Thuy Trang (December 14, 1973- September 3, 2001) was a Vietnamese-American actress.
Born in Saigon to a South Vietnamese army officer father who had to flee to the United States after the Fall of Saigon, she and her mother and siblings lived in a detention camp when she was only two. When she was five, the family boarded a cargo ship for Hong Kong in secret - in what would be a gruelling nine month journey. With passengers packed tightly together in confined spaces and long periods without food, Thuy fell ill and nearly died; recalling her mother having to force food down her throat to keep her alive. She also was nearly thrown overboard when passengers thought her to be dead and wanted to make room for the other refugees - saved only by her mother's protests. Despite this journey, the family were happily reunited with Thuy's father Ky in 1980, and settled in California.
During her teen years, Thuy both learned English and Shaolin kung-fu, eventually earning a black belt in the latter. Although planning to study civil engineering like the rest of her family, she was spotted by a talent scout who convinced her to try acting. Then we get to 1993.
Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers was a fledgling children's show, adapted from the Japanese Tokusatsu Super Sentai, and Thuy ended up cast as Trini Kwan; the Yellow Ranger. A worldwide success, shown in forty countries around the world and still popular to this day, it is what Thuy is best remembered for.
Despite the international success, Thuy and her fellow cast members became aware of the discrepancy between the money the show was making and what the cast and crew were actually being paid. Contract negotiations started during the second season, in the hopes of making Power Rangers a union show and guaranteeing better pay and working conditions for everyone. The deal fell through and Thuy, along with Austin St. John and Walter Emanuel Jones walked off the set; resulting in Trini, Jason and Zack being Put on a Bus and replaced with Aisha, Rocky and Adam respectively. Out of those three cast members, Thuy was the only one to never return to the franchise (Austin reprised his role as Jason in Power Rangers Zeo and several reunion specials, while Walter provided a few voiceovers before coming back for the 30th anniversary reunion).
Outside of Power Rangers, Thuy appeared in the film Spy Hard, and then was cast as the villain Kali in The Crow: City of Angels. That would unfortunately be her final film role; on September 3rd 2001, she died in a car accident while traveling with her friend Angela Rockwood, who survived the crash albeit as a paraplegic. The Power Rangers Time Force episode "Circuit Unsure" was dedicated to her memory.
She is fondly remembered by her fellow cast members, and Trini was voted the most popular Yellow Ranger of all time in a 2004 fan poll. For the 2023 reunion special to commemorate the show's 30th anniversary, Trini was officially Killed Off for Real, and the end credits contained a tribute to her.
Tropes associated with her work:
- Actor-Inspired Element:
- A strange case. Trini was originally written as meeker and shyer, but was retooled to become more aggressive and tomboyish to accommodate her original actress Audri DuBois. Thuy however resembled the character as originally written.
- A straight example is how Trini's fighting style in the unaired pilot is closer to Jason's, but in the series itself, her Mantis Kung Fu fighting style resembles Thuy's skills more.
- The 2018 comics give Trini a backstory of having moved around a lot due to her father's job in the military. Thuy's father likewise was a military officer.
- The Cast Show Off: In The Crow: City of Angels, she requested that her fight scene be extended, so she could show off her martial arts skills.
- Character Outlives Actor: Although Trini is killed off in the Once & Always reunion special in 2023, she outlived her actress by twenty years and enough to have a teenage daughter.
- Cowboy Be Bop At His Computer: She was mistakenly credited as the masseuse in Spy Hard, when she was actually playing the manicurist. Her credit was accidentally switched with Tara Leon, who played the masseuse in the same scene.
- Fake Nationality: 'Kwan' is a Chinese surname, and Trini refers to both Chinese and Japanese culture; implying the character to be of Chinese descent. The 2018 Go Go Power Rangers comic retconned her to being half Taiwanese and half Korean.
- Fake Shemp:
- After she, Austin St John and Walter Jones left the series, she was shemped by use of body doubles, stock footage and voiceover done by a soundalike known only as 'Judy'.
- For Trini's death in Once & Always, the character only appears morphed and archive dialogue of Thuy is used. Notably all pictures of Trini in her house show her as a teenager and twentysomething, since of course the actress herself did not live past 27. Catherine Sutherland recalls a scene being filmed but cut where Minh would have a flashback to watching her mother training, where Charlie Kersh doubled up and played Trini from a long shot.
- Friendship on the Set:
- Austin St. John described her as "like a sister to me", and the two would often hug each other to keep warm between takes. He even said it was hard to watch Power Rangers (2017) and see another person play Trini.
- Walter Emanuel Jones likewise was very close with her, and they had planned to collaborate on three films before her passing.
- Amy Jo Johnson and her were very close too, having repeated slumber parties at each other's houses.
- Funny Character, Boring Actor: An inversion. Trini was the Shrinking Violet of the team. Thuy was known for being very energetic and outspoken, with the others remarking that she had the ability to pull pranks on set and then pretend to be innocent.
- Irony as She Is Cast: One of her first roles was a commercial for the Church of Scientology. She was a Buddhist.
- Ms. Fanservice: Not as much as her fellow Rangers, but she had a lot of outfits that bared the midriff (it was The '90s after all) and tight leggings.
- No Stunt Double: Naturally. She did her own stunts in both Power Rangers and The Crow: City of Angels.
- On-Set Injury: She had an ankle sprain during the second season, and often had to be carried around by her co-stars. There's notably one episode where the others are playing football and she sits on the bench.
- The Other Marty: Audri DuBois played Trini in the original unaired pilot. Reasons for her departure range from her not wanting to move from Arizona to Los Angeles or asking for a pay rise.
- Playing Against Type: Best known as the heroic Trini, she played the evil Kali in The Crow: City of Angels.
- She's a Man in Japan: The most famous example in the franchise. The Yellow Ranger in Super Sentai was male, and Mighty Morphin set the tradition of making the character female. Trini also provides the page image.
- What Could Have Been:
- Trini would have appeared in The Movie along with Jason and Zack, and there were actually three planned. She was also asked back for Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, in the hopes of getting all the original cast. She and Walter Jones declined, as appearing in the film would mean giving up their SAG cards. David Yost had quit the show during Zeo over homophobic bullying by the crew, so Austin St John and Amy Jo Johnson were the only ones who returned.
- The original shooting script for the Power Rangers Turbo episode "Passing The Torch Part 2" would've had a cameo from the Original 5, with the script specifying Trini would be the only one who wouldn't be portrayed by a Fake Shemp. However, Thuy passed on the role, presumably for the same reason as the Turbo movie, causing the entire cameo to be cut.
- She planned to star in three films with Austin St John and Walter Jones after leaving the show. Their titles are Cyberstrike, Children of Merlin and Act of Courage, to be produced by Landmark Entertainment Group. Her death led to them being cancelled completely.
- She filmed a pilot for a series called The Adventures of Tracie Z, but it was not picked up.
