Thuy Trang

Actress. Born in Saigon, South Vietnam the daughter of a soldier in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). During the fall of Saigon to the Communist North Vietnamese Army he escaped South Vietnam and was given political asylum by the United States. Thuy, her mother, two brothers and sister were left behind. In 1979, the family smuggled themselves on a cargo ship with hundreds of South Vietnamese refugees and sailed to Hong Kong's refugee camps. Thuy almost didn't survive, she was frail and sickly, and other refugees tried to persuade Thuy's mother to toss the little girl overboard to make room for other passengers who would be more likely to survive. Her mother fought for her daughter's survival, however, even force feeding her when it became necessary. After a period in Hong Kong's detention camps, the family were reunited in 1980 after U.S officials extended asylum to the entire family. Thuy's father would pass away from cancer a couple of years later. She graduated from Banning High School and earned a scholarship to study at the University of California, Irvine where she majored in civil engineering; she also dabbled at being an actress. She auditioned for the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers television show, winning the role partly because of her skill at kung fu which she had studied since the age of nine. She played Trini Kwan, the Yellow Ranger, in the original cast of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers for two seasons. She then appeared in feature films: "The Crow: City of Angels," in which she played the villainess Kali and performed most of her own stunts and "Spy Hard" where she had a cameo as a manicurist, both in 1996. Her last work was as an interviewee on the video documentary "The Encyclopedia of Martial Arts." In September 2001 she and model Angela Rockwood-Nguyen, for whom she was to be a bridesmaid, were passengers in a car traveling on Interstate 5 between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The car plunged out of control and fishtailed violently before it hit the roadside rock face. The car then flipped several times before hitting the safety rail and plunged over the bank. Thuy, who may not have been wearing a seatbelt, was killed upon impact. Her funeral was held on September 10 in Westminster, California. The episode "Circuit Unsure" of "Power Rangers: Time Force" was dedicated to her memory.