Teller (born Raymond Joseph Derrickson Teller; February 14, 1948) is an American magician. He is half of the comedy magic duo Penn & Teller, along with Penn Jillette, where he usually does not speak during performances. Teller, along with Jillette, is an H.L. Mencken Fellow at the Cato Institute. Personal life Teller was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Irene B. (née Derrickson) and Israel Max "Joseph" Teller (1913–2004). His father, who was of Russian-Jewish descent, was born in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in Philadelphia. His mother was from a Delaware farming family. They met as painters attending art school at Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial. His mother was Methodist, and Teller was raised as "a sort of half-assed Methodist". He graduated from Philadelphia's Central High School in 1965, and in 1969 graduated from Amherst College with a Bachelor of Arts in Classics. He became a high-school Latin teacher. Teller legally changed his birth name of Raymond Joseph Derrickson Teller to the mononym "Teller". Teller taught Greek and Latin at Lawrence High School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. In 2001, he was inducted into the Central High School Hall of Fame. Health In 2018–2019, Teller had three back surgeries over 18 months. In early October 2022, he underwent open-heart surgery. Career Performing Teller began performing with his friend Weir Chrisemer as The Othmar Schoeck Memorial Society for the Preservation of Unusual and Disgusting Music. He met Penn Jillette in 1974, and, with Chrisemer, they became a three-person act called Asparagus Valley Cultural Society, which started at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival and subsequently played in San Francisco. In 1981, Jillette and Teller began performing exclusively together as Penn & Teller, an act that continues to this day. On April 5, 2013, Penn and Teller were honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the live performance category. Their star, the 2,494th awarded, is near the one dedicated to Harry Houdini. The following day, they were recognized by the Magic Castle with the Magicians of the Year award. Teller rarely speaks while performing but regularly speaks in other contexts, such as interviews. Teller's trademark silence originated during his youth, when he earned a living performing magic at college fraternity parties. He found that if he maintained silence throughout his act, spectators refrained from throwing beer and heckling him and paid more attention to his performance. Writing Teller