Jason David Frank

Jason David Frank (September 4, 1973 – November 19, 2022) was an American actor, model and mixed martial artist best known for his role as Tommy Oliver in the Power Rangers television franchise.

Frank was born in Covina, California on September 4, 1973.

Frank had an older brother named Erik Frank, who appeared in Power Rangers Zeo as Tommy Oliver's long-lost brother David Trueheart.

Power Rangers

Frank was cast in the role of Tommy Oliver, the Green Ranger in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

The role was set for 14 episodes, but due to the character's popularity he was brought back as the White Ranger and the team's new leader.

Frank was supposed to be the lead character Adam Steele in VR Troopers (originally called Cybertron) and shot a pilot episode before being called back to Power Rangers.

According to Frank and Brad Hawkins, Hawkins' character was originally going to replace Tommy Oliver as the White Ranger in Power Rangers.

However, due to Tommy Oliver's popularity with Power Rangers fans, Frank was brought back, with Tommy Oliver becoming the White Ranger.

Hawkins would then take over the role of Ryan Steele on VR Troopers, who was originally named Adam Steele.

After three seasons, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers transitioned into Power Rangers Zeo to match the annual change of the Super Sentai series.

Frank's character became the Red Zeo Ranger, also called Zeo Ranger V.

The following year in Power Rangers Turbo, his character became the first Red Turbo Ranger.

During mid-season, Frank and his fellow cast members Johnny Yong Bosch, Nakia Burrise and Catherine Sutherland agreed to leave and were replaced.

He modified the most practical applications with his own philosophies to create his own blend of American Karate in 1994, "Toso Kune Do" (斗争拳道, ).

After leaving the series in 1997, in 2002 Frank returned to Power Rangers as the Red Zeo Ranger for the special 10th-anniversary episode, entitled "Forever Red", of Power Rangers Wild Force. This episode brought back ten former Red Rangers and reunited him with Austin St. John.

On June 28, 2003, he was inducted into the World Karate Union Hall of Fame.

He then reprised his role in 2004 in Power Rangers Dino Thunder as the Black Dino Ranger, which he stated was a favor to Douglas Sloan.

While portraying this role, Frank wore long-sleeved shirts to cover the tattoos on his arms, which was also the case in "Forever Red".

He joked that Saban and Disney are "both the same, they're cheap", but that he was impressed with the production crew for Dino Thunder.

Frank reprised his role as Tommy Oliver and the Green Ranger in the season finale of Power Rangers Super Megaforce.

Frank expressed interest in developing a Green Ranger solo series or feature film after an encounter with Stan Lee at a comic book convention.

On November 7, 2013, Frank appeared on Super Power Beatdown as the White Ranger taking on Scorpion from Mortal Kombat.

He appeared again on May 5, 2015, as the Green Ranger, and fought Ryu from Street Fighter.

After success with the Super Power Beatdown series, Bat in the Sun began developing a web reality series of Frank, titled My Morphing Life.

In 2015, the show began airing a second season.

In 2016, Frank was cast in the web series Ninjak vs. the Valiant Universe, based on the Valiant Universe, as Bloodshot.

Frank had a cameo role in the 2017 film Power Rangers, as a citizen of Angel Grove, alongside fellow Power Rangers actress Amy Jo Johnson.

In 2018, he reprised his role as Tommy in episode 10 of Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel for the 25th anniversary of Power Rangers.

In August 2022, Frank revealed that he had retired from the franchise.

The series was released in 2018 to positive reception from fans.

Frank was considered as superior to Vin Diesel's incarnation of the character in 2020.

Valiant paid tribute to Frank on their Twitter after his death.

The film Legend of the White Dragon launched on Kickstarter in 2020.

Initially, it was going to be a mini-series or fan film, but its popularity caused it to develop into a full-feature film.

The film includes past Power Rangers performers, such as Frank, Jason Faunt, and Ciara Hanna.

Other cast members include Mark Dacascos, Michael Madsen, Andrew Byron Bachelor, and Jenna Frank.

The movie wrapped in 2021, and is currently in post-production.

It was set to release in March 2023, but after Frank's death in 2022, the film is now scheduled to be released in Q1, 2024.

Frank had knowledge of many different styles of martial arts, including Shōtōkan, Wadō-ryū, Taekwondo, Judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, Jeet Kune Do, and Aikido.