Teller (born Raymond Joseph Teller; February 14, 1948) is an American magician, illusionist, writer, actor, painter, and film director. He is best known as half of the comedy magic duo Penn & Teller, along with Penn Jillette. Teller usually does not speak during performances. He is an atheist, debunker, skeptic, and a fellow of the Cato Institute (a free market libertarian think tank that also lists Jillette as a fellow), an organization which is featured prominently in the duo's Showtime series Bullshit! Teller legally changed his name from "Raymond Joseph Teller" to the mononym "Teller".
Teller was born Raymond Joseph Teller 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; the two 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 Central High School in 1965. In 1969, Teller graduated from Amherst College with a Bachelor of Arts in Classics.