He thought acting would do it, and when his passion for that wore off, he turned to the martial arts practice of Aikido. But it wasn't until he went to see a magic show eight years ago that he discovered what he really wanted to do.

His discovery came not from watching the magician, but from seeing how powerfully people responded to the magic.

"It's quite often a big reaction: childlike, excited, curious, intellectually stimulated, a state of wonder," Lozoff said. "It just seemed like a wonderful gift he was giving people."

Lozoff, now 33, tried to recall what he learned in a magic class he took in 1982 at the Arts School (now the ArtsCenter) in Carrboro. He then remembered that an old family friend, Howard Jay, worked as a professional magician in California, and he called to see if he could study with him, Lozoff said.

It wasn't long before Lozoff found himself in California studying magic with Jay, who continues to be his mentor. Jay suggested that Lozoff find work doing magic at an area restaurant.

That's how Lozoff wound up performing magic every Friday from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Mellow Mushroom in Chapel Hill.

"Doing magic at a restaurant is a great way to hone your skills and craft," Lozoff said. "In one evening, I've shared my magic with 30 different audiences, two to three people at a time. If I have the chance to do magic 30 times in an evening, that's great practice for my craft."

He performs magic with cards and coins and other ordinary objects. He might have someone pick a card and then make it appear in another location, such as his own wallet or under a glass of water. He makes a coin jump from one of his closed hands to the other closed hand and then from his hand to another person's hand.

He learned how to do that bit of coin magic from an elderly man in Mexico. Lozoff had been performing magic on the street, and a woman in the audience took him to meet her elderly relative, who taught Lozoff how to do the coin routine. "In general, magicians are pretty generous with each other," Lozoff said. "Passing on the craft of magic in this way is really the only way it's done."

While magic at restaurants is not common here, it is in large cities such as New York and Los Angeles. Two years ago, Lozoff approached the management at the Mellow Mushroom and offered to do magic there one time for free. "It went really well," he recalled. "They hired me right away." And Lozoff has had a regular Friday night gig at the restaurant ever since.

The magician "never does magic when people are eating," he says. Instead, he times his magic shows for after diners have ordered and before their meals arrive. Only one out of 50 diners refuses a performance, Lozoff said.

He acknowledges that he sometimes encounters hostility from someone who doesn't want to be made to look foolish, but Lozoff sees it as his responsibility to turn that attitude around.  "I'm interested in bringing people into the experience. It's something I'm creating for us all rather than trying to do to people," Lozoff said.

He purposely doesn't use the word "trick" but instead refers to what he does as an "effect" or "magic experience." As part of his magic, he does practice the art of misdirection, but he sees this as necessary to produce the ultimate experience he aims for. "I don't think Van Cliburn wants somebody to focus on his hands. He wants them to have this experience of this beautiful Beethoven music," Lozoff said. "I feel like I have a gift to share with people."

He receives a gift in return.

"For me, what keeps me going are these connections with people," Lozoff said. "I have this kind of intense experience with a person for just a few minutes. Connecting with other people is  what life's supposed to be about."

When he acted in films and on TV, he never had this kind of interaction with an audience. He began acting at age 9. While a student at Carolina Friends School, he performed in a number of shows, including PlayMakers Repertory Company productions and the WRAL-TV program "Sparks."

He also landed a role in "Windmills of the Gods," a CBS mini-series starring Robert Wagner and Jaclyn Smith. He headed to Los Angeles in 1989, got an agent and after a year landed his first role. His credits include a recurring role on "Cheers, " and a featured part in the movie "Clueless."

But even though he was making a living as an actor, he did not find it satisfying. "I didn't get the kind of success I was out there to get," Lozoff said. "I got to the point where I didn't have that kind of passion for it."

After seven years as a professional actor in Los Angeles, he moved back in 1996 to Orange County, where he grew up and now lives in the family home. "I just loved being here. I loved being around family again," he said.

His parents, Bo and Sita Lozoff, live in Mebane and continue to run the Prison-Ashram Project they founded in 1973. The project helps convicts to use their time in prison for spiritual growth.

Lozoff now works part time as an Orange County emergency medical service technician and perfomrs magic mostly at private parties and corporate events. He has performed at the Apple Chill street fair, for the Carolina Hurricanes, and some more unusual settings, including the Durham Juvenile Detention Center and a maximum-security prison in South Carolina.

He's been invited to perform his magic at the World's Fair in Japan next year. Locally, he's appearing as a strolling magician at the Alive After Five events in Durham through September. He'll also be at the Carrboro Music Festival on Sept. 26.

"My style of magic is a lot like jazz," Lozoff said. "I don't have a set routine. I compare magic to music. Each musician comes up with unique ways of combining notes. Magicians come up with original ways of using traditional principles." "It's a balance of originality, individuality and tradition. I express myself in an original way and honor this long tradition of magic."

Lozoff believes people need magic in their lives. "The feeling that life is somewhat of a mystery is an honest way to look at things, and magic can be a reminder of that," he said. "It can potentially connect them to a deeper awareness of the mysterious parts of life."

And it also does something for the magician. "It keeps you a little bit humble," Lozoff said. "You see yourself as part of a larger picture, this circle of life."