Wilson made appearances on television as both primary consultant and on-air performer in programming such as ABC's The Con, A & E's Biography: "Houdini, the Great Escape", NBC's The Other Side, and Psychic Secrets Revealed, the Sci-Fi Channel's Mysteries, Magic and Miracles, Disney's Forces Beyond, as well as two episodes of the Learning Channel's Exploring the Unknown.

Edward became interested in magic through his maternal grandfather George Schaeffer, who was a card player and amateur magician.

[3][4][5] From the ages of 14 to 18, Edward was involved in music in various Dada and performance art bands in and around South Los Angeles, including "ZaSu Pitts and the Enema Dog Review – Featuring a Walk in the Closet", "Rat Salad" and "The Techno-Cats" (which later splintered into The Brainiacs, The Suburbs and Suburban Lawns).

During a punk concert at LA's "Brave Dog" club where he was performing in the power trio Steak Sinatra, he was hit in the head with a half-full beer bottle at which point he decided to pursue a solo career in magic.

[4] During this time, Edward was also studying post-studio, performance and conceptual art with mentor John Baldessari at CalArts.

These influences led to performances of juggling, fire-eating and magic in public places such as local laundromats and DMV waiting areas.

[4][7] In 1975, when Edward became a performer at the Castle, famed magician of television's "Magic Land of Alakazam" Mark Wilson was on the Board of Directors.

[4] In an interview with ABC's Good Morning America, Edward recounts his years as a professional psychic working the 900 phone lines.

On the premiere episode of Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, he demonstrated how television psychics, John Edward, James Van Praagh, and Rosemary Altea, convinced their subjects that they were actually communicating with the dead.

[17] On Inside Edition, he showed how Theresa Caputo used similar techniques to give the appearance that she can contact the deceased.

[23] On the TV series Brain Games, Edward demonstrated that the planchette on the Ouija board is controlled by the live participants and not by someone who has passed, and yet some of his sitters were convinced they had received messages from beyond the grave.

[1] He was a member of the team for the network television pilot The Skeptologists, working with Yau-Man Chan, Steven Novella, Phil Plait, Kirsten Sanford, Michael Shermer and Brian Dunning.

He has also worked with Investigation Network, teaching workshops and exposing psychic frauds, like Sylvia Browne[29][30] and John Edward.

He told the audience that he was sick and tired of psychic fraud and encouraged them to join his movement and help make a difference.

[35] In November/December 2019, Edward attended the NZ Skeptics Conference at the Christchurch Arts Centre, New Zealand, along with Susan Gerbic.

[41] As Jack Hitt reported in The New York Times: "Over the course of the reading, John comfortably laid down the specifics of Susanna Wilson's life—he named "Andy" and amazingly knew him to be her twin.

This blinding was done in order to avoid John later being able to claim he obtained the false information by reading Gerbic and Edward's minds.

[41] In her report, Gerbic also revealed that during an after-show private event, John disclosed in a group setting that at least one of the people in the audience which he did a reading about was actually his own student.

Edward used his expertise as a mentalist to expose the charlatans as frauds, but prefers not to use disclaimers, defending his work as a psychic as pure entertainment.

"[43] Edward stated in his book that using a disclaimer is like ordering a dinner at a fancy French restaurant and, just when the waiter is about to serve the meal, the chef comes out and says it came out of a can.

With him on the panel were Ray Hyman, Jamy Ian Swiss, James Randi, Max Maven, and Banachek, moderated by D.J.

Swiss criticized Edward, referring to the statement on his website: "Mark neither declares himself as a genuine psychic nor gives any disclaimers, preferring to let his work stand on its own merit and allow each individual to arrive at their own personal conclusions."

Ray Hyman used the term "invited inference", meaning "you present as the real thing" without claiming outright to be psychic.

[46] "A disclaimer is a declaration that 'disclaims' that any supernatural agencies or occult forces are in any way involved, and that everything is being done through purely natural means, including trickery.

Create:Fixate is a quarterly one night art exhibit featuring a signature blend of over forty emerging artists, designers, DJs and musicians.

[49] On May 18, 2013 Edward held a "Soothsayer" exhibition at the Fold Gallery where he displayed his art and performed illusions and psychic readings.

At the La Luz De Jesus Gallery, throughout the month of March, 2013, his Death Ray and Nebulizer and Charger were on display at the "Laluzapalooza" show.

Edward's art collection includes paintings, collages, and elaborate sculptures, using vintage laboratory glassware, metals and mixed media.