Grant Imahara, who became known to many fans as a member of the “Build Team” on Discovery Channel’s long-running Mythbusters show, has died suddenly at 49 due to a brain aneurysm.
Imahara had a degree in Electrical Engineering and first came to the public’s wider notice as a competitor on Battlebots with his battlebot Deadblow, and later joined the cast of the popular Mythbusters series. After Mythbusters, he reunited with his Mythbusters Build Team partners on Netflix’s White Rabbit Project. He also had other appearances in front of the camera in guest appearances and cameos in other shows.
Imahara also worked extensively behind the scenes doing special effects work for LucasFilm’s THX and later Industrial Light and Magic including updating the original R2D2 robots for use in the Star Wars prequel movies. In addition to his work on the Star Wars prequels, his other special effects credits included work on major movies such as Galaxy Quest, Jurassic Park: The Lost World, and the 2nd and 3rd Matrix movies.
I was a huge fan of Imahara’s from his time on Mythbusters, and IMO he was a tremendous role model for getting kids interested in STEM fields. He will be sorely missed.