Grant Imahara Biography

Fast Facts

• Holds a Bachelor's of Science degree in electrical engineering at the University of Southern California
• Briefly considered switching majors from electrical engineering to screenwriting
• His skills as an animatronics expert were used at director George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic, featured in the film sequels for "The Matrix," the three "Star Wars" prequels and director Steven Spielberg's "AI Artificial Intelligence․"
• Responsible for all of the electronics installation and radio programming of the Energizer Bunnies, often serving as the bunny's driver and crew supervisor on a number of commercials
• Author of the 2003 book "Kickin' Bot: An Illustrated Guide to Building Combat Robots․"
• Grant's nickname is R2-D2, since he was in charge of R2-D2 in the three "Star Wars" prequels
• Mentored the Richmond High School robotics team Biomechs #841 in Richmond, Calif․, for the FIRST Robotics Competition
• On the April 5, 2010 episode of "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson," unveiled Craig Ferguson's robotic psychic named Geoff Peterson, which he built for the host
• During his stay at Industrial Light & Magic, wore the official C3-PO suit at a variety of press functions and helped rebuild the Energizer Bunny
• Encouraged to join the Discovery Channel hit series "Mythbusters" after the increasing use of computer animation for model building on the show