He is the sole protégé of a fellow Canadian, twentieth century sleight-of-hand artist, Ross Bertram, and biographer of celebrated magician, Dai Vernon.

Ben's childhood interest turned into a lifelong passion after he watched the television special Doug Henning's World of Magic (1975).

[1] In May 2000, Ben co-founded, along with broadcaster Patrick Watson and producer/director Daniel Zuckerbrot, Magicana, a not-for-profit organization (which became registered Canadian charity in 2006) dedicated to exploration and advancement of magic as a performing art.

Ben's holdings also include the collection of Stewart James, Willis Kenney, David Drake, Bruce Posgate, and items belonging to Dai Vernon.

In 2024, the Lilly Library, Indiana University acquired part of Ben’s collection of books, periodicals, ephemera, notebooks and personal papers related to magic.

Christopher Newton, Artistic Director of the Shaw Festival, "dip[ped] his imagination in the Golden Age of Magic"[4] and invited Ben and Watson to revisit The Conjuror the following season.

The Conjuror – Part 2, with set design by William Schmuck and lighting by Bonnie Beecher, had its world premiere at the Shaw Festival in 1997 featuring "seven illusions accomplished with panache".

The result was "A Conjuror in the Making" (1997), which aired on the Adrienne Clarkson Presents[8] on the CBC and on Breakfast with the Arts[9] on the A&E Network in the United States.

The film follows magician David Ben and director Patrick Watson through rehearsal, show development and finally to the opening night performance at the Shaw Festival.

In 1999, Ben and Watson created a new 90-minute show[15]—The Conjuror's Suite—an exploration of parlor magic inspired by the work of Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, Johann Nepomuk Hofzinser and Max Malini.

With Ed Kotanen's design and Bonnie Beecher's lighting, Ben and Watson created a three-quarter surround theatre in the Garfield Weston Exhibition Hall at the Royal Ontario Museum for the show.

The Conjuror's Suite received critical acclaim,[16][17] and Ben was invited to restage the work by Curtis Barlow at the Charlottetown Festival in Prince Edward Island for the summer of 2000.

This show was inspired by John Baptista della Porta's 1558 scientific treatise, "Natural Magick", Shahrazad's tales, Kenneth Burke's A Grammar of Motives and the modern notions of magic as espoused by master magician, Dai Vernon.

The new work featured a set by David Rayfield and multimedia imagery by Cameron Davis, lighting by Bonnie Beecher and music by John Lang.

The attendees represented a who's who of magic including Guest of Honours: Jay Marshall (2003), Tommy Wonder (2003), Johnny Thompson (2004), Harry Riser (2004), Billy McComb (2005), Charles Reynolds (2005), Max Maven (2006), Bob White (2006), Roberto Giobbi (2007), Stephen Minch (2007), Ton Onosaka (2008), Herb Zarrow (2008), Michael Weber (2009), Bob Sheets (2009), Gaëtan Bloom (2010) and Jim Steinmeyer (2010).

In 2010, Ben was invited to program and produce the Masters of Magic series for Luminato, a festival of creativity and the arts held in Toronto.

For Luminato 2010, he produced magicians Bob Sheets, The Mac King Comedy Show, Max Maven's Thinking in Person, and North American theatrical premiere of Spain's Juan Tamariz at the Panasonic Theatre.

The first was The Alpha Project by the mentalist, Banachek; The Cheat by Richard Turner; and From The Dark by Chilean magician Juan Esteban Varela.

The second was Card Table Artifice written by David Ben and composed by Gavin Bryars and presented as a performance art piece with the simultaneous presentation of Ben performing card table artistry, Bryars leading a string quartet and narration by Canadian actor, RH Thomson.