James Harrington and Marina Liani of MIND2MIND

Thoroughly Modern Mentalists

By Stacey Gualandi // Photography courtesy of MIND2MIND

They had me at “seahorse.”

Not one to avoid audience participation, I played right along as James Harrington and Marina Liani picked me for their “guess what animal is on my card” trick. Also not one to be speechless, I yelled — loudly — “Oh my God” when they guessed seahorse. It blew my, well … mind!

Harrington (from the U.K.) and Liani (from Ukraine) are the married mentalists behind MIND2MIND, the intimate, interactive and immersive magic show now taking up (head) space on the Las Vegas Strip.

They recently celebrated their 50th show at the Azul Lounge inside Fontainebleau and are taking mindfulness to a whole new level.

To put your mind at ease, every show is different because you, the audience member, become part of the show.

They are currently performing every week, Friday through Tuesday, with two shows on Fridays and Saturdays at 7 and 9:30 p.m. Each show includes a pre-sleight-of-hand cocktail hour, followed by a post-show meet-and-greet.

This charismatic couple — also reappearing this season on “America’s Got Talent” — has come a long way from home. (Harrington was once named the best close-up magician in Dubai!)

From Tinder to “America’s Got Talent” and “Britain’s Got Talent”; Royal Command Performances to becoming the 2025 FISM World Champions of Mentalism; Magic Castle’s Stage Magicians of the Year to their Sin City residency (thanks to The Magician’s Study), mind games are their modus operandi.

For this duo, it’s about dedication and redefining connection across the globe. They wanted to create something different: “an experience that leaves people questioning what’s possible long after they leave.”

I still can’t get my head around Liani guessing every object in that box!

To find out how they do it, I recently pressed them on their digitation. But don’t worry, guys: Your secrets are safe with me.

Chic Compass: You have earned your global fame. But did you always want a residency in Las Vegas?

James Harrington: Vegas was always the dream. This is absolutely incredible. We can't really believe that we are here, to be honest. It's all happened really quickly. Every year, we've spent a lot of time just focusing on building our brand and building our acts. We decided during COVID that we didn't care about the money. What we care about is being known as the best in the world at what we do. It really became more about legacy than anything financial. So, we've just invested everything that we earned back into ourselves.

Chic Compass: I think it’s about time Vegas got MIND2MIND!

James Harrington: We’ve had a few different offers from different Vegas venues. Some of them were too big; some of them were too small. It wasn't just about getting into Vegas for the sake of being in Vegas. We wanted it to be right. Then the producer from The Magician’s Study had seen us at a few magic conventions performing and loved what we do. He came to see us at the Magic Castle. He had this “in” at Fontainebleau and said, “Do you want to try this?” And we said, “Yes!”

Chic Compass: It sounds like it took a little magic. Ha!

James Harrington: Honestly, had we not done the whole training for the World Championships, we wouldn't have been ready; had we not done our theater show in Dubai for two years, we wouldn't have been ready; and had we not gotten O-1 visas — which we got on the off chance something like this might happen — none of this would have been possible.

Chic Compass: You each have a specific role.

Marina Liani: James is the charisma. He is the presenter. He's the showman, and he looks at people and collects all the necessary pieces for me to gather and then decode later. I don't speak that much. I do talk, but when I say things, I only say things that I feel are really important.

Chic Compass: I am not shy, but many people don’t like to be picked to play!

Marina Liani: We’ll always try, but we don't force people into it; it’s only if you would like to. But James is a professional in that he knows how to pick the right people.

Chic Compass: How does your act differ from other mentalist performers?

James Harrington: The show is what we call an “outward-facing” show. We want to give energy to the audience rather than taking it. It's not a “look at us and how clever we are” show. It's a show about connection, love and kindness. We do demonstrate what we can do with our connection, but then we go on to giving those abilities to people in the audience. We have a bit where a couple actually hear each other's thoughts, which we did with Tom Brady and [friend, billionaire real estate developer] Jeffrey Soffer.

Chic Compass: Not too many people can do what you two do.

James Harrington: What we've focused on is a very, very rare form of mentalism called “Second Sight.” In effect, Marina has the ability to see through my eyes, so she can be blindfolded or somebody can be covering her eyes. I go into the audience, and Marina's able to detect things about people in the audience that I'm close to. We don’t use any form of electronics, no gimmicks; it’s only us and thousands of hours of dedicated practice to master, which is why this type of mentalism is so rare. It's almost like it's the closest thing you could get to sleight of hand of the mind.

Chic Compass: Did you really meet on a dating app?

James Harrington: Yes! We matched on Tinder in 2017 and started working on our act very soon after that. I did do a lot of tricks for her on our first date. I think I bent a coin.

Marina Liani: Yes, and he vanished the bill, and then it appeared in his wallet. It was crazy. He did the whole magic show for me!

James Harrington: That’s another reason this act is so rare: It’s really hard to find two people who are so willing to dedicate such a large chunk of every single day for their entire lives to mastering something. I love that Michelangelo quote: “If people saw how much work we put into this, they'd realize we have no talent at all.”