Tory Belleci
| Tory Belleci | |
|---|---|
Belleci in 2006
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| Born |
Salvatore Paul Belleci October 30, 1970 Monterey, California, United States |
| Occupation | Model maker, television host |
| Website | torybelleci |
Salvatore Paul "Tory" Belleci is an American television personality and model maker, best known for his work on the Discovery Channel television program MythBusters. He has also worked with Industrial Light and Magic on films including Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones. The Federation battleships and podracers are some of Belleci's pieces.
From June 5–11, 2014, Belleci competed with electronic dance music producer deadmau5 in the Gumball 3000 race riding co-pilot in deadmau5's Ferrari 458 Spider named Purrari from Miami to Ibiza, Spain and won top honors taking away the "Spirit of the Gumball" award.
Belleci has a long history of working with fire and explosives. At an early age, his father showed him how to make a Molotov cocktail. He later built what was essentially a homemade flamethrower. The device was a problem when he accidentally lit part of his house on fire. When he was 19, he was nearly arrested for setting off a homemade pipe bomb near his parents' home in Seaside, California. The officer encouraged young Belleci to find a way of expressing his love for explosions and special effects that did not involve getting arrested. Belleci was raised and is a devout Christian.
In 1994, after graduating from San Francisco State University's film school, he started working with Jamie Hyneman at M5 Industries. Belleci worked as a stage manager, running errands and cleaning the shop, but quickly moved up the ranks. A few years later, he started work at Industrial Light and Magic (ILM). Belleci worked for ILM for eight years as a model builder, sculptor, and painter. Belleci began work on Discovery Channel's MythBusters, in 2003, doing work behind the scenes and, in the second season, was featured as part of the show's build team. In the show's third season, he received on-screen credit. In 2005, Belleci persuaded fellow ILM veteran Grant Imahara to join the show, following the departure of original cast member Scottie Chapman.
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