Jamie Hyneman, Host
Hailing from Indiana farm country, Jamie Hyneman is a multifaceted man: wilderness survival expert, boat captain, diver, linguist, animal wrangler, machinist and cook, to name a few. His career has been equally diverse: Jamie earned a degree in Russian language and ran a sailing/diving charter business in the Caribbean for several years before he moved over to the visual-effects industry.
Once he had joined that field and had worked for several special-effects companies, Jamie found his way to Colossal Pictures' model shop, where he managed the production of models and special effects for hundreds of commercials and movies. Then, 16 years ago, Jamie took over the shop and created M5 Industries Inc.
Jamie has worked on over 800 commercials for major automobile manufacturers, soft-drink companies (including 7-UP), athletic shoe companies (including Nike), and numerous other products. In the midst of all this activity, Jamie's company has diversified into toy prototyping and research and development in a variety of other areas as well.
The holder of several patents and the winner of numerous industry awards, Jamie is also a long-standing Screen Actors Guild member.
Today, while MythBusters occupies the majority of Jamie's professional activity, M5 is active mainly with developing cutting-edge technologies for a variety of industries.
Adam Savage, Host
Adam Savage has spent his life gathering skills that allow him to take what's in his brain and make it real. He's built everything from ancient Buddhas to futuristic weapons, from spaceships to dancing vegetables, from fine art sculptures to animated chocolate — and just about anything else you can think of.
The son of a filmmaker/painter and psychotherapist, Adam has been making his own toys since he was allowed to hold scissors. Having held positions as a projectionist, animator, graphic designer, carpenter, interior and stage designer, toy designer, welder, and scenic painter, he's worked with every material and process he could get his hands on — metal, paper, glass, plastic, rubber, foam, plaster, pneumatics, hydraulics, animatronics, neon, glassblowing, mold making and injection molding, to name just a few.
Since 1993, Adam has concentrated on the special-effects industry, honing his skills through more than 100 television commercials and a dozen feature films, including Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace and Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Galaxy Quest, Terminator 3, A.I. and the Matrix sequels. He's also designed props and sets for Coca-Cola, Hershey's, Lexus and a host of New York and San Francisco theater companies.
Not only has he worked and consulted in the research and development division for toy companies and made several short films, but Adam has also acted in several films and commercials — including a Charmin ad, in which he played Mr. Whipple's stock boy, and a Billy Joel music video, "Second Wind," in which he drowns.
Today, in addition to co-hosting Discovery Channel's MythBusters, Adam teaches advanced model making, most recently in the industrial design department at the San Francisco Academy of Art. Somehow he also finds time to devote to his own art — his sculptures have been showcased in over 40 shows in San Francisco, New York and Charleston, W.Va.
Kari Byron
Without forethought, Kari Byron has trained to be a MythBuster since she was a kid. By the age of 5 she was setting up experiments to test on her sister and using dolls as crash test dummies. Luckily for her parents, they always caught her right before little sister took a ride down a laundry chute or was the subject of an "around-the-world" attempt on the playground swings.
After graduating from San Francisco State and traveling the world, Kari began her career as an artist, working in sculpture and painting and holding successful exhibitions at some of San Francisco's leading galleries. "Artist" was only one of many hats she wore while searching for her place in the world. Her sculpting skills and love for odd jobs soon led her into the field of model-making and toy-prototyping, which led to a job with Jamie Hyneman at M5 Industries. It was at M5 that Kari got her first big break with the MythBusters team.
During the "vacuum toilet" segment of one of the first episodes (which examined whether a person could get sucked into an airplane toilet), Jamie needed a 3-D scan of a person's backside, and Kari had the right ... well, you know. Basically, she was in the right place at the right time. The rest is history, although we'd be remiss if we overlooked Kari's former job experience as a secret martini shopper, rose delivery driver and store mannequin to foil shoplifters — just to name a few. Who knew that a degree in film and sculpture would actually be applicable to a real-life career one day?
Now Kari works with the MythBusters team, using science and Yankee ingenuity to solve the mysteries of today's most compelling urban legends.
Tory Belleci
Ever since he was little kid, Tory Belleci knew he would work in the film industry. In 1994, after graduating from San Francisco State University's film school, he started working with Jamie Hyneman at a small production company. Tory worked as a stage manager, but quickly moved up the ranks.
A few years later Tory started work at Industrial Light and Magic, building models for films including Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace and Star Wars: Episode 2 - Attack of the Clones. Some of his models include the pod racers and Federation battleships. Tory worked for ILM for eight years as a model builder, sculptor and painter. Other movies that you can see his work in include Starship Troopers, Galaxy Quest, T3, The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded and Van Helsing.
Tory also has written and directed his own short films including the 1999 short Sand Trooper, which played at the Slamdance Film Festival and also aired on the Sci-Fi Channel.
Tory began work on Discovery Channel's MythBusters in 2003, doing work behind the scenes and in the second season was featured as part of the show's build team.
Grant Imahara
Electronics and radio-control specialist Grant Imahara is a former animatronics engineer and model maker for George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic, the special-effects shop where he worked on such movies as The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence and Van Helsing. Grant also worked on The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions.
In addition to operating R2-D2 (one of only a handful of official operators), Grant has another claim to beloved-character fame: developing a custom circuit to cycle the Energizer Bunny's arm beats and ears at a constant rate. In fact, he's responsible for all the electronics installation and radio programming on the current generation of bunnies, even serving as the bunny's driver and crew supervisor on numerous commercials.
A native of Los Angeles, Calif., Grant earned a bachelor of science in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California. He's also the author of the book Kickin' Bot: An Illustrated Guide to Building Combat Robots. His own machine, "Deadblow," is a former BattleBots champion.
Buster
Buster is a crash test dummy that plays an important role in many experiments by taking the place of a human subject in the more dangerous myth tests. The first and most recognized of the dummies used in the show, Buster was introduced in the beginning of the first season for the Exploding Toilet myth. Adam had purchased the dummy to take the place of Jamie (who had second thoughts about testing the myth because he realized the foam he would be using was flammable), and Jamie gave it its name.
The MythBusters have at times adapted Buster to fit specialized equipment or give him new functionality. For myths involving holding onto things (such as "Plywood Builder"), his hands are replaced with clamps or quick-release rigs. For myths involving falls, (like "Hammer Bridge Drop"), monitoring equipment, such as accelerometers or shock gauges, is installed within his body. He was even attached to a pneumatic system at one time so he could punch sharks for the Shark Week special.
