Kari Elizabeth Byron

Vital Stats

Born: December 18, 1974

Origin: Los Gatos, CA

Height: 5′ 5½” (1.66 m)

Ethnic Background: Caucasian

Field(s) of Endeavor: TV presenter on the Discovery Channel series, Mythbusters and artist.

Availability: Married.

Lucky Bastards: Husband and artist, Paul Urich.  Buster has also spent a lot of quality time with her.

Low Point: She did freak a little during that Chinese water torture experiment.

Passed on Genes For Future Generations? Yes, she has a daughter, Stella Ruby, born on June 28, 2009.

Zombie’s First Course: A zombie would be drawn from miles away by her fiery red hair.  He would then delightfully snack on her smile for hours.

Fantastic For: My personal science tutor. 

Signature Outfit: Mythbusting gear.

Closest Modern Or Retro Equivalent: She’s an original.

Why She’s Guy’s Gal:

This gorgeous, spunky and multi-talented TV presenter is the entirety of the scientific sex appeal (not counting Jamie Hyneman) on the popular show, Mythbusters.  She has a smile that could lure ships to their doom and a natural, easygoing and fun attractiveness.  Byron’s not afraid to take one for the team, get just as dirty as the guys, and endure physical hardship all in the name of science.  She’s climbed down the side of a court building to test the strength of a homemade rope, she’s gotten smacked in the face by a robot hand to see if sense could be knocked into her, endured the Chinese water torture, been stung by a jellyfish to test a vodka myth, and she was willing to get covered head to toe in silver paint to test a Wizard of Oz Tin Man myth.  She’s also gotten tipsy and become sleep deprived to test driving impaired-myths.  And this affirmed artistic type has nevertheless learned to love the firearm and become proficient in its use.  Said she of that aspect of the show:

“I have grown quite fond of firearms. I have always been an anti-gun liberal, but the rush you get from an M134D Gatling gun with 30 caliber bullets firing at 3,000 rounds per minute is unbelievable. (Source: Geek Monthly, January 2008, p. 35).

Chicks with big guns…oh yeah.

With a background in art, sculpture and design, she’s a key member of the show’s Build Team, along with colleagues Tori Belleci and Grant Imahara, as they create all kinds of devices and scenarios to test the validity of some popular myths.  She’s helped design cannons made out of leather and duct tape, destroyed microwaves trying to see if peanut butter could be used to make diamonds artificially, helped build a 3,000-lb Lego ball to test its destructive potential against a car, and created busts to dip into liquid nitrogen for use in a frozen head myth inspired by the film, Jason X.  Byron was still on the job late into her recent pregnancy, seeing if she was able to curve a bullet like they did in the film, Wanted.  She also built the spring-loaded mechanism to fire a parachute in a myth about an Ottoman Turk named Lagari Hassan who supposedly launched himself a 1,000 feet in the air and glided to safety.  These are but a few of the instances in which she’s worked side-by-side with her colleagues to do scientific yet entertaining experimentation on myths of every shape, source and plausibility.

Byron has recently expanded her duties to hosting Head Rush, a Mythbusters spinoff airing on the Science Channel, where she tests various myths, does experimentation and has on science celebrity guest stars.  Byron has also displayed her sculptures in various gallery showings in the San Francisco area.  She’s remained a constant in the hearts of nerds and geeks everywhere, a fact of which she seems keenly aware.  She’s thrown her fans a bone every once and again, like when she engaged in a butt scan for the show.  And she also posed in FHM as a naughty science teacher.  It’s safe to say that if she were a school science teacher, truancy would be way down.

Kari Byron’s brains and enthusiasm on Mythbusters are every bit as attractive as her looks and for that she’s our kind of Gal.

Kari Byron Gallery: