Grant Imahara of ‘MythBusters’ and Netflix’s ‘White Rabbit Project’ Dies at 49

Imahara, who joined “MythBusters” on the third season in 2005 until 2014, died of a brain aneurysm, according to The Hollywood Reporter. A representative from Discovery confirmed the news in a statement.

“We are heartbroken to hear this sad news about Grant. He was an important part of our Discovery family and a really wonderful man. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family,” the statement reads.

Imahara was born in Los Angeles on Oct. 23, 1970, and graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California, Deadline reported. His first Hollywood gig was at Lucasfilm’s THX labs and the Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) divisions.

In his nine years with the company, Imahara worked on several high profile films, such as the “Star Wars” prequels, “The Matrix Reloaded,” “The Matrix Revolutions,” “Galaxy Quest,” “XXX: State of the Union,” “Van Helsing,” “The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” and “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.”

During his film career, Imahara met some of the iconic characters in movie history, including R2D2. He also created the robot Geoff Peterson for “The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson.”

In 2005, Imahara was invited to join “MythBusters” by co-host Jamie Hyneman to replace Scottie Chapman as a roboticist, Comicbook reported. He used his engineering expertise to create and design robots needed for the show, as well as operate computers and electronics.

Imahara left the show in 2014 along with co-host Kari Byron and Tory Belleci. They would reunite in 2016 for the Netflix show “White Rabbit Project” that only ran for one season.

Many celebrities and personalities extend their condolences on Twitter, including Imahara’s co-host Byron and Adam Savage.

Feature Image via Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA 2.0)