Salvatore Paul Belleci was born on 30 October 1970, in Monterey, California USA, and is a filmmaker and model maker, probably best known for his appearances in the Discovery Channel program “Mythbusters”.
So just how rich is Tory Belleci as of late 2017? Sources state that Belleci has earned a net worth of over $2.5 million, acquired largely through his various Hollywood projects as a model maker, as well as by producing movies, which began in the mid-1990s.
Tory Belleci Net Worth $2.5 Million
Belleci became interested in working with explosives, fire and pyrotechnics at an early age, actually learning how to make a Molotov cocktail from his father. He later made a flamethrower and accidentally set part of his house on fire. At the age of 19 he even made a pipe bomb and was nearly arrested for setting it off, only escaping as an understanding police officer suggested that he find a legal outlet in which to express his interest.
Belleci attended the State University’s Film School in San Francisco, and later started to work as a stage manager with Jamie Hyneman at a small production company called M5 Industries. He was hired by Hyneman at his new company Industrial Light and Magic – his work included model building, sculpting and painting. At ILM he built models for Star Wars prequels “The Phanton Menace” and “Attack of the Clones”, in which he designed some of the podracers and Federation battleships. Belleci’s remained at ILM for eight years, and his work can also be seen in “Starship Troopers”, “Galaxy Quest”, “Bicentennial Man”, “Terminator 3”, “The Matrix”, “The Matrix Reloaded”, “Peter Pan” and “Van Helsing”. Belleci has gained wide spread recognition for his work, which has greatly contributed to his net worth.
In 2003 he started to work on Discovery Channel’s program “Mythbusters”, first doing work behind the scenes and then becoming one of the serie’s co-hosts, along with Kari Byron and Grant Imahara. Belleci’s myth testing on “Mythbusters” often included the more dangerous stunts, such as testing the ‘Red Flag to a Bull’ myth in which Belleci waits in a ring to see if a bull will charge him and his red suit; licking a frozen flag pole in order to test the myth about tongue sticking; and testing the ‘being underwater for an hour while breathing through a dart tube’ myth. Belleci’s other stunts included jumping out of ‘plane, wake-boarding behind a cruise ship, as well as being chased by a crocodile. One of his most famous stunts is jumping over a toy wagon on a bicycle, in which Belleci finishes falling on his face. Some of these stunts are funny while some are quite painful, such as in the “Soda Cup Killer” episode when Belleci fell off a roof and hurt his leg. The series became highly popular and considerably added to Belluci’s net worth, before he departed “Mythbusters” in 2014.
The same year Belleci competed with the famous DJ Deadmau5 in the Gumball 3000 race, riding co-pilot in Deadmau5’s Ferrari from Miami to Ibiza and winning the “Spirit of the Gumball” award.
Belleci also co-hosted the Science Channel’s program “Punkin Chunkin” with his fellow hosts from “Mythbuster” Kari Byron and Grant Imahara, from 2011 to 2013. It involved an annual event with teams who gather in a cornfield and compete to see whose homemade contraption will propel a pumpkin the farthest.
In 2015 he co-hosted the Travel Channel “Thrill Factor” along with Byron, in which they visit and demonstrate thrill rides around the world from a scientific perspective.
Belleci has also written and directed films including his short 1999 film “Sand Trooper” which earned numerous awards and added to his wealth. It played at the Slamdance Film Fesitval and also aired on Sci-Fi Channel. Most recently, with Grant Imahara and Kari Byron he is co-hosting the series “White Rabbit Project” on Netflix since late 2016.
When it comes to his personal life, Belleci hasn’t been married, but was in a relationship with co-host Kari Byron for several years. His current relationship status is unknown.
He became part of a non-profit organization called Life Giving Force, which provides clean water systems to underprivileged communities; with the organization, Belleci visited Haitian orphanages in 2010.
