Behind the Helmets | Mighty Morphin | Rangers

Austin St. John
born September 17, 1975 in Roswell, New Mexico
Heritage: German, Native American, Irish, Japanese, Italian, and Spanish descents

Characters Portrayed
Jason Lee Scott/Red Morphin Ranger

MMPR 1-2 | Zeo | T:APRM | Wild Force

Chronology
Austin St. John is a legend in the Ranger universe, and now he's a hero as a real life paramedic/firefighter.

1980

Young Austin begins what would be a lifetime of studying martial arts, starting at age five, which would inevitably include fourteen styles such as Taekwondo, Shenkito, Judo, Thai Kickboxing, Kenpo and several others.

1992

He graduates from Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton, California (had previously attended W.T. Woodson High School in Fairfax, Virginia).

1992-1994

Austin landed the role as America's first Red Ranger and ended up with three pilot episodes of "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers," the latter of which would captivate a new generation of television audiences. The premiere aired August 28th, 1993.

In 1994, Austin would part ways with the show, his reason simply being salary issues as his income wasn't enough to pay his bills, plus he needed extra funds to help with family at the time. So he left along with fellow Ranger actors Walter Jones and Thuy Trang. He was replaced by Steve Cardenas who played Rocky DeSantos.

Austin recalled one of his biggest memories in those days was the casts' first public appearance which was held in Universal Studios. Fans were camped out four days in advanced and there ended being more than four times the amount of people than the intended capacity called for, which caused quite the upstir. The nearby interstate was closed off, and small riots of sorts broke out in which the police were called to break up and control the crowds. Austin's shirt ended up being nearly ripped off as he and the entire cast had to exit through the back doors to avoid as much of the mayham as possible.

1995

Continuing to embrace the training that martial arts had taught him, Austin was featured in an instructional Karate video entitled "Karate Masters."

1996

This year brought the distribution of a book under Austin's name. "Karate Warrior: A Beginning Guide to Martial Arts" hit the stands.

1996-1997

"Power Rangers Zeo" introduced a mysterious new ally in the Gold Ranger who left the viewers wondering what face behind the helmet. At the time, Austin was actually traveling the globe when he got the call from an agent stating their proposal for him to come back for a twenty-episode commitment as the new Gold Ranger to help boost the already-healthy ratings for the show, seeing how David Yost was having scuffles with the production staff, and Brad Hawkins (who voiced the Gold Ranger) was taking an apparent interest in country music. With a little contract negotiation, Austin accepted and replaced triplet actors, as well as voice actor Brad Hawkins.

Austin would make his big screen debut in the second Power Rangers movie. Initially, Austin, Walter and Thuy were actually slated to be in the first movie back in 1995, but contract negotiations fell through. This time around, Austin had two stipulations: 1) His contract needed to be adjusted so that he could pay the bills 2) He wanted to be evil. A rewrite or two later, Austin's character was pitted against the Rangers towards the end of the movie along with guest co-star Amy Jo Johnson.

1998

Leaving his Ranger boots behind, Austin was fitted for the big screen in the film "Expose'."

1999

Austin made a special guest appearance on Fox Kids co-hosting with Walter Jones the never-before-seen original pilot episode from MMPR entitled "Power Rangers: The Lost Episode" which had the same episode title as the known pilot, "Day of the Dumpster."

2002

In an unprecedented move by Saban to ensure that Power Rangers went out with a bang before being outsourced to New Zealand, Austin returned with nine of his fellow red-spandexed co-workers for an episode in "Power Rangers Wild Force." It also marks the last time Austin was seen on the show.

2003

The feature film "Footsteps" has Austin's last appearence on either the small or big screens.

2007

One of the biggest years for Ranger fans brought Power Morphicon- the first ever convention for the Power Rangers franchise held in LA. Austin was among several returning Ranger alumni. He was interviewed and admired by countless fans (some of whom wore custom-made versions of Austin's herioc alter-ego). Steve Cardenas, the actor who replaced Austin as Red Ranger in 1994, also made an appearence. It was then confirmed that Austin had been recently studying to be a paramedic AND firefighter, which addressed the concern growing amongst fans about him not being in "Ranger shape." Now Austin uses his skills to save real lives on a daily basis.