Is a win on America's Got Talent in the cards for Bergenfield's Anna DeGuzman?

Is it in the cards for Bergenfield's Anna DeGuzman?

The North Jersey magician and "cardist" wowed "America's Got Talent" judges Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel and Sofia Vergara in last week's semifinals by making a 7 of Spades come out of a cake, and a Queen of Hearts come out of her own mouth.

Now she's bracing for her biggest trick of all. Can she ace the finals — 9 p.m. Tuesday — to be proclaimed the winner — 9 p.m. Wednesday night — on season 18 of the venerable NBC talent show?

It's an honor that comes with cash ($1 million) and an appearance at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, as part of the casino's America's Got Talent standing show. But as DeGuzman of all people knows, nothing is impossible.

"I feel like magical things are happening to me all the time," said DeGuzman.

Shying away

Perhaps her best bit of legerdemain, in her last appearance, was to make her apparent nervousness work for, rather than against, her. The camera got in very close as she dealt the cards to the four judges, sitting around an onstage table.

The butterflies were evident. Yet that became part of the charm of the performance.

"The audience wouldn't have noticed, but because [the judges] were literally a foot away from me, they could see my hands trembling," she said. "Which they did not feel shy about sharing. When they called my name to go to the finals, I was shocked. Because I was worried that being nervous was a detriment. But people responded positively, which is amazing. Now I can have another chance to show them."

She comes by her diffidence naturally. As an only child whose family moved around a lot in her early years (she attended Lincoln Elementary School in Wyckoff and Bogota High School, among other places) she was naturally self-conscious. Magic was an icebreaker.

A magical change

"My friends thought it was so cool," she said. "I used to be kind of shy and then I realize that it was all in my head, that no one had ever made fun of me or anything like that. I started performing for my friends, for fun, but I didn't really expect anything out of it."

Like many of us, she grew up watching the famous illusionists on TV and on the Vegas strip: David Blaine, David Copperfield, Penn & Teller. But her own area of specialization — cardistry — has its roots closer to home.

"Cards were a very common thing in my household," she said. "We'd bring playing cards on any road trip. I knew all the games." Filipino card games, some of them — games from her own culture — but also Go Fish, Poker, Texas Hold 'Em. "I love doing magic with everyday ordinary objects, but there's something really fascinating about cards," she said.

Cards have a mystical significance. There are, she points out, 52 weeks in a year, and 52 cards in a deck. There are four seasons, and four suits. "I think this is where the nerd in me comes out," she said.

Trailblazer

Elsewhere, the pioneer in her comes out.

Female magicians are a rarity. In the standard magic act, the guy is center stage. The woman, if there is one, is the smiling assistant. Her job is to get sawed in half, or vanish in the magic box. DeGuzman thinks it's time for that tradition to disappear.

"There's no reason a girl couldn't do magic," she said. "I think that's what I try to put out there. There are actually a lot of girls who come up to me saying, 'Oh I really like magic, but I never really tried to to do it, learn it, pursue it.' They didn't think it was a thing to go after, as a woman."

When she finally does get her own show in Vegas — as she ultimately hopes to — will she have a hunky male assistant, whose job is to smile and be silent?

We'll just have to see what the cards have in store.

"A hot male assistant?" she said. "I'll have to think about it."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Magician Anna DeGuzman a winner on 'America's Got Talent'?