Rise to Fame
Kimberly Hart, the original Pink Ranger, made her a household name before she saw any real money from it. She made $600 a week on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers while the franchise pulled in billions in merchandise. A stunt nearly set her on fire. She left in 1995, moved on to Felicity as Julie Emrick, and used the WB drama to do something she actually wanted: perform her own music. The producers had written Julie as a dancer. Johnson pushed back until they rewrote the character as a singer-guitarist.
In the Spotlight
She didn't coast on the Pink Ranger nostalgia circuit. After Flashpoint wrapped in 2012, she directed Tammy's Always Dying with Felicity Huffman in the lead. The mother-daughter drama premiered at TIFF 2019. She's said the project hit close to home, her father has depression and alcoholism. In 2024, she released an EP called Still Here and wrote Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Return, a four-issue comic. Most 90s TV stars have settled into the convention circuit. She did a TIFF premiere instead.
Side Notes
Most people filed her under 'Pink Ranger' and stopped there. She moved to Canada, built a five-season run on Flashpoint, and released three full-length albums alongside the TV work, starting with The Trans-American Treatment in 2001. The music career wasn't a side hustle.