Who Is Oz Pearlman, White House Correspondents’ Dinner Host? His ‘AGT’ History & More

The annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner is coming up on April 25. The event helps fund the organization’s work, which includes supporting “the journalists working to cover the president, events and programs to educate the public about the value of the First Amendment and a free press, and scholarships to help the next generation of journalists,” according to its website.

Donald Trump will be attending the 2026 WHCD for the first time in both of his terms as president. His decision came after Oz Pearlman was chosen to host the event instead of, per usual, a comedian, who would’ve likely led a roast of him and the White House.

Ahead of the event, scroll down to learn more about Pearlman, who previously appeared as a contestant on America’s Got Talent.

Who is Oz Pearlman?

Pearlman is a mentalist. He began by performing magic in restaurants and other local events as a teenager. Pearlman worked at Merrill Lynch and pursued mentalism part-time before quitting his job to make it a full-time profession.

He became a public figure after appearing on America’s Got Talent in 2015 (more on that below). Since then, Pearlman has performed his mentalism on various television shows and for dozens of sports teams. He also hosted a travel show called Oz Knows in 2018, for which he won an Emmy Award.

Pearlman admitted on 60 Minutes that he can’t actually read minds and said he is “not a psychic or supernatural.” While he won’t disclose the secrets of his act, he explained that he’s good at reading body language. “I can always see when someone’s eyes shift,” he teased.

“I am getting you to make very specific choices,” Pearlman shared. “In my show, I guess a lot of things such as numbers, words, names … things that seemingly have an infinite number of possibilities, but do they? I figured out how to kind of take a piece of information that seems too impossible that I can build up in a big way and create a lot more limited subset than you may think.”

Pearlman is also an avid runner and ultra-marathoner. He has set various records as a runner, including the most miles run in Central Park.

What happened to Oz Pearlman on America’s Got Talent?

Pearlman finished in third place on Season 10 of America’s Got Talent. He was a finalist on the show and ended his journey behind winner Paul Zerdin, a ventriloquist, and runner-up Drew Lynch, a comedian.

The mentalist then returned for America’s Got Talent: The Champions, but was eliminated during the preliminaries and did not make the Finals.

Is Oz Pearlman married?

Yes, Pearlman is married to his wife, Elisa Rosen. They met on the Jewish dating app JDate in January 2009, and she now works as his manager, booking agent, and publicist.

Oz Pearlman/Facebook

“After some wild partying on New Year’s Eve, I woke up with a slightly throbbing headache and zero desire to brave the frigid winter weather,” Pearlman shared. “I logged onto JDate and started chatting with a beautiful Canadian girl who was in Florida at the time. She was nursing a hangover, and we both exchanged war stories about the last night’s various partying debacles. A half hour soon became an hour, then two, and before we knew it, most of the day had flown by. The conversation flowed, and she seemed to like my jokes, which is, without a doubt, the key to my heart. Over the next week, we kept chatting every day and escalated this long-distance relationship to Skype.”

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Elisa was actually getting ready to move to New York for a public relations internship. They dated for about two years before getting engaged, and then they tied the knot a year later.

Does Oz Pearlman have kids?

Yes, Pearlman and Rosen are parents to five children, according to a recent article in Variety.