Ace Miles
Sacramento / SF Bay Area
So much fun... people forget to check their phones
I'm Ace Miles. I work corporate events, private parties, and venues around Sacramento and Northern California, everything from close-up magic at a cocktail hour to a full stage show.
Tell me about your event or call or text (510) 865-8065
Ninety seconds of real audiences, real shows, and various venues. Strolling magic, mentalism, and the comedy that runs through all of it.
Sleight of hand up close, and illusions when there's a stage for them.
Cards, coins, rings, whatever's already in your hand. What comes out depends on the night and who's there.
The part corporate audiences remember longest. No trapdoors or special effects, nothing to explain it away.
Calling out things people never said out loud. It can run inside a strolling set or stand as its own piece.
It's in everything, not a separate act.
I've never been able to do a show straight and I don't try. The straitjacket is technically an escape, really it's a comedy bit. Nobody's getting chained up and dropped in a river.
There's more, but it stops being useful as a list. Tell me what the event is and I'll tell you what works in it.
Nothing to set up, and it happens in their hands.
Receptions, cocktail hours, trade show booths, holiday parties. I move between small groups, close enough that it happens in their hands. No stage to build, no sound to run, no schedule to hold up. At a party of around fifty this holds on its own for hours.
A full show for a seated crowd. I run my own tech.
Banquets, awards nights, theaters. Built and paced for the crowd, with sleight of hand you can still read from the back row, mentalism that pulls half a dozen volunteers out of their seats, and illusions when the occasion calls for it.
Around twenty five guests, sat down for an hour. The one people don't know to ask for.
The middle format. Too few for strolling, too intimate for a stage. A parlor show sits everyone down for forty five minutes to an hour, and it plays much better in a living room or a private dining room than close-up does.
Fifty years in, whatever you're planning, I've done one like it.
Half the time people aren't sure, and sorting that out is where I start. Tell me the headcount, the space, and what else is happening that night, and I'll tell you which format actually works there.
“Despite competing with an open bar, a DJ, and panoramic views of the Bay, he had guests completely captivated for more than four hours. People kept following him around and circling back to see what he would do next. His mentalism genuinely stunned us, and our friends and family were still debating how he pulled everything off the next day.”
“A professional. He gets the job done. Very organized, he was up and running in nothing flat. And we so appreciate that.”
“Fantastic to work with.”
“A big hit. Gathered a great crowd. Always dependable.”
“The Bay Area's finest.”
“Ace has been to my house to entertain my kids and I've seen his show a few times over the decades. He always performs. I don't know how he can stay so consistent, but he's a great performer.”
“Oh my god, this is the best show I've ever seen. This is my first time here, so of course it might be the best, but it will be the best ever. It's amazing. Thank you.”
One from the stage:
A few of the names along the way:
I started doing magic professionally in 1976. My first corporate show was that December, in San Jose, when I was fourteen. My range covers close-up, parlor, stage, and mentalism. I've performed for Apple, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Paramount Parks, and ABC. In 2025 I played a week at the Magic Castle in Hollywood, twenty seven shows in the Parlour of Prestidigitation. I took first place in the stage category at the Pacific Coast Association of Magicians in 1983, and first place again in the Oakland Magic Circle's contest in 2021. I spent a good part of my working life in 3D animation and theme park design, which is why I build my own sets and run my own tech. I'm based in Sacramento.
Ace Miles has been performing magic professionally since 1976. His first corporate show was in December of that year, at Data Products in San Jose, when he was fourteen years old. By sixteen he was the resident magician at Great America in Santa Clara and had appeared on Evening Magazine, the San Francisco Bay Area television show.
His range covers close-up sleight of hand, parlor, full stage, and mentalism. He has performed for Apple, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Marriott, ABC, Google, Meta, LinkedIn, Xerox, Memorex, General Electric, and Paramount Parks, along with wineries, hotels, casinos, theaters, and several hundred private events. He has appeared on the Disney Channel, on Mornings on 2, and on A&E's Good Time Cafe. In 2025 he played a week-long run at the Magic Castle in Hollywood, twenty seven shows in the Parlour of Prestidigitation.
He took first place in the stage category at the Pacific Coast Association of Magicians in 1983, and won first place in the Oakland Magic Circle's magic contest in 2021. The Oakland Magic Circle is the oldest magic organization in California.
He builds what he performs. In the late 1990s he wrote, produced, directed and starred in his own themed stage productions for Paramount's Great America. Before that he was a self-taught 3D animator, working at Atari alongside Ed Logg, teaching at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, and creating the Sega Dreamcast and Fox Interactive logo animations. He later sculpted props and set pieces for Disney Imagineering.
He is based in Sacramento and works throughout Northern California.
Tell me about the event and I'll tell you whether I'm right for it.
What helps me answer fast:
