Adam Savage

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Adam Savage
AdamSavageJul2011 cropped.jpg
Savage in July 2011
Born Adam Whitney Savage[1]
(1967-07-15) July 15, 1967 (age 45)
New York City, USA
Nationality American
Education Tisch School of the Arts
Occupation MythBusters co-host, designer/fabricator, actor, educator
Religion None (Atheist)
Spouse(s) Julia Savage
(2002-present)
Children 2
Website

Adam Whitney Savage (born July 15, 1967)[2] is an American industrial design and special effects designer/fabricator, actor, educator, and co-host of the Discovery Channel television series MythBusters and Unchained Reaction.[1] His model work has appeared in major films, including Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones and The Matrix Reloaded. He is a prominent member of the skeptic community. He lives in San Francisco with his twin sons and wife, Julia.

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Early life and education[edit]

Born in New York City, Savage was raised in Sleepy Hollow in Westchester County New York.[3] He graduated from Sleepy Hollow High School in 1985.[4] His father, Whitney Lee Savage (1928-1998), was a painter, filmmaker and animator known for his work on Sesame Street, and has a permanent exhibit in the Avampato Discovery Museum.[5] His mother is a psychotherapist. His sister Kate Savage is also an artist. As a teenager in Sleepy Hollow, he routinely visited the local bike shop to have flat tires fixed. The shop showed him how to do the repairs himself. From this experience, Savage said, "I realized you could take a bike apart and put it back together and it wasn't that hard...I've been building and putting bicycles together since then."[4]

Adam Savage began acting as a child, and has had five years of acting school.[1] His early credits include voicing animated characters that his father produced for Sesame Street, Mr. Whipple's stock boy "Jimmy" in a Charmin commercial, a helper in the special effects of Star Wars, and a drowning young man saved by a lifeguard in the 1985 Billy Joel music video "You're Only Human (Second Wind)."[6]

Describing the early abandonment of his acting career, Savage said "...by the time I was, I guess probably nineteen, I had passed on that in favor of doing stuff with my hands – graphic design, assistant animation in New York, and then eventually working in theater in San Francisco, and film special effects. Then MythBusters came along and it was the perfect marriage of two things, performance and special effects."[7] On November 25, 2011, Savage received an honorary doctorate from the University of Twente (Enschede, Netherlands) for his role in the popularization of science and technology.[8][9]

Career[edit]

Savage in July 2008

Savage has worked as an animator, graphic designer, carpenter, projectionist, film developer, television presenter, set designer, toy designer, and gallery owner. He worked as a model maker on the films Galaxy Quest, Bicentennial Man, Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, The Matrix Reloaded, and Space Cowboys, among others.

Savage played the role of a helpful engineer in the 2001 film Ever Since the World Ended[10] and the role of an army surplus store owner who sells a man a rocket engine for his pickup truck in 2006 in The Darwin Awards, which also featured MythBusters co-star Jamie Hyneman.[11] He made a cameo appearance along with Jamie Hyneman on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation on the May 1, 2008, episode "The Theory of Everything." In the "making of" material for The Matrix Revolutions, he appears in his role as a special effects artist and discusses some of the miniature effects used and the difficulties involved.

He previously taught advanced model making in the department of Industrial Design at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.[1]

Savage has become a regular presenter at magician James Randi's annual skeptics' conference, The Amaz!ng Meeting, since first appearing in January 2006.[12] He also appeared in the UK, giving a talk at the first Amazing Meeting London from October 3–4, 2009, hosted at the Mermaid Conference Centre, Blackfriars.[13]

Savage was a featured performer at the three w00tstock v1.x shows in 2009, and appeared in four w00tstock v2.x shows in 2010. He also appeared as a guest on Diggnation's 220th show.[14]

Savage has also been a regular guest speaker at the annual Maker Faire since 2008, speaking on different topics such as his obsession with the dodo bird and problem solving, and also taking questions from the audience members about the Mythbusters and other things.

Savage hosted an episode of the Discovery Channel series Curiosity, in which he speculated as to whether or not it is possible for humans to live forever. During the program various topics such as limb regeneration, organ printers, and even age reversal are discussed.

Savage and Hyneman are judges on the game show Unchained Reaction which premiered in March 2012.[15]

MythBusters[edit]

See also: List of additional MythBusters cast members

Savage has been involved in MythBusters since its creation. His role in the show (that he shares with all the other talent) is to either disprove ("bust") myths or confirm them through testing and experiments done at different scales. If the myth is about a one-time occurrence and not about whether or not something can happen at all, it is often deemed "plausible" instead.

Savage's demeanour on MythBusters is animated and energetic, providing a foil to Jamie Hyneman's more reserved straight man persona.[16]

Savage and Hyneman were the only hosts of the show for the first season of MythBusters. Starting with the second season, members of Hyneman's staff were introduced and began to appear regularly in episodes; Kari Byron, Tory Belleci and welder Scottie Chapman appeared in the second season. In the third season, Chapman was replaced by Grant Imahara, a robot builder and model maker. In an interview Savage gave during The Amaz!ng Meeting 5, he expressed an interest in proving natural selection over creationism on MythBusters.

“ My goal this year [2007] is to prove natural selection on the show. It's gonna take a while, it's gonna be very hard to make it fascinating on film in the context of our narrative structure, but I figure screw it. The sky's the limit. Let's do natural selection. I'm sick of fifty percent of this country thinking creationism is reasonable. It's appalling. And I have the unique ability, maybe, to sell this idea to Discovery, and they'll, they might allow me to do it, and I'm gonna try as hard as I can.[17] ”

Savage also stated that such an episode is unlikely because MythBusters has a policy against trying to disprove supernatural phenomena.[18]

Personal life[edit]

At Reason Rally Washington D.C. March 23, 2012

Savage and his wife Julia were married in 2002. He has twin sons from a previous relationship,[19] and wears a hearing aid on his left ear due to a congenital condition[20] and is a practiced juggler, as seen on Mythbusters. Savage is also an atheist.[21] In addition, Savage has a lifelong interest in costume making. He said, "I remember my mom getting me a 'Jaws' costume when 'Jaws' came out...and wearing a Batman costume. Back then, everyone dressed up as hobos." He strives for authenticity with his costumes. While in high school, he and his father made a suit of armor out of aluminum roof flashing that had 700 rivets. He said, "I wore it to school and passed out from heat exhaustion in math class. I woke up in the nurse's office and the first thing I said was 'Where's my armor'?" In 2011, he built a costume based on the character No-Face from the film Spirited Away.[4] In early 2012, it was announced that he would be the commencement speaker at Sarah Lawrence College.[22]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d (Audio/.MP3). Interview with Steve Novella, et al.. 2008-08-20. The Skeptics Guide to the Universe. Archived from the original on 2008-12-19. http://media.libsyn.com/media/skepticsguide/skepticast2008-08-20.mp3. Retrieved 2008-11-18.
  2. ^ The Editors of Chase's (2009). Chase's calendar of events 2009. McGraw-Hill Professional. p. 363. ISBN 978-0-07-159956-6. 
  3. ^ Bio-Adam Savage 2008 (.PDF). Symantec. Archived from the original on 2008-07-27. Retrieved 2008-06-21. 
  4. ^ a b c Kramer, Peter D. (2011-10-29). "Reminiscing with Sleepy Hollow ‘Mythbuster’ Adam Savage". The Journal News (Journal News Media Group). pp. B1–B2. 
  5. ^ "Artist Profile: W. Lee Savage (1928-1998)". Retrieved 2011-05-17. 
  6. ^ "Adam Savage, Co-Host". The Discovery Channel. Archived from the original on 2008-09-13. Retrieved 2008-09-20. 
  7. ^ Dwyer, John Stephen (2010-05-05). "The men behind the MythBusters". Blast Magazine. Archived from the original on 2010-11-04. Retrieved 2010-10-01. 
  8. ^ UT awards honorary doctorates to MythBusters, two leading scientists and a business pioneer - website of the University of Twente
  9. ^ Mythbuster in Nederland - website EenVandaag (Dutch)
  10. ^ "Ever Since the World Ended (2001)". The Internet Movie Database. 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-18. 
  11. ^ "The Darwin Awards". The Internet Movie Database. 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-18. 
  12. ^ Wagg, Jeff (2008-02-04). "The Amaz!ng Meeting 6". James Randi Educational Foundation. Archived from the original on 2010-10-22. Retrieved 2010-10-01. 
  13. ^ "Amazing Meeting London (2009)". Speakers at Amazing Meeting London. 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-04-03. Retrieved 2009-03-28. 
  14. ^ Episode 220: Mythnation! at Revison3
  15. ^ Hibberd, James (2012-01-20). "'MythBusters' hosts launching new show". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2012-01-20. 
  16. ^ Strauss, Gary (2008-01-15). "'MythBusters' is the stuff of legends, tall tales". USA Today. p. 1. Retrieved 2010-02-14. 
  17. ^ * Swoopy; Colanduno, Derek (2007-02-13), "Ep. #46 - TAM 5 - Adam Savage, Lori Lipman Brown, and Ben Radford (@0:12:15)", Skepticality (Skeptic Magazine), retrieved 2011-11-27 
  18. ^ Swoopy; Colanduno, Derek (2008-07-01), "Ep. #80 - Skeptic Rock Stars: Adam Savage and Neil DeGrasse Tyson (@0:30:00)", Skepticality (Skeptic Magazine), retrieved 2011-11-27 
  19. ^ Purdy, Kevin (2009-05-30). "MythBusters' Adam Savage Talks Tech, Obsessions, and Science". Lifehacker. Archived from the original on 2009-06-15. Retrieved 2009-07-04. 
  20. ^ Savage, Adam (2009-05-04). "Adam Savage: @jayyoozee Yes I wear a he ...". Adam Savage Twitter. Retrieved 2010-10-01. 
  21. ^ Savage, Adam (2010-04-18). Food for The Eagle (Speech). Boing Boing. http://www.boingboing.net/features/savage.html. Retrieved 2010-10-01.
  22. ^ http://www.slc.edu/news-events/news/2012-03-14-commencement-speaker-adam-savage-nr.html

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