What Grant Imahara's Former Costars Said About Him

As magnetic a television host as he was a brilliant scientist, Grant Imahara was a vital cast member of "MythBusters." Joining the educational and entertaining series in Season 3, Imahara helped prove and also debunk some of the most dangerous scenarios on "MythBusters" via elaborate and creative set-ups, informed by his extensive background as an engineer, special effects artist, and roboticist. Imahara became one of the show's breakout stars, and after he was let go by "MythBusters" network Discovery Channel in 2014, he went on to cohost the similarly scientifically striving series "White Rabbit Project" for Netflix.

After continuing to work in many other tech-based sectors of the entertainment world, Imahara sustained an aneurysm in July 2020. In one of the most tragic things to befall the cast of "MythBusters," the sudden medical event ended the life of the popular TV personality at the age of 49. He left behind a legacy of terrific work and made a monumental impression on those he worked closely with. Here's what Imahara's colleagues, costars, and friends said about the "MythBusters" engineer and his creations.

Some of "MythBusters" host Adam Savage's best moments came in proximity to Grant Imahara. Behind the scenes of the long-running series, and between shots and set-ups, Savage delighted in Imahara's sense of humor. "Grant was hilarious. You know this, Grant was funny," Savage said on his web series "Tested." "But, interpersonally he was hilarious. And the thing about him was that he was an uncommonly good impressionist. And he had impressions of all of his coworkers." Imhara's imitation of Savage was frenetic hand-drumming, and his impression of Jamie Hyneman was to hold his hands in front of his face to approximate a woolly mustache.

Just after Imahara died in 2020, Savage memorialized him on X, formerly known as Twitter. "Grant was a truly brilliant engineer, artist and performer, but also just such a generous, easygoing, and gentle person," Savage wrote. "Working with Grant was so much fun. I'll miss my friend." A year later, Savage offered some more thoughts on his deceased costar. "Those of us that were lucky enough to know Grant knew him as a lovely man of honor, who wanted to share his knowledge with everybody," he told Yahoo! Entertainment. "My favorite memory of Grant is, every time an experiment went the way that it should have, Grant expressed so much joy with his face."

Kari Byron left "MythBusters" in 2014 after negotiations broke down with Discovery Channel brass. She departed the series with other cast members who couldn't arrange a new contract, namely Tory Belleci and Grant Imahara. Those three joined forces for the short-lived, history-based myth-busting show "White Rabbit Project," which hit Netflix in 2016. All those years of collaboration, across two TV series, built a strong bond between Byron and Imahara. They first connected in the "MythBusters" lab, joking about cost-saving measures and sharing a fascination with robots. "You charmed me with your self-aware level of nerdiness, redefining what 'cool' looked like. I quickly learned to count on you for enthusiasm and sarcasm, to laugh a little too loud at your own jokes, and how fun it was to disarm you with my dirty humor and bad puns," Byron wrote in an open letter to Imahara after his death for Variety.

Byron clearly treasured her time working with Imahara."We gave blood, sweat, and tears (and so many more bodily fluids) to a television show that for us was like making the best home movie ever, but for a generation of fans was an invitation to question and experiment with their world," she wrote. "I am mad that you are gone. We weren't done yet."

Builder, special effects artist, and stunt participant Tory Belleci helped make explosive TV with Grant Imahara on "White Rabbit Project" and "MythBusters." Belleci worked on "MythBusters" before Imahara joined the show, but they'd known one another since 1997, when they both were employed by high-end movie effects studio Industrial Light and Magic. "We worked on a lot of projects at Lucas Films, but building models for 'Star Wars' in our minds was the Holy Grail. We had made it," Belleci told Variety following Imahara's 2020 death.

Belleci grew particularly impressed with Imahara's work during their "MythBusters" tenures. "He brought a new technical aspect to the show that we were missing. He was actually the only one of the cast with a science degree—and he loved reminding everyone about that," Belleci stated. "He was a master of robots, an encyclopedia of sci-fi trivia, and an inspiration to all. We quickly realized the addition of Grant was key and made the team greater than the sum of its parts."

Nobody performed on more episodes of "MythBusters" than Robert Lee. Across nearly 300 episodes of the show, from its 2003 inception on and into its late 2010s revival, Lee, an experienced voice-over artist specializing in documentary television, helped move along the action and explain what was happening to viewers in his role as all-seeing narrator. Lee got to observe the work of Grant Imahara up close, participating in the series alongside the engineer and on-air personality for 13 years.

When Imahara died in 2020, Lee released a rare personal statement on his account on X to share his thoughts on the death, but also to point out the qualities that made Imahara so good at what he did. "Shocked and incredibly saddened to hear of Grant's passing," Lee said. "Unassuming, completely generous, with a talent for making impossible things happen so easily. My thoughts are with his family and friends."

"Star Trek Continues" is a fan-made, independently released streaming show that picks up where the 1960s "Star Trek" series left off. Developed and shepherded by sci-fi and anime voice-over artist Vic Mignogna, who also starred as Captain Kirk, the series included in its cast the scientist, TV host, and occasional actor Grant Imahara as Sulu, inhabiting the role originally played by George Takei.

According to Mignogna, he met Imahara when they were both signing autographs at the DragonCon fan convention. He asked Imahara to play Sulu when, at a later event, the "MythBusters" star talked about his childhood love of "Star Trek" and his admiration of the Sulu character in particular. Imahara helped rig the lighting on the sets, too, offering leftover materials from his work on robot fighting TV shows. "He was amazing. What a kind human being. One of the kindest, most generous human beings I've ever met," Mignogna said in a Facebook video after Imahara's death. "His kindness and his friendship and his positive mood all the time on set was a joy to everyone."