To many under the age of 30, he’s instantly recognisable as the Green Ranger from 90s children’s show Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, but there’s more to Jason David Frank than giant robots and spandex suits.
Jason, or JDF as he is now more commonly known, is heading to Sydney’s Supanova convention this June, and these days is the face of his own empire spanning online videos, reality TV shows, martial arts schools, clothing lines and more.
But despite all this success, JDF hasn’t forgotten what got him there.
With more than 20 years on and off the screen on Power Rangers, JDF has attracted a mega-sized following spanning multiple generations, to which he credits his ongoing success.
“The reason I have such a strong fan base is because I have three generations of fans that love the show,” he said.
“Twenty years ago I grabbed those kids (on the original Power Rangers series), then ten years ago I grabbed those six-year-olds (on Power Rangers Dino Thunder) and two years ago I captivated a new audience with Super Megaforce.”
The lineup to see JDF at conventions has become almost legendary, and he’s amassed a monumental 845,000 fans on Facebook, and another 270k on Instagram.
But it’s how he treats his fans that really makes the JDF monster grow.
“I often sit there and think ‘how do I have the biggest line’, or ‘how do I have the biggest’ draw.
“A lot of actors think fans owe them - change your mentality.
“Feel like you owe your fans and you’ll have more fans.
“Thank your fans and say ‘hey, I’m here because of you’.”
And when JDF says he’s there because of the fans, he literally is there because of the fans.
When he auditioned for the role of Tommy the Green Power Ranger, the character was only intended to remain in the series for 10 episodes.
However, the character was so popular with the audience that the show’s creators were forced to bring him back - multiple times.
“Tommy’s character was that he was the loner kid.
“He was the one that just stayed on his own, struggled making friendships, and went through the whole evil part to show kids that no matter what there’s always a way to turn out good.
“To this day I still feel like (the Green Ranger) changed people’s lives around the world.”
The character Tommy has since become one of the series’ most enduring, with appearances in eight seasons of the the franchise.
While JDF says the original green incarnation was the version of the character he first fell in love with, his appearance in Power Rangers Zeo had special meaning.
“My brother (Eric) played my brother in the show, David Trueheart. He was my brother on Zeo and he played five episodes.
“It was very enjoyable to do a show with my brother and to be able to act on that side of the camera.
“He passed away about 15 years ago and it’s one of those things I’ll always remember.
“Doing Zeo was a really important season for me.”
His most recent appearance was in 2014’s Super Megaforce, in an episode that returned many of the series’ older characters to fight alongside the current heroes.
A behind-the-scenes look at this episode was filmed as part of JDF’s reality TV show My Morphin Life, one of a host of online video projects he is now involved in.
“I have an interesting life and I wanted people to see my life a little bit.
“I wanted to do something positive that was fun, that was upbeat, and a little bit more into JDF than the Green Ranger.
“With the Super Megaforce episode, we were contacted to have a camera crew with each of us.
“I don't know what they were going to do - document it, film it, reality show, whatever… but no other camera crew showed up.
“So I'm the only one who really has that footage of the epic war.”
The first season of the My Morphin Life is available to watch on YouTube, with its second and third seasons on US-based digital distribution service ConTV.
Also potentially in the pipeline for Jason is a rumoured appearance in the upcoming Power Rangers reboot movie.
While no Tommy Oliver cameo has been confirmed, JDF remains positive about the movie, which he describes as a re-envisioning more than a reboot.
“I think the movie is great. I think people are going to love it.”
“The movie is almost filmed, the script and details are all super top secret because of the way they are releasing the stories (of the characters) so I think everyone just has to wait until the movie’s released.”
Attending the many comic conventions across the world has offered JDF the opportunity to meet a ton of actors that he also looked up to, not necessarily because of their show, but because they were “real people”.
One such actor is Robin Taylor, who plays the Penguin on Gotham, who was a fan of the Green Ranger growing up.
Now JDF watches Gotham and says it’s the only show he loves - because of Robin.
“He came to me and shook my hand, and not only because he’s a fan, but because he’s a real person.
“I’m not a fan of shows, but I’m a fan of people who are very passionate about what they do, and they have such a talent for art.
“Jon Bernthal (The Punisher in Daredevil) – big fan of him, not so much of what he does. He’s a really great, down-to-earth guy.
“That’s what I like – seeing celebrities that I can look up to and say, ‘Hey, he’s a cool dude’.
“It sucks when you look up to someone and they’re not what you think of them.”
