of seemingly impossible feats, using natural means. It ...

, producer and television personality. He is best known for his work and skill as a performer of close-up magic. Wayne was born in York,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

and is of Slovak descent on his father's side and

Russian Jewish The history of the Jews in Russia and areas historically connected with it goes back at least 1,500 years. Jews in Russia have historically constituted a large religious and ethnic diaspora; the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest pop ...

on his mother's side. His mother, Robbie Ann, was a

Calvin Klein Calvin Richard Klein (born November 19, 1942) is an American fashion designer who launched the company that would later become Calvin Klein Inc., in 1968. In addition to clothing, he also has given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, and ...

and

Gucci Gucci (, ; ) is an Italian high-end luxury fashion house based in Florence, Italy. Its product lines include handbags, ready-to-wear, footwear, accessories, and home decoration; and it licenses its name and branding to Coty, Inc. for fragrance ...

model living in Baltimore, Maryland and his father John R. Tomasko is a photographer. When he was five years old, he received a magic set from his grandfather. In 2005, Wayne moved to

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...

, Japan and lived solely by performing magic tricks. In 2006, Wayne moved back to the United States and moved to

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, New York.

Producer

Since September 2008, Wayne has been the sole producer behind Emmy-award winner

Ted Greenberg TED may refer to: Economics and finance * TED spread between U.S. Treasuries and Eurodollar Education * ''Türk Eğitim Derneği'', the Turkish Education Association ** TED Ankara College Foundation Schools, Turkey ** Transvaal Education Depart ...

from ''

Late Night with David Letterman ''Late Night with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on NBC, the first iteration of the ''Late Night'' franchise. It premiered on February 1, 1982, and was produced by Letterman's production company ...

'', and the Off Broadway comedy, ''The Complete Performer''. A parodiable comedy on magic that ends with Greenberg driving audience members home in a yellow taxicab. The show continues to run at the SoHo Playhouse Theatre in New York City.

Film and television

In March 2009, Wayne made his first national television appearance on Wingman, which was broadcast on the Fine Living Network. Wayne also releases educational products for beginners and magicians. His first release entitled, "Got a Light?" has received numerous accolades from magicians including David Roth,

Simon Lovell Simon Lovell (born 1957) is an English comedy magician, actor, and card sharp, who specialises in magic using playing cards. Career Lovell was a regular performer in ''Monday Night Magic'', an off-Broadway show featuring magicians and relate ...

and Eric Decamps. In January 2010, Wayne filmed a segment for Tinka Milinovic's new reality series, ''The Tinka Show''. Wayne will also be seen in the upcoming reality series ''Doggie Moms'' set to air in early 2011 on NYC life channel starring girlfriend Karen Biehl.

Charity

In 2010, Wayne lent his likeness to an HIV awareness campaign featuring 250 plus celebrities and social figures. The campaign is called BE-THE-LINK. On September 16, 2010, Wayne launched his charitable show entitled ''Laff-A-Digitation'', a comedy and magic benefit that brought together top comedy talent to raise money for animal rescue. Wayne teamed up with Bideawee, one of the oldest and most respected animal welfare and pet adoption agencies. In attendance were notables including designer John Bartlett, Prince Lorenzo Borghese and Richard Pryor Jr. Wayne is also heavily involved in supporting animal rights and has donated a lot of time helping North Shore Animal League, Broadway Barks and Stray from the Heart.

Endorsements

In June 2009, Matt signed to be the official spokesperson behind the TouchTricks application series, the world's first virtual magic kit for the iPhone and iPod Touch. On September 13, 2010, Matt helped

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

launch their new Live Stream feature alongside media partner

Howcast Howcast is an educational technology website that provides instructional short-form how-to video and content that combines practical information with various filmmaking techniques such as humor, claymation and animation. The how-to content is c ...

. He was voted the #1 show to watch during the launch by Gizmodo.com.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wayne, Matt 1986 births Living people American male film actors American magicians American television personalities American people of Slovak descent