Biography: Jonathan Goodwin

Jonathan Goodwin ←
Mikey Nelson
Terry Stroud

Hello, I am Jonathan Goodwin and this is a brief biography of me.

I should warn you that it is entirely un-British to write this kind of thing and try to make yourself sound awesome, there is something I find hugely embarrassing about it, so bear with me. Also, most people write this kind of thing in the third person, and pretend that it is someone else writing it when everyone knows they wrote it themselves… that is rubbish and I’m not going to do that.

Ok, so I was born in Pembrokeshire in South West Wales (the bottom left part of the UK) in 1980. This was an amazing place to grow up because it is packed full of mountains and forests and beautiful coastline. I spent most of my childhood either up a cliff, or jumping off of one into the ocean.

When I was seven years old I read a book about Harry Houdini. I thought he was an extraordinary character, and was truly inspired by the things he did. I decided I would try and be an escape artist, but beyond the desire, I had nobody to learn from. I started to teach myself the mechanics of locks and types of rope that are best to escape from. I practiced holding my breath in the bathtub, (something I advise you never to do, as its dangerous) and basically put all of my efforts into emulating Harry Houdini.

Despite the initial love affair with “escapology” (as it is called in the UK), I gave up escapes by the time I was fifteen years old; I felt like I had kind of mastered the techniques and besides, by that time I had discovered girls, which were far more mysterious to me than handcuffs and padlocks.

I moved to London when I was 18 and acquired a degree in Drama and Theatre at Middlesex University. Once I was a BA hons, I went to work in television, primarily as a producer. It was during this time that the production company I worked for made a one-hour special with an Escape Artist.

This reawakened the desire in me to perform, and I started to devise and film my own escapes and post them on YouTube and other similar websites. I ended up filming many more of them for broadcast on British and currently American Television.

Since becoming a full-time Escape Artist, I have had the opportunity to attempt lots and lots of different escapes. I have been hanged (not fun), buried alive (wicked!), and locked in a box with 200,000 bees (painful).

I do everything for real and without trickery; sometimes I succeed and sometimes I don’t. That said, I never risk death… that would be stupid.

So how do I spend my time when I’m not busy escaping? I enjoy reading books while riding trains. Going to the movies by myself is always fun. I love learning things from new people I meet. I’m partial to blowing bubbles underwater (scuba diving) and looking at fish. I have to scratch my itch to travel as often as I can. When I’m not somewhere else, I live in Santa Monica, California with a large collection of handcuffs.