With a skilled hand and a sharp wit, magician Nash Fung dazzled an audience of attentive students attending one of the many University Program Council Welcome Week events.
Fung has displayed his skills on a number of platforms including companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Boeing. He has also performed on television, at weddings and at college campuses across the nation.
Fung’s Tuesday night show in Foy Auditorium, titled “Something Magical, Something Meaningful,” was his first performance in Alabama.
Fung moved from Hong Kong to the United States when he was only 14 years old.
“The first thing I realized was being 5’5’’ and 130 pounds really sucked,” Fung said with a laugh.
Adopting a more serious attitude, Fung said he was proud to be an immigrant in the United States.
“It took me a long time to feel that way,” Fung said.
Fung said when he first moved to the United States, he was acutely aware of his differences from his peers.
“As an immigrant, I would focus a lot on how other people would perceive me,” he said.
Fung worried his differences would make others see him as less than themselves or unattractive. This fear is one of the factors that led him to magic.
“Magic deflected their attentions from that, which makes me different,” Fung said.
However, Fung said in retrospect, he doesn’t think anyone ever looked down on him because he was an immigrant because he was different.
“My ideas or people’s perception of me was an illusion that was conjured up in my head,” Fung said. “And it was rooted in my own insecurity.”
Fung advised to never let other people’s opinions dictate how you see yourself or choose to live your life.
“Embrace that which makes you different,” Fung said. “Own who you are.”
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