Moein Al Bastaki ( ar, معين البستكي; born 29 August 1980) is an Emirati television presenter and magician. Hailing from
Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
, Al Bastaki is best known for his street magic, large illusions, mentalism and performing close up magic for international and Arabic celebrities. He is currently signed with
WWE
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...
where he hosts ''
WWE Wal3ooha''.
Early life
Moein Al Bastaki was born and raised in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He is the eldest of four siblings. His love of magic began at a very young age. His grandfather, a trader, would return from trips overseas with magic tricks that he had learned. The first trick that Al Bastaki ever witnessed involved the disappearing and reappearing of a coin, which fascinated Al Bastaki and embedded a passion for the art of magic in a six-year-old child. He first performed aged 9 in a magic show that he prepared for his family. The show was not very successful, and his tricks were not well received, but his uncle paid him 5 UAE dirhams as a reward for his performance.
Al Bastaki’s father, Mohammed Al Bastaki, was the owner of a video rental shop, and as a young child, Al Bastaki became fascinated with the David Copperfield Show (1986). As his love for magic grew, he began studying the work of other internationally renowned magicians, and developing his own Arab inspired magic tricks. Al Bastaki’s biggest inspiration is Derren Brown, who triggered a passion for mentalism.
Education
Moein Al Bastaki graduated from Al Imam Malik school in 1998. He then attended Dubai University College where he graduated, with a bachelor's degree in Business, in 2004. Having been deprived of an education himself, Al Bastaki’s father disagreed with Al Bastaki’s choice of career, and insisted that his son focus on education instead, so Al Bastaki continued with his studies and obtained a master's degree in marketing from the University of Wollongong in Dubai in 2008.
Magic career
Al Bastaki began his magic career in 2005 with small performances for friends and relatives. His first professional performance was in 2005 for a New Year's Eve event in Dubai. From 2005 until 2010, Al Bastaki performed close up magic and stage shows at a range of events and festivals across the UAE. He finally began performing on TV and radio, with his first appearance on Sama TV in 2010. Since then, Al Bastaki has performed publicly and appeared on a number of Arabic TV shows, most recently as a weekly guest on Men El Akher, on DMTV. In 2015 Al Bastaki launched a new line of magic tricks products under his own brand that hit most of UAE and GCC toy shops. In 2016 Al Bastaki took his performances to the next stage using the power of the mind. He undertook a variety of never before seen tricks with a distinct middle eastern flavor.
Celebrity
Al Bastaki has performed tricks for a number of internationally recognized celebrities including
John Travolta
John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He came to public attention during the 1970s, appearing on the television sitcom ''Welcome Back, Kotter'' (1975–1979) and starring in the box office successes ''Carrie'' (19 ...
and
Mike Tyson
Michael Gerard Tyson (born June 30, 1966) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 2005. Nicknamed "Iron Mike" and "Kid Dynamite" in his early career, and later known as "The Baddest Man on the Planet", Tyson is cons ...
,
WWE
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...
stars such as
The Miz
Michael Gregory Mizanin (born October 8, 1980) is an American professional wrestler, actor, and television personality. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name The Miz.
Mizanin first gained fame a ...
,
John Cena
John Felix Anthony Cena ( ; born April 23, 1977) is an American part-time professional wrestler, actor, and former rapper. He is currently signed to WWE. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he is tied w ...
,
CM Punk
Phillip Jack Brooks (born October 26, 1978), better known by the ring name CM Punk, is an American professional wrestler, sports commentator, actor, and retired mixed martial artist currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Best known for ...
and
R-Truth
Ronnie Aaron Killings (born January 19, 1972) is an American professional wrestler and rapper. He is currently signed to WWE, performing on the Raw brand under the ring name R-Truth.
Killings worked for World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WW ...
, sports personalities such as
Diego Maradona
Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the FI ...
and
Fabio Cannavaro
Fabio Cannavaro (; born 13 September 1973) is an Italian professional football coach and former player. He is the current head coach of club Benevento.
A centre-back, he spent the majority of his career in Italy. He started his career at Napo ...
. He has also performed for a number of famous Arabic celebrities including
Sami Yusuf
Sami Yusuf (born 21 July 1980) is a British singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and composer. He gained international attention with the release of his debut album, ''Al-Muʽallim'', in 2003. As of 2020, he has released eight studio alb ...
,
Abdulhussain Abdulredha
Abdulhussain Abdulredha ( ar, عبد الحسين عبد الرضا, ʿAbd al-Ḥussain ʿAbd ar-Riḍā; 15 July 1939 – 11 August 2017) was an iconic Kuwaiti actor.
Background
Abdulredha was born in Derwazat Al Abdulrazzaq, Al-Awazem villag ...
, Hayat El Fahad, Saad Al-Faraj, Ibrahim Al Sallal, Jasim El Nabhan, Ahmed El Sakka, Ahmed Bedair and Dawood Hussain.
TV Appearances
Al Bastaki has appeared on a number of TV stations including MBC,
Al Arabiya
Arabiya ( ar, العربية, transliterated: '; meaning "The Arabic One" or "The Arab One") is an international Arabic news television channel, currently based in Dubai, that is operated by the media conglomerate MBC.
The channel is a flag ...
,
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
,
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, Saudi Radio and Dubai FM
He has appeared on the following shows:
* Pulse 95 ( Sharjah Broadcasting Authority )
* Men El Akher
* Ya Halla (Rotana)
* Saba Al Kheir Ya’Arab (MBC)
* MBC this week
* Inside the Middle East
* Al Forsah (Sama Dubai)
* Studio One (Dubai One)
* BBC World News
* Spotlight (OSN)
on MBC Action. Titled WWE Wal3ooha, meaning ‘light it up’, the weekly show sees presenters Moein Al Bastaki and Nathalie Mamo delivering exclusive interviews, highlights and stories from the week’s key matches to WWE fans in the region.
*[http://www.magicaean.com/moein-al-bastaki-wows-travolta/ Magicaean World Magic News "Dubai based magician Moein Al Bastaki recently posted this encounter with private airline pilot and actor John Travolta."]