Magician Julius Dein is not your average student.

When he is not studying for an international relations degree at King's College London, the 21-year-old is performing magic tricks at celebrity parties in Hollywood.

For the past six years the former JFS student has juggled exam revision with his passion for conjuring. With a deck of cards and sleight of hand, he baffled scientist Stephen Hawking in Cambridge and Nelson Mandela at a London fundraiser.

Studying in Los Angeles for a year, he was called in to entertain singers Kelly Rowland, Katy Perry and John Mayer. He has even tried a trick on comedian Russell Brand.

"I have this one-card trick that I performed for all of them," said the Magic Circle member. "I can make cards vanish and appear in people's wallet - that makes them freak out. I have turned cards into blocks of ice. When Kelly Rowland saw that at her birthday party, she screamed."

It is not just celebrities he has baffled. He appeared in JFS talent shows, and once performed an impromptu trick in the classroom. "I handed my English teacher a piece of homework and then stabbed a pen through it. She was so angry. Then I took the pen out, and the hole was not there. She freaked out."

His passion for magic stems from the time his grandfather took him to watch a Young Magicians Club performance when he was 10. Four years later, he was performing magic for free at a stall in Camden Town, north London. He recalled: "One day someone came over to and asked: 'Do you do professional parties?' Being a 15-year-old Jewish boy, I said 'yes'. I printed off some paper business cards and handed them out at a 40th birthday party. Business just spiralled."

Since then he has performed at private parties, corporate events, bar- and batmitzvahs and even at a funeral for a family who "wanted to lighten the mood".

Mr Dein, a North Western Reform Synagogue member who grew up in Hampstead Garden Suburb, said: "My aspiration is to perform street magic on TV shows.

"I absolutely love to perform. I love watching people freak out. It is like a drug."

Watch Julius Dein in action: