Behind the Helmets | Mighty Morphin | Rangers

Jason David Frank
born September 4, 1973 in Covina, California
Heritage: American

Characters Portrayed

Tommy Oliver/Green Morphin Ranger

Chronology
Jason David Frank stepped into the world of martial arts at the age of four and has since then been an internationally recognized leader both on and off the small screen. JDF continues his incredible journey.

1978

Young Jason began training under the instruction of Shihan Louis D. Casamassa at Red Dragon Karate, learning about the Codes of the Dragon.

1984

He earned his first Black Belt, which followed with him beginning to instruct at the Red Dragon.

1990

Just eighteen years old, his training would lead Jason to open his very own Red Dragon Karate.

1992-1997

Jason's devotion to the martial arts made him the perfect candidate for the upcoming children's show, "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" in which he was introduced as the infamouse evil Green Ranger, Tommy Oliver. His character was said to help solidify the franchise's popularity in America (as it had already been popular in Japan since 1975).

Jason stayed on board even after all of the other original cast members would eventually leave the show during the first four seasons (Austin St. John, Walter Jones and Thuy Trang leaving due to salary issues in mid 1994, Amy Jo Johnson leaving to branch her acting/musical career in 1995, and David Yost leaving due to disagreements with the production staff in 1996). Jason would remain on the show initially until 1997, during the first five seasons of the show, including the both Ranger movies. During his Ranger run, Tommy was introduced as the Green Ranger, who would lose his powers thanks to Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd. He returned as the memorable White Ranger/White Ninja Ranger until Rita and Zedd decimated the Power Coins. Tommy then changed his wardrobe from white to red as the Zeo Crystal gave him the powers of the Red Zeo Ranger. When Divatox invaded in 1997, Tommy shifted into the powers of the Red Turbo Ranger.

When he left in the middle of "Power Rangers Turbo," his alumni co-stars (Johnny Yong Bosch, Catherine Sutherland and Nakia Burrise) also left, assumingly over contract issues and the producers wanting to bring in fresh blood to the show (which is why they kept Blake Foster, who was introduced as the kid Ranger Justin that season). Although it's worthy to note that only JDF and Catherine Sutherland wanted to pursue other interests, but Johnny and Nakia were wrote off almost entirely behind their backs, even goign to the extent of doing the casting call for the four new Rangers without their knowledge. Tommy Oliver was succeeded by TJ, played by Selwyn Ward.

JDF would make two returns to the show, once as a guest star for the ten year anniversary in 2002's "Power Rangers Wild Force," and again starring in 2004's "Power Rangers DinoThunder." This solidified JDF as the longest running Ranger in the history of the show, with his character being present for at least thirteen seasons. The last mention of the Tommy Oliver character (who was a doctor by this time) was in the 2005 series "Power Rangers SPD" where his character teams with the other DinoThunder and SPD Rangers, but Jason David Frank did not appear in that special. His character was voiced by Jeffrey, who also played Trent/White Drago Ranger for the DinoThunder season.

1994

JDF was granted a Hall of Fame award at the American Karate Kung Fu Federation.

2000

His dojo recieved the Fast Track Award for fastest growing Karate School as well as the Program Direct Award from the Educational Funding Company.

2001

Jason received the Centurion Club Award.

2002

Jason made a long-awaited return to Power Rangers during the ten year anniversary special during "Power Rangers Wild Force" in the "Forever Red" episode, in which Red Rangers from the past ten seasons returned to suit up once more against the remnants of the Machine Empire, an enemy that Tommy Oliver faced in "Power Rangers Zeo." At the end of the episode, Selwyn Ward, who played TJ/Red Turbo Ranger, commented on how he replaced Tommy as Red Ranger.

2003

Jason was given the prestigious Master of the Year Award by the World Karate Federation.

2004

Once again, JDF was granted the Master of the Year Award but this time for Freestyle Martial Arts by the USA Martial Arts.

2004-2005

JDF heeded to the call of the fans and former co-worker Doug Sloan (who was now one of the producers for Rangers) as Tommy Oliver returned to the show once more. The multi-colored Ranger would done one final color- becoming the Black DinoThunder Ranger and mentor to a new generation of young Rangers. Now a doctor in paleontology, Tommy was a welcomed return and brought with him a strong sense of nostalgia from the old Ranger days. The season gave several nods to the past, such as Tommy rummaging through an old box of photos and insignias from the Mighty Morphin Rangers. There were also symbols from several of the Japanese seasons that predated MMPR. Two episodes in particular really stood out for the fans. The 500th episode entitled "Legacy of Power" was a clip show that chronicled the entire Power Rangers series from "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" (1993) to "Power Rangers Ninja Storm" (2003) directed by Tommy. The other was the "Fighting Spirit" episode in which Tommy fought for his life against three of his past Ranger forms- Green Morphin Ranger, White Morphin Ranger and the Red Zeo Ranger.

The production of that season was in Auckland, New Zealand, so JDF was actually flown in from LA. And as part of his contract deal, JDF was alloted time off during the season so that he could tend to his karate school and family back in the states. His physical absence from the show was explained in a storyline in which Tommy (in morphed form as the Black Ranger) is frozen inside a case of solid amber. Once freed, it was discovered that he was stuck in morphed form. Fans dubbed this as "Stuck-in-suit Tommy." Once he was demorphed, he remained invisible for several episodes, as his genetic ability was that of invisibilty. Jason still did the voice overs for his character, however, from the United States.

The DinoThunder Rangers would return for the "History" and "Wormhole" episodes of 2005's "Power Rangers SPD" season, but JDF did not do the voice over or appear in these episodes. But his character did appear in morphed form as the Black Ranger, and was referred to as "Dr. O" by his student Rangers (as he was there science teacher at Reefside High School). Tommy's voice was actually performaned by Jeffrey. The last episode he physically appeared in was "Thunderstruck part 2," the finale for the DinoThunder season.

2005

"The Governator" himself Arnold Schwarzenegger gave JDF the Classics Master Appreciation Award.

2006

The Educationl Funding Schools president Nick Cokinos awarded the honor of JDF's school being "One of America’s Top 10 Karate Schools."

2007

Many fans had hoped JDF would appear at the first Power Rangers convention held in LA, "Power Morphicon." However he wasn't able to due to him appearing at another convention in Florida that weekend. Several of his former co-stars made a welcomed appearance, such as Austin St. John, Walter Jones, Steve Cardenas, Johnny Yong Bosch, Emma Lahana, Latham Gaines, Paul Shrier and Jason Narvy alongside several other Ranger actors.

He received two awards from the Black Belt Hall of Fame: one being from Master Alan Goldberg in Atlanta Georgia, and the other from Dr. Jim Thomas (a 10th Degree Black Belt) for Most Successful Industry Leader.

Coming Soon

Official Site | Frankly Jason by Lisa J. and Shay

Alternate Generation
MMPR-Green | MMPR-White | Zeo | Turbo | DinoThunder

Screen Actors; J's | MMPR Actors
MMPR Mythologies | Behind the Helmets
Force Factor homepage

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