Unlike most other magicians, my passion for magic came at a much later stage of life. The first magician I saw perform live was at the age of 18. This started a fascination into the world of magic and illusion.

 

A few years on in 2012 I was away on a camping trip with family and friends. I decided this was a perfect opportunity to test out some of my new tricks. The reaction to the tricks was amazing! The rush that I got after performing changed everything. That night I started a journey of learning and developing skills I never thought I could posses. 

 

I was a full time plumber and never thought of magic as a full time career. Occasionally I would take a deck of cards to work and perform for the boys at lunchtime. They would often say, “Why are you plumbing? You should be doing magic!” I thought it was nice, but maybe I wasn’t that good at plumbing. The name Andino come from a plumbing colleague Simon. My real name is Andrew. My friends call me Andy. One of the things we constantly talked about was my name, Andy. I am happy with the name my parents gave me. However, the name Andy just doesn’t sound very magical; it sounds like one of the common names for boys who were born in the 1980s. As we were talking we discussed how an MC for a stage performance could introduce me, it would sound like this. “Ladies and gentlemen please put your hands together for Andy.” It just didn’t sound special or magical. It didn’t have a ring to it. It wasn’t unique. It was just Andy. So Simon went home and made a list of all different names for me. The next day Simon came to work with a big smile on his face, with him was a list of names; on that list was the name Andino. 

 

Often when performing for friends or family they would encourage me to take it a step further. I always had the mindset that you need a full time, stable job that provides reliable income. Little did I know everything was about to change? 

 

In 2014 I became very sick and was diagnosed with chronic fatigue and a serve immune and allergic disorder that covered my body from head to toe in an uncontrollable rash. I saw many doctors and specialist; I was put on heavy medications, creams and natural remedies. It got to a point where my body gave up and I had to retire at the age of 32 from plumbing. My body wasn’t in a state to work; some of the medications also affected my mental health. Some days I would be extremely depressed and I knew it was the medication yet I couldn’t control it. My skin condition only got worse and I had a serve itch 24hrs a day. Vacuuming the bed every morning because of the skin that I lost. My body was failing and I still had to find a way to get an income.

 

Prior to getting sick my wife Emily had been retired from work since 2012 with Lyme disease. She was a partner in an insurance agency in Victoria, which was a great job, with a promising future. Her body gave up and she could barley even drive the car to get to work. She was in a lot of pain, throwing up constantly and had no strength at all. She sold her partnership and put all her energy into getting better. When I retired from plumbing Emily still wasn’t working, her health had improved yet she still had a long way to go. We were two very sick people trying to survive. The little savings we had was quickly vanishing, with every doctor, specialist and remedy, and just the day-to-day living. So I made a Busking table and hit the streets of Mooloolaba and Noosa on the days I felt I had enough energy. Even though I felt and looked like death people loved the tricks, taking business cards and inviting me to perform at private parties.

 

In January 2017 I was performing in Caloundra and a young lady named Vicki came up to me and said “I am going to change your life” She could see that I had a skin condition and told me about a dermatologist in South Africa that changed her daughters life. I contacted the specialist and got a prescription for a compound cream. Within 3 days of using the cream the itch had stopped. My skin started to calm down. I finally started to get some energy back, my head was clearer. For 3 years my skin was unbearable and I had a chronic rash and itch, I tried everything, seeing all different specialist, and in 3 days of the new cream I finally started to see some improvement. As I slowly became better my magic career started to explode. I now travel around Australia performing at corporate functions, conferences, weddings, churches, private parties, and many other events.

​