Kari Byron
Encyclopedia
Kari Elizabeth Byron is a San Francisco
-based television host and artist
, best known for her featured role on the Discovery Channel
show MythBusters
.
, Byron serves as a co-host, http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/mythbusters/ and with fellow co-hosts and "Build Team" members Tory Belleci and Grant Imahara
work with co-hosts Adam Savage
and Jamie Hyneman
in testing the plausibility of various myths and also host their own segments. She became involved in the show after persistently showing up at Hyneman's M5 Industries
workshop in a desire to get hired by his company. On her first day as a paid employee, she was asked by Hyneman and MythBusters producer Peter Rees
to help out with the "vacuum plane toilet" myth, and was asked to model her buttocks for a cast. She and the other "Build Team" members were given a more prominent role beginning with the show's second season. Not having had a long history in show business, Byron at first found it difficult to act naturally with this more visible position but gradually became more accustomed to it.
During the second half of the 2009 season, Byron was on parental leave
from the show. She was temporarily replaced by Jessi Combs
.
Byron now also has her own show Head Rush
on the Science Channel, geared towards science education and teens.
Byron has also hosted the 2010 and 2011 editions of Large, Dangerous Rocket Ships for the Science Channel.
, various found objects, acrylic gouache
, wood
, and metal
s. Byron showcases some of her art on her personal website, and photography from her public exhibit debut Stray Doll in September 2004 is available at Anno Domini
. She believes being an artist is a hard career to choose, but has found inspiration in artists such as various SECCA
award winners in the past. Preferring to make her audience think, she has had the following to say about her art:
Following the success of MythBusters, Byron still makes sculptures, but she no longer displays them in exhibitions. She felt exposing her inner self through art exhibitions could conflict with the success of MythBusters, with visitors approaching her being more interested in talking about the show than her art. She has also expressed actually enjoying the freedom of working only for herself in this way.
in Los Gatos, California
and studied film and sculpture at San Francisco State University
, graduating magna cum laude in May 1998 with a B.A.
degree in film and sculpture. Byron spent the following year backpacking
, primarily in South Asia
, including the Himalayas
, and was also involved in a number of art projects.
Byron is a pescetarian, a fact referred to on occasion on MythBusters where she has been visibly uncomfortable when experiments have called for the use of animal remains. For a long time, she simply referred to herself as a vegetarian to avoid confusion, but later explained during an interview on the Suicide Girls website that she does in fact eat fish. In the 2010 episode "Cold Feet", Byron went further to state that she has a "very limited diet", and in "Flu Fiction" revealed that she has mysophobia
, a fear of germs.
Byron says she's been an atheist since childhood. She is married to artist Paul Urich. The couple has a daughter who was born on June 28, 2009.
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
-based television host and artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, best known for her featured role on the Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
show MythBusters
MythBusters
MythBusters is a science entertainment TV program created and produced by Beyond Television Productions for the Discovery Channel. The series is screened by numerous international broadcasters, including Discovery Channel Australia, Discovery Channel Latin America, Discovery Channel Canada, Quest...
.
MythBusters
On MythBustersMythBusters
MythBusters is a science entertainment TV program created and produced by Beyond Television Productions for the Discovery Channel. The series is screened by numerous international broadcasters, including Discovery Channel Australia, Discovery Channel Latin America, Discovery Channel Canada, Quest...
, Byron serves as a co-host, http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/mythbusters/ and with fellow co-hosts and "Build Team" members Tory Belleci and Grant Imahara
Grant Imahara
Grant Masaru Imahara is a Japanese American electronics and radio control expert, best known for his work on the American television show MythBusters.-Education and early work:...
work with co-hosts Adam Savage
Adam Savage
Adam Whitney Savage is an American industrial design and special effects designer/fabricator, actor, educator, and co-host of the Discovery Channel television series MythBusters. His model work has appeared in major films, including Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones and The Matrix...
and Jamie Hyneman
Jamie Hyneman
James Franklin "Jamie" Hyneman is an American special effects expert, best known for being the co-host of the television series MythBusters. He is also the owner of M5 Industries, the special effects workshop where MythBusters is filmed...
in testing the plausibility of various myths and also host their own segments. She became involved in the show after persistently showing up at Hyneman's M5 Industries
M5 Industries
M5 Industries is a special effects company located in San Francisco, California that once produced special effects props for commercials and film, stop motion animation, and animatronic puppets, such as those seen in James and the Giant Peach and The Nightmare Before Christmas...
workshop in a desire to get hired by his company. On her first day as a paid employee, she was asked by Hyneman and MythBusters producer Peter Rees
Peter Rees (producer)
Peter Rees is a film and television writer/ director and producer. He developed the concept and was the executive producer of the television series MythBusters. Rees created, cast, wrote and directed more than eighty episodes, devising and designing all but one experiment...
to help out with the "vacuum plane toilet" myth, and was asked to model her buttocks for a cast. She and the other "Build Team" members were given a more prominent role beginning with the show's second season. Not having had a long history in show business, Byron at first found it difficult to act naturally with this more visible position but gradually became more accustomed to it.
During the second half of the 2009 season, Byron was on parental leave
Parental leave
Parental leave is an employee benefit that provides paid or unpaid time off work to care for a child or make arrangements for the child's welfare. Often, the term parental leave includes maternity, paternity, and adoption leave...
from the show. She was temporarily replaced by Jessi Combs
Jessi Combs
Jessi Combs is an American television personality and metal fabricator who appeared from 2005 to 2008 on the Spike show Xtreme 4x4 which is a part of the Powerblock on Spike. Combs was cast as a co-host of Xtreme 4x4 along with Ian Johnson after an international search which required contestants to...
.
Byron now also has her own show Head Rush
Head Rush (TV series)
Head Rush is a spin-off of the popular MythBusters show airing on Discovery's Science Channel since it debuted in 2010....
on the Science Channel, geared towards science education and teens.
Byron has also hosted the 2010 and 2011 editions of Large, Dangerous Rocket Ships for the Science Channel.
Artist
Art and sculpting are important aspects of Byron's life, and she has claimed that she creates some form of art every day, stating: "I would go crazy if I didn't." Some of her preferred sculpting materials are polymer clayPolymer clay
Polymer clay is a sculptable material based on the polymer polyvinyl chloride . It usually contains no clay minerals, and is only called "clay" because its texture and working properties resemble those of mineral clay...
, various found objects, acrylic gouache
Gouache
Gouache[p], also spelled guache, the name of which derives from the Italian guazzo, water paint, splash or bodycolor is a type of paint consisting of pigment suspended in water. A binding agent, usually gum arabic, is also present, just as in watercolor...
, wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
, and metal
Metal
A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...
s. Byron showcases some of her art on her personal website, and photography from her public exhibit debut Stray Doll in September 2004 is available at Anno Domini
Anno Domini (gallery)
Anno Domini is a contemporary art gallery in San Jose, California. It was started by graphic designers Cherri Lakey and Brian Eder. Its strapline is "The second coming of Art and Design"....
. She believes being an artist is a hard career to choose, but has found inspiration in artists such as various SECCA
Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art
The Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art , located at 750 Marguerite Drive in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is a gallery designed to involve audiences in the art of our time...
award winners in the past. Preferring to make her audience think, she has had the following to say about her art:
Following the success of MythBusters, Byron still makes sculptures, but she no longer displays them in exhibitions. She felt exposing her inner self through art exhibitions could conflict with the success of MythBusters, with visitors approaching her being more interested in talking about the show than her art. She has also expressed actually enjoying the freedom of working only for herself in this way.
Personal life
Byron graduated from Los Gatos High SchoolLos Gatos High School
Los Gatos High School is a high school in Los Gatos, California, a small town near San Jose in the Silicon Valley. Los Gatos High School was founded in 1908 and is part of the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District...
in Los Gatos, California
Los Gatos, California
The Town of Los Gatos is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 29,413 at the 2010 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area at the southwest corner of San Jose in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains...
and studied film and sculpture at San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers over 100 areas of study from nine academic colleges...
, graduating magna cum laude in May 1998 with a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in film and sculpture. Byron spent the following year backpacking
Backpacking (travel)
Backpacking is a term that has historically been used to denote a form of low-cost, independent international travel. Terms such as independent travel and/or budget travel are often used...
, primarily in South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
, including the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
, and was also involved in a number of art projects.
Byron is a pescetarian, a fact referred to on occasion on MythBusters where she has been visibly uncomfortable when experiments have called for the use of animal remains. For a long time, she simply referred to herself as a vegetarian to avoid confusion, but later explained during an interview on the Suicide Girls website that she does in fact eat fish. In the 2010 episode "Cold Feet", Byron went further to state that she has a "very limited diet", and in "Flu Fiction" revealed that she has mysophobia
Mysophobia
Mysophobia is a term used to describe a pathological fear of contamination and germs. Someone who has such a fear is referred to as a mysophobe. The term was introduced by Dr. William Alexander Hammond in 1879 when describing a case of obsessive-compulsive disorder exhibited in repeatedly washing...
, a fear of germs.
Byron says she's been an atheist since childhood. She is married to artist Paul Urich. The couple has a daughter who was born on June 28, 2009.