Photo: Twitter / Grant Imahara
Grant Imahara, the brilliant, funny and adorable engineer and roboticist many got to know on the hit Discovery series MythBusters, has died. He was 49 years old.
Imahara died suddenly from a brain aneurysm, his rep says for The Hollywood Reporter. “We are heartbroken to hear this sad news about Grant,” Discovery says in a statement for the same media outlet. “He was an important part of our Discovery family and a really wonderful man. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.”
Adam Savage, Imahara’s co-host on MythBusters, took to Twitter to also confirm the tragic news and share a few kind words on how amazing a human being he was. They speak of Imahara's character and warmth, and do him honor. You can see the message below, at the bottom of the page.
Imahara joined MythBusters in the third season and stayed on until 2014: on the show, he did everything from drive stunt cars to submit himself as a human guinea pig, as he would often joke. He would join his co-hosts on the series on a new project, this time on Netflix and of much shorter duration, the White Rabbit Project, which ran for just a year.
He was an electrical engineer and roboticist by training but, at one point in his career, fancied a career in screenwriting. He landed a post-graduate job with LucasFilm, where he would remain with the THX and Industrial Light and Magic divisions for seven years, specializing for animatronics in big productions like George Lucas’ Star Wars prequels, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Galaxy Quest, Van Helsing, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, A.I. Artificial Intelligence and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. He also worked on the Energizer Bunny and put lights on R2-D2.
Imahara was also into combat robots, being an active member of the community for a long time. His robot, Deadblow, was a fixture on Comedy Central’s BattleBots in the early 2000s, where he would return as judge after retiring the robot.
“When I was a kid, I never wanted to be James Bond,” Imahara once said. “I wanted to be Q, because he was the guy who made all the gadgets. I guess you could say that engineering came naturally.”
He is the second member of the MythBusters team we have lost in recent years: in August 2019, racer Jessi Combs died in an attempt to set a new land-speed record, which was awarded to her posthumously.
Adam Savage, Imahara’s co-host on MythBusters, took to Twitter to also confirm the tragic news and share a few kind words on how amazing a human being he was. They speak of Imahara's character and warmth, and do him honor. You can see the message below, at the bottom of the page.
Imahara joined MythBusters in the third season and stayed on until 2014: on the show, he did everything from drive stunt cars to submit himself as a human guinea pig, as he would often joke. He would join his co-hosts on the series on a new project, this time on Netflix and of much shorter duration, the White Rabbit Project, which ran for just a year.
He was an electrical engineer and roboticist by training but, at one point in his career, fancied a career in screenwriting. He landed a post-graduate job with LucasFilm, where he would remain with the THX and Industrial Light and Magic divisions for seven years, specializing for animatronics in big productions like George Lucas’ Star Wars prequels, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Galaxy Quest, Van Helsing, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, A.I. Artificial Intelligence and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. He also worked on the Energizer Bunny and put lights on R2-D2.
Imahara was also into combat robots, being an active member of the community for a long time. His robot, Deadblow, was a fixture on Comedy Central’s BattleBots in the early 2000s, where he would return as judge after retiring the robot.
“When I was a kid, I never wanted to be James Bond,” Imahara once said. “I wanted to be Q, because he was the guy who made all the gadgets. I guess you could say that engineering came naturally.”
He is the second member of the MythBusters team we have lost in recent years: in August 2019, racer Jessi Combs died in an attempt to set a new land-speed record, which was awarded to her posthumously.
I’m at a loss. No words. I’ve been part of two big families with Grant Imahara over the last 22 years. Grant was a truly brilliant engineer, artist and performer, but also just such a generous, easygoing, and gentle PERSON. Working with Grant was so much fun. I’ll miss my friend.
— Adam Savage (@donttrythis) July 14, 2020
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