TV
8:21 PM PDT 07/13/2020
by
Abid Rahman
,
Electrical engineer and training robotist, he worked for a long time in Lucasfilm’s THX and Industrial Light and Magic divisions.
Grant Imahara, electrical engineer and robotist who organized the popular science program MythBusters and from Netflix White Rabbit Project, has died. He was 49 years old.
Imahara died suddenly after a brain aneurysm, Hollywood reporter has learned. “We are heartbroken to hear this sad news about Grant. He was an important part of our Discovery family and a truly wonderful man. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family,” a Discovery representative said in a statement Monday.
Electrical engineer and training robotist, joined Discovery MythBusters In his third season, he replaced Scottie Chapman and was on the show until 2014 when he left with co-hosts Kari Byron and Tory Belleci. The trio would meet in 2016 for Netflix White Rabbit Project that lasted a season. In MythBustersImahara used her technical expertise to design and build robots for the show and also managed the computers and electronics necessary to test myths.
While part of the Myth Busters team, dived into the sky and drove stunt cars, on film sets came into contact with some of the most iconic characters in screen history, installing lights on Star Wars‘R2-D2, creating the Geoff Peterson robot to The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and working on the Energizer Bunny.
Monday night Imahara’s MythBusters and White Rabbit Project Co-host Byron tweeted, “Sometimes I wish I had a time machine” and included a photo with Imahara and Belleci.
Later monday Myth Busters Co-host Adam Savage also tweeted, “I am lost. Speechless. I have been a part of two great families with Grant Imahara for the past 22 years. Grant was a really brilliant engineer, artist and performer, but also such a generous, calm and Gentle. Working with Grant was so much fun. I will miss my friend. “
Born in Los Angeles, Imahara studied electrical engineering at the University of Southern California (although he briefly had second thoughts and wanted to become a screenwriter) before combining the two passions and landing a post-graduation concert at THX Labs associated with Lucasfilm. In his nine years at Lucasfilm, he worked for the company’s THX and Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) divisions. In his years at ILM he became the leading creator of models specializing in animatronics and worked at George Lucas Star Wars prequels as well as The recharged matrix, Matrix revolutions, galaxy search, XXX: State of the Union, Van Helsing, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, AI Artificial Intelligence and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
In 2000 Imahara also competed on Comedy Central. Battlebots with a robot he built himself called “Deadblow,” who won two Middleweight Rumbles, he was the runner-up of Middleweight from the first season and became the top-ranking robot of the third season.
As computer graphics began to supplant modeling over the years, former ILM colleague Tony Belleci suggested that Imahara come on board. Myth Busters, the Discovery Belleci program co-presented. As a co-host, she became a self-styled “human guinea pig”, although if they determined an unsuitable situation for humans, they created machines to test them instead.
Imahara also starred in several episodes of the fan-made web series. Star Trek continues. He played Hikaru Sulu, a lieutenant, helmsman, and third officer on the USS Enterprise, in the program which was an unofficial follow-up to Star Trek: The Original Series.
In a 2008 interview with Machine designImahara told the publication that he wanted to be an engineer because “I liked the challenge of designing and building things, discovering how something works and how to improve it or apply it in a different way. As a child, I never wanted to be James Bond. I wanted to be Q Because he was the guy who made all the gadgets. I think you could say that engineering came naturally. “
Lesley Goldberg contributed to this report.
