William Scott Anderson

In 2021 Scott Anderson entered into his 22nd year of performing Magic. In that time, he has become one of a few magicians in the Pacific Northwest who has been elevated to the national stage with various television shows and specials to his credit. Taking up magic as a result of an injury he sustained early on in a 22-year military career, Scott began performing local shows during the weekends and evenings while stationed at Fort Lewis, WA. In 2001, after 5 years of active duty, service he became a flight medic and joined the famed 1042nd Coyotes. An aeromedical evacuation company in the Oregon National Guard. Shortly afterwards they were sent to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. It was here that Scott began performing magic in the hospital for those his unit rescued. Many of whom were young children. Shortly after his unit returned home from Afghanistan Scott was selected to become an officer and fly the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter. He would spend the next 16 months at the U.S. Army flight school in Fort Rucker, Alabama. During his time here the base and surrounding areas were slammed by Hurricane Katrina. Scott's magic was called into service again performing local shows raising money to donate towards the relief efforts. Returning home once again in 2005 he resumed college full time, still serving in the National Guard and performing magic on the side. A few years later the unit would be activated once again this time to serve in Iraq. While serving as a medical evacuation pilot Scott soon found himself entertaining not only his fellow troops, and in the hospitals, but various units as well during his down time. Even winning the "Military's Got Talent" show in front of 600 Soldier's at Joint Base Balad. It was also during this deployment that the Army had Scott start performing shows for various villages and towns around the bases in an effort to win the hearts and minds. With the deployment ending in 2010, and thanks to the former lead choreographer for David Copperfield, news of his overseas performances reached the offices of the NBC Nightly News. Resulting in a news crew flying out for a week and putting together a story for their weekly "Making a Difference" segment. Not long after that, Scott's wife called him from work telling him that tryouts for "America's Got Talent" were coming to Portland later that week. At her insistence, he called and got his name on the audition list. This was the catalyst that propelled his shows to a national audience. Repeatedly amazing the judges, his time on the show only ended when he told the producers that he was not willing to go on tour for a year with them after the show ended. Having spent the prior year in Iraq and with his wife now pregnant, Scott was not willing to spend that much more time away from his family. Life continued for the Anderson family, Scott began work as a financial advisor for a large "Wall Street" firm, continued to serve in the National Guard, and regularly performed for sports halftime shows, corporate/public events, trade shows, and to raise funds for charitable causes. Winning the prestigious Award of Merit from the Academy of Magical Arts in 2012, Scott soon found himself a regular performer for the Academy at the World Famous Magic Castle in Hollywood, California. In 2014 Scott was contacted by the producers of a newly created series on the Syfy channel Wizard Wars. Here he starred along side magic icon's Penn & Teller in a weekly show where magicians are given random objects and compete against one another to see who can turn them into the best magical effects. The demands on his schedule became too much and Scott elected not to return for the second season. Which was fortuitous because the show was canceled 2 episodes into that season. Television came calling again in 2020 when Scott was asked to participate in the new television series Go Big Show. Garnering over 1,000,000 viewers in his first episode, the Go Big Show was the biggest show in years put out by TBS. It was subsequently picked up by TNT and the CW networks due to its success. This show also started the trend of Scott's daughter Hailey guest staring in his performances. Today Scott is retired from military service, he is a financial advisor where after 4 years with a Wall Street firm he has started his own independent practice, and he continues to entertain audiences all along the West Coast. He lives in Canby, Oregon with is wife, 3 children, 3 cats, and 2 dogs.