Oz Pearlman

Oz Pearlman
Born (1982-07-19) July 19, 1982
Israel
Other namesOz the Mentalist
CitizenshipIsraeli
American
Educationelectrical engineering
Alma materUniversity of Michigan
Occupations
  • Magician
  • mentalist
  • athlete
Spouse
Elisa Rosen
​
(m. 2010)​
Children5
Websiteozpearlman.com

Oz Pearlman (born July 19, 1982), also known as "Oz the Mentalist," is an American mentalist, author, magician, and long-distance runner of marathons and ultramarathons. He is best known for major media appearances performing mentalism for sports teams, including the Dallas Cowboys, New York Jets, Green Bay Packers and the Los Angeles Lakers.

NBC (national) aired a travel show about Pearlman titled Oz Knows.[1] He won an Emmy Award for the show.[2]

According to an article published by LEADERS Magazine in 2025, Pearlman is the most televised mentalist in the world. The article also states that Pearlman is the most followed mentalist on social media.[3] Pearlman has appeared in televised media outside of the United States, such as ESPN Philippines[4] and a TV commercial for Mohegan Sun in China.[5]

In 2025, Pearlman delivered a TED Talk titled The Art of Reading Minds. In the speech, he discussed a mnemonic related to remembering names of people.[6]

Pearlman will host the 2026 White House Correspondents' Dinner on April 25.[7]

Personal life

Early life

Pearlman was born on July 19, 1982, in northern Israel.[8] Pearlman moved to the United States due to his father’s was an engineer (also a Lieutenant Commander in Israeli Navy) when he was three then lived in Wisconsin and mainly in Michigan (Farmington). He was told his twin brother died at birth when he turned 12. Pearlman attended and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan in 2003.[9] He performing magic at restaurants, children’s shows and corporate events at the age of 14, and has stated that he always had a deck of cards with him between the ages of 13 and 18.[10][11]

Career transition

Pearlman was originally employed at Merrill Lynch in its global technology-services department, only performing magic and mentalism as a part-time profession. After he was allowed to deliver a corporate entertainment show to upper management within the company, he quit his full-time job at Merrill Lynch to become a full-time entertainer.[11]

Media appearances

Pearlman had appeared on America's Got Talent[12][13][14], The Joe Rogan Experience,[15][16][17] CBS 60 Minutes,[18] The Ellen Show,[19] Forbes,[20] Sports Illustrated,[21] HBO Hard Knocks,[22] Piers Morgan Uncensored,[23] CBS The Early Show, The Dr. Oz Show,[24] CNBC Power Lunch,[25][26][27] ABC World News Tonight, USA Today,[28] The Howard Stern Show,[29][30] The New York Times,[31] Fox & Friends,[32] NBC Squawk Box,[27] NBC Golf Channel,[33] Jake Paul's podcast BS w/ Jake Paul,[34] Flagrant,[35][36] NBC Today Show,[37][38][39][40] Bert Kreischer's podcast,[41] Elvis Duran and the Morning Show,[42][43] People Magazine,[44] Esquire,[45] GQ[46] and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.[47][5]

Pearlman appeared on HBO's Hard Knocks,[48] the NBC Golf Channel[33] and as a guest on CBS Sports coverage of NCAA March Madness.[49] Pearlman won third place in Season 10 of America's Got Talent in 2015.[12][13] On January 13, 2020, he returned as a contestant for America's Got Talent: The Champions.[14]

NBC TV (national) aired a travel show called Oz Knows in 2018, which followed Pearlman to various tourist attractions where he would perform his mentalism. Pearlman won an Emmy Award in May 2018 for the show.[2][1] In July 2023, Pearlman was a featured performer for ESPY Awards on ESPN.[50][51] He also made guest appearances on NBC Today Show on August 23, 2015[52] and in 2016[37][38][39][40] and predicted the Super Bowl result on January 26, 2017.[53]

On December 17, 2024, Pearlman was a guest on The Howard Stern Show. In 2014, guest Valerie Harper. while discussing her terminal illness, privately shared a secret code word with Stern that only the two of them would know, which could be used after her death to prove whether psychics are real. The idea for using a secret word was based on a pact that Harry Houdini had made with his wife Bess where they promised each other that the first one to die would attempt to contact the other from the afterlife, using a code that the couple had created to verify any spiritualists or psychics who might claim that they had made contact. Pearlman correctly guessed that the word was "curly", shocking Stern.[29][30]

On June 4, 2025, Pearlman appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience. According to Rogan, Pearlman correctly guessed the ATM PIN code of Joe's bank account.[15][16][17] Rogan appeared visibly disturbed by this and stated "Yeah... that's weird," followed by "Yeah, I don't like that."[54][16] The hosts of FLAGRANT hosted Pearlman on their podcast the following week.[35][36]

On November 18, 2025, Pearlman appeared on The View and revealed host Sara Haines's real PIN number live on the air. Later, Haines stated that she felt "violated" by Pearlman. "I don't like someone that will sell a human violation for click bait," said Haines.[55] Pearlman even told Haines before the show that he would never share her real PIN number on the air, so he asked her to think of a fake one. Haines called the moment a “little bit of a betrayal”.[56]

Pearlman has performed mentalism for major sports teams, including:

Book

According to an NBC News interview shared on November 11, 2025, Oz Pearlman (at the time of the interview) just released a book called Read Your Mind.[86]

Criticism

Critics have accused Pearlman of deception; such as scouting audience members prior to performances and carrying out investigative discovery into guests to get answers.[87] Pearlman is the first to admit the "lie is that I can read your mind."[88] "I don't read minds," Pearlman confesses, "I read people."[87]

Not all mentalism attempts by Pearlman have been successful, however. On The Today Show in 2016, Pearlman asked Al Roker to pick a celebrity who he thought might run for President. Roker chose George Clooney; but Pearlman had incorrectly predicted he would say Taylor Swift by revealing a pre-printed T-Shirt with an image of Swift underneath the slogan: "T-Swift for President".[87][89] Pearlman deconstructed the televised moment in a later interview with 60 Minutes, saying: "And what if it could be anybody else?" What if—and—and so, I was steering him back on track to what I thought would work. And—and so it looked even more amazing, because it seemed like he changed his mind at the last moment."[88]

Marathon achievements

On April 4, 2022, Pearlman broke the world record for most miles run in Central Park in New York. The total distance that he ran was more than 116 miles (16 loops), and it was completed in 17 hours, 40 minutes and 59 seconds. The New York Times, Reuters, Runner's World, and CBS News published articles about the event. The event raised money to help Ukrainian citizens affected by the war against Russia.[90][91][92][93][94] On August 5, 2022, Pearlman ran 130 miles in 21 hours, 52 minutes and 33 seconds from Montauk to Manhattan. The Audacious Report produced a short documentary about the run and The New York Times published an article about it.[95][96][31] Pearlman won the New Jersey Marathon four times. He won the 50-mile Chicago Ultra Marathon in 2015 in 5 hours, 25 minutes, and 26 seconds,[97] and has ranked within the top 30 fastest Americans for 50-mile races. He has also participated in the Hawaii Ironman World Championship, Western States 100 Mile Run, Spartathlon 153 Mile Run, Leadville 100 Mile Run and Badwater 135 Mile Run.[98]

References

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  2. ^ a b "NBC 4 New York, Telemundo 47 and LX.TV Productions Honored With 31 New York Emmy Awards". www.nbcumv.com. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
  3. ^ "LEADERS Interview with Oz Pearlman". www.leadersmag.com. Retrieved October 9, 2025.
  4. ^ "Bronny, Lakers stunned by Oz the Mentalist - ESPN Video". ESPN. Retrieved August 9, 2025.
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  6. ^ Pearlman, Oz (October 21, 2025). The art of reading minds. Retrieved November 9, 2025 – via www.ted.com.
  7. ^ Mastrangelo, Dominick (February 26, 2026). "WHCA announces mentalist Oz Pearlman for correspondents' dinner entertainer". The Hill. Retrieved March 12, 2026.
  8. ^ Russell (October 20, 2019). "Who is Oz Pearlman?". thementalismcourse.com. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  9. ^ Baskin, Pat (September 4, 2024). "A Conversation With Mentalist Oz Pearlman". thejewishnews.com.
  10. ^ "An Engineer's Magic Moment | Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) @ Michigan". www.eecs.umich.edu. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
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  89. ^ Video on YouTube
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  93. ^ "Oz Pearlman - Central Park Loop Challenge (NY) - 2022-04-08". fastestknowntime.com. April 8, 2022. Retrieved September 7, 2023.
  94. ^ Oz Pearlman breaks a WORLD RECORD for most laps ever run around Central Park in a day!, April 11, 2022, retrieved September 7, 2023
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