Adam Savage | |
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 Savage in 2025 | |
| Born | Adam Whitney Savage (1967-07-15)July 15, 1967 (age 58) New York City, U.S. |
| Alma mater | New York University -Tisch |
| Occupations |
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| Known for | |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| YouTube information | |
| Channel | |
| Years active | 2010–present |
| Subscribers | 7.05 million |
| Views | 1.72 billion |
| Last updated: 14 October 2025 | |
| Website | adamsavage |
Adam Whitney Savage (born July 15, 1967)[1] is an Americanspecial effects designer andfabricator, actor, educator, television personality, and producer, best known as the former co-host, withJamie Hyneman, of theDiscovery Channel television seriesMythBusters andUnchained Reaction.[2] His model work has appeared in major films, includingStar Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones andThe Matrix Reloaded. He hosts the TV programSavage Builds, which premiered on theScience Channel on June 14, 2019.[3] He is most active on the platformAdam Savage's Tested, which includes a website and aYouTube channel.
Savage was born inNew York City and raised inNorth Tarrytown,New York (now Sleepy Hollow).[4] He graduated from Sleepy Hollow High School in 1985.[5] His maternal grandfather, Cushman Haagensen, was a surgeon who pioneeredbreast cancer surgery.[6] His father,Whitney Lee Savage (1928–1998), was a painter, filmmaker, andanimator known for his work onSesame Street andThe Electric Company, two nationally syndicated public television children's shows. TheClay Center inCharleston, West Virginia, features some of his work in its permanent collection.[7][8] Whitney Lee was also known for directing the 1969 underground short filmMickey Mouse in Vietnam.[9]
His mother, Karen, was apsychotherapist. Savage was the second youngest of six children, with the four older children coming from his parents' previous marriages. He has two older brothers,[10] two older sisters, and one younger sister.[11] His sister Kate Savage is an artist.
Savage began acting as a child and had five years of acting school.[2] His early credits include voicing animated characters that his father produced forSesame Street,Mr. Whipple's stock boy Jimmy in aCharmin commercial, and a drowning young man saved by a lifeguard in the 1985Billy Joel music video "You're Only Human (Second Wind)."[12]
Savage abandoned acting at age 19. "I had passed on that in favor of doing stuff with my hands," he said. He describesMythBusters as "the perfect marriage of two things, performance, and special effects."[13] As a teenager in Sleepy Hollow, Savage 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."[5]
Savagebroke his neck on his eighteenth birthday in a swimming accident, an injury he survived without suffering long-term consequences.[14]
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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 onGalaxy Quest,Bicentennial Man,Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones,The Mummy,The Matrix Reloaded, andSpace Cowboys, among others. He played the role of a helpful engineer in the 2001 filmEver Since the World Endedand the part of an army surplus store owner who sells a man a rocket engine for his pickup truck in the 2006The Darwin Awards, which also featuredMythBusters co-starJamie Hyneman.
Savage appeared with Hyneman onCSI: Crime Scene Investigation on the May 1, 2008 episode "The Theory of Everything." He appears as a special effects artist in the "making of" material forThe Matrix Revolutions, where he discusses some of the miniature effects used and the difficulties involved.[citation needed] He previously taught advanced model making in the Department of Industrial Design at theAcademy of Art University inSan Francisco.[2]
Savage has become a regular presenter at magicianJames Randi's annualskeptics conferenceThe Amaz!ng Meeting since first appearing in January 2006.[15] He creditsMichael Shermer with introducing him to the skeptical community. Shermer interviewed him forSkeptic Magazine in 2006.[16] He appeared in the United Kingdom, giving a talk at the first Amaz!ng Meeting London in October 2009 hosted at the Mermaid Conference Centre,Blackfriars.[17] He was a featured performer at the threew00tstock v1.x shows in 2009 and appeared in four w00tstock v2.x shows in 2010. He appeared as a guest onDiggnation's 220th show.[18]
Savage has been a regular guest speaker at the annualMaker Faire since 2008, speaking on different topics such as his obsession with thedodo bird and problem-solving, and taking questions from the audience members aboutMythBusters, among other topics. He hosted an episode of theDiscovery Channel seriesCuriosity, in which he speculated whether humans could live forever. He discussed various topics during the program, such as limb regeneration, organ printers, andage reversal. In 2011, he appeared as "Dan" in a short film directed by Frank Ippolito entitledNight of the Little Dead. On November 25, 2011, he received an honorary doctorate from theUniversity of Twente (Enschede, Netherlands) for popularizing science and technology.[19][20]
Savage and Hyneman were judges on the game showUnchained Reaction which premiered in March 2012.[21] Savage is an occasional guest host for lecture events at the San Francisco-based non-profitCity Arts & Lectures,[22] and he delivered a keynote address at theSouth by Southwest conference on March 10, 2014.[23] On March 24, 2012, he appeared as a featured speaker at the firstReason Rally inWashington D.C.[24] On May 18, 2012, he was the commencement speaker atSarah Lawrence College.[25][26] He co-hosts the weekly podcastStill Untitled: The Adam Savage Project. The project launched on June 5, 2012, and is in the format of a conversation between Savage,tested.com editors-in-chief Will Smith and Norman Chan, andSimone Giertz about topics from science and movies to do it yourself and work ethics. Episodes typically last 30 to 45 minutes.[27] Savage is a co-owner, editor, and contributor at tested.com.[28][29][30]
In 2017, Savage toured withMichael Stevens on the Brain Candy LIVE! tour.[31][32] In April 2017, he played the role of a mission specialist in the episodeCaliban's War of the seriesThe Expanse. In June 2017, he was named "Humanist of the Year" by theAmerican Humanist Association at their annual conference.[33] In October 2017, he played a cameo as a merchant selling blood bags in theBlade Runner 2049 short film2048: Nowhere to Run.[34]
In April 2018, Discovery Channel announced that Savage would host and produce a new series calledMythBusters Jr. which focused on a group of young scientists tasked with completing various experiments usingSTEAM skills.[35][36] In July 2018, he created and acted in the short filmA Farewell To Arms in collaboration withWeta Workshop.[37] The same year, he won theHeinz Oberhummer Award for Science Communication.[38] In February 2020,SiliCon Valley Comic Con appointed him as its Creative Director, succeedingSteve Wozniak.[39]
In 2022, Savage became godfather of theDiscovery Princess cruise ship.[40] In 2023, he created a box forIsaac Newton's death mask held by theRoyal Society.[41][42]
Savage starred onMythBusters from 2003 to 2016. His role with his co-hosts was to disprove or confirm myths through testing and experiments done at different scales. His demeanor onMythBusters is animated and energetic, providing a foil toJamie Hyneman's more reserved straight-man persona.[43] Savage and Hyneman were the sole hosts of the show for the first season ofMythBusters. They introduced members of Hyneman's staff in the second season, who began to appear regularly.Kari Byron,Tory Belleci, and welderScottie Chapman appeared in the second season.
In the third season, robot-builder and model-makerGrant Imahara replaced Chapman. MythBusters was filmed in San Francisco and edited inArtarmon, New South Wales. It aired 282 total episodes before its cancellation at the end of its 2016 season. In November 2017, Discovery's sister networkScience Channel revived the series with new hostsJon Lung and Brian Louden.[44]
In 2019, Savage hosted the spin-off seriesMythbusters Jr., featuring a team of teenagers skilled inSTEAM topics.
In 2019, Savage published his first book,Every Tool's a Hammer: Life Is What You Make It,[45] exploring his approach to making.
Savage married Julia Ward on September 11, 2004.[46] He has twin sons from a previous relationship.[47] He wearshearing aids in both ears due to congenitalotosclerosis.[48][49]
In the late 1980s, Savage lived atEighth Avenue and Carroll Street inPark Slope, Brooklyn.[50] He later moved in with his parents for less than a year, working for agraphic design firm inManhattan.[50] A close friend living on Broderick Street inSan Francisco asked him to become his roommate, and Savage moved to San Francisco in August 1990.[50] He continues to live in San Francisco.[51]
In a 2011 interview, Savage has publicly identified himself as anatheist. In a 2019 Twitter post, he said he was anagnostic.[52][53] In aYouTube video dated December 14, 2020, Savage stated that he had married 20 to 25 couples over 25 years, and implied that he was anordained minister with theUniversal Life Church, a group whose only belief is "Do that which is right."[54]
Regarding his relationship with Hyneman, he mentioned that although the two were not friends, they had mutual respect for each other, stating "We didn't care to say the truth to each other, because we didn't care if we hurt each other's feelings," he said. "It has to do with respect."[55]
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Savage has a lifelong interest in costume making andcosplay.[56] He stated, "I remember my mom getting me aJaws costume whenJaws came out… and wearing aBatman costume. Back then, everyone dressed up ashobos." He strives for authenticity with his costumes. While in high school, he and his father made asuit of armor out of aluminum roofflashing with seven hundred rivets. "I wore it to school and passed out fromheat exhaustion in math class. I woke up in thenurse's office, and the first thing I said was, 'Where's my armor?'"[5]
In June 2020, Savage's younger sister, Miranda Pacchiana, filed a lawsuit against him, alleging that Savage had repeatedly raped her when they were both children.[57][58] Savage responded:
While I hope that my sister gets the help she needs to find peace, this needs to end. For many years, she has relentlessly and falsely attacked me and other members of my family to anyone who will listen [...] I will fight this groundless and offensive lawsuit and work to put this to rest once and for all.
The siblings' mother came to Adam's defense, stating, "It makes me very sad to say this, but my daughter suffers from severe mental health challenges, and it's devastating that she's putting Adam and our entire family through this. Adam is a good man, and I support him completely."[58] The lawsuit was settled throughmediation on May 24, 2021, and dismissed the next day. Details of the settlement were not made public. Pacchiana removed her original blog post about Savage, which had precipitated the lawsuit.[59]
My dad was not a muppeteer. My dad was an animator […]
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