Her father died of cancer in 1992. ", "Episode 151: Interview with Amy Jo Johnson", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thuy_Trang&oldid=986152668, Vietnamese emigrants to the United States, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles containing Vietnamese-language text, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 30 October 2020, at 03:12. [67] The driver, another bridesmaid named Steffiana De La Cruz, struck some loose gravel in a groove along the side of the street, and lost control of the vehicle. [26][27] This is why the Yellow Ranger costume does not have a skirt like the Pink Ranger, who was female in both the Japanese and American versions of the show. When Trang was six, she and her mother and brothers boarded a cargo ship bound for Hong Kong, a difficult journey during which Trang became very ill. Her former cast members had nothing but good memories of her. [20][21] It took place before a room of about 20 executives and required each actor to read the part and present their physical skills. After the fall of Saigon in 1975, he was forced to leave his family behind and fled the country, immigrating to United States. In that series, the Yellow Ranger was a male character, but the American show producers wanted more female characters in their cast, so they changed the character to a female during out-of-costume scenes and dubbed Trang's voice over the male actor's performance in the Japanese scenes. Our Power Rangers experience will always remain an exciting and important part of our lives and careers, and it is gratifying that through our participation in the show, we were able to touch the lives of so many young people. It's hard to believe she's gone. [16][20] They were passengers in a car traveling on Interstate 5 between San Jose and Los Angeles,[16][20][66] driving back late at night after having visited Rockwood's maid of honor in San Jose. Even though she only played the part for the first year of the series, Trang quickly moved on to the silver screen, landing roles in feature films. It would be tough for me to see anybody in that role. [21][27][67] Rockwood was thrown 35 feet out of the car and survived,[16][66] but severed her spinal cord and was paralyzed from the neck down. I came from a country that was falling apart because of communism, and escaping to America, not knowing the language and then learning it from beginning, and overcoming that and where I am now, it just shows you that if you put your mind to it you can do anything you want to. [1][3][5] Trang's hobbies included playing tennis, jogging, and reading romance novels. "We were really good friends. She was way too young and had so much more to share with the world," he said, adding that she had a particular energy that drew people to her. [29], Trang appeared in 80 episodes in the series,[17][30][31][32] which included the entire first season and a portion of the second season. I was so shocked.
For the musical artist, see. The Vietnamese-born actress Thuy Trang was on her way to a very successful Hollywood career when her life was tragically cut short in 2001.
During the festival, she spoke about her time on Power Rangers, other aspects of her career, and her experiences trying to break into film and television as an Asian-American actress. [33] She jogged and exercised regularly during her time on the show to stay in shape, and received training from martial arts experts on the set,[3] including Jason David Frank. She performed many of her own stunts, and repeatedly got hurt on the set. According to her obituary in Black Belt magazine, Trang was an "accomplished kung fu stylist" who fled Hanoi, Vietnam, as a refugee to later be reunited with her father in California. I'll always remember her great laugh and infectious smile. She was known for her role as Trini Kwan, the first Yellow Ranger on the original cast of … Here's what the Red Ranger and co are doing now", "The original Power Rangers share memories of Yellow Ranger Thuy Trang, who died at age 27", "Original Power Rangers Remember the Late Thuy Trang: 'She Was Such a Bright Light, "11 Behind The Scenes Stories You've Never Heard Before From The Original Power Rangers", "7 Surprising Things You Never Knew About The 'Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, "20 Things Wrong With Power Rangers We All Choose To Ignore", "Whatever happened to the original Power Rangers? I do not know the details of the tragedy, but rather than wonder how Thuy died, let us remember how she lived and affected our lives. The promo showed an image of the Yellow Ranger (now played by singer Becky G) standing on her Zord, along with the text "Driver's Ed not required." [35], In September 2016, some fans were offended by marketing posters for the new Power Rangers film, which they considered disrespectful to Trang's memory.
She began doing modeling and acting gigs while a student at the University of California at Irvine. "[25], While Trang and the other cast members appeared in scenes with the characters out of the Power Rangers costumes, the in-costume fight scenes were footage adapted from the long-running Japanese television series Super Sentai. [16] Trang performed many of her own stunts. When she nabbed a role on The Crow: City of Angels, it looked as though the sky was the limit for the up-and-coming action star.
", The tragic death of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers' Thuy Trang, the long list of stars who strangely died at age 27. [14] Trang said of studying kung fu:[13]. "[3] She believed the show conveyed positive messages to children, particularly about teamwork and having self-confidence. Several fans responded on the social media platforms Facebook and Twitter that the message was offensive because Trang died in a car accident,[71][72][73] with some users replying with the hashtag "#JusticeforThuy". [36][42][43][46] Jackie Marchand, a writer and producer with the series, said the departure of the three actors was "a difficult shift, and it was pretty intense at the office". Trang's character was killed by a resurrected Corven after a fight scene. She graduated from Banning High School in the Wilmington neighborhood of Los Angeles,[1] and enrolled at the University of California, Irvine to study civil engineering, planning to follow her father and siblings into the field.
[5][6][7][10] Trang's family and her father were eventually reunited in the United States in 1980,[1][11] and settled in the city of Fountain Valley, California. [59] Other reviewers were more negative about Trang's performance: The Advocate writer John Wirt called her "a flop",[61] and Jon Bowman of The Santa Fe New Mexican said her "sneer is her most pronounced feature".
[24][37][44][45][63], On September 3, 2001, Trang was traveling with her friend, the actress and model Angela Rockwood, for whom Trang was to be a bridesmaid in her upcoming marriage to Dustin Nguyen.
[74] Austin St. John, Trang's co-star from the original series, said of the new film: "One of the hardest roles for me to accept was Trini's role because Thuy is gone now. "[47], Thuy Trang in Encyclopedia of Martial Arts: Hollywood Stars[12], On January 4, 1995, Trang and her Power Rangers co-stars St. John and Jones hosted an informational session about martial arts at the United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C., where they taught basic techniques to Newt Gingrich and other members of the United States House of Representatives from the 104th United States Congress. [71][72] The official Twitter account of the Power Rangers franchise removed the posts in response to the criticism, although international distributor eOne Films, which had also released the same tweets, did not remove them. Thuy Trang (Vietnamese: Thùy Trang [tʰʷɪj˨˩ ʈaːŋ˧]; December 14, 1973 – September 3, 2001) was a Vietnamese-American actress. Trang's father was a South Vietnamese army officer who fled the country in 1975 after the fall of Saigon, leaving his family behind. A helicopter arrived to take her to the hospital, but she died along the way. "What happened to the original Power Rangers? [27] The decision to put Trang, an Asian American actress, into the role of Yellow Ranger has received criticism and been the subject of jokes due to the connotation of yellow as an ethnic slur. Trang, the first person in her family to study acting,[3] said she intended to later finish her education despite undertaking an acting career.
At one point, the other passengers wrongly believed Trang to be dead and wanted to throw her body overboard to make more room for the other refugees, but her mother prevented them from doing so. [8][56][57] She was not cast until very late in the pre-production process, right before filming began. Her energy drew you in, and her smile made your heart feel safe. [8] It was a very difficult journey, with people packed tightly due to limited space, lacking in food and water. [4] Trang and her family lived in a detention camp as her father petitioned the U.S. government for political asylum for his family. It's really good because it builds a lot of character and it makes me stronger as a person, especially going through all the stuff I went through, coming over here to America. [34] Trang repeatedly got hurt on the set of the show, and often had to be physically carried by others during shooting because of injuries. It's hard to believe she's gone. Producers have said that race had nothing to do with colors of the costumes. The camera is so close that it sees everything, so if you're truthful and honest, the audience will know. After two seasons as the Power Rangers, we would now like to move forward to the many new opportunities that have been presented to us.
According to her obituary in Black Belt magazine, Trang was an "accomplished kung fu stylist" who fled Hanoi, Vietnam, as a refugee to later be reunited with her father in California.