Steve Cardenas

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Steve Cardenas
Born Stephen Antonio Cardenas
(1974-05-29) May 29, 1974 (age 49)
Newport News, Virginia, United States
Residence Burbank, California, United States
Nationality American
Occupation Martial artist, actor
Years active 1986–present

Stephen Antonio "Steve" Cardenas (born May 29, 1974) formerly known as Steven Cardenas, is an American martial artist and retired actor, perhaps most noted for playing Rocky DeSantos in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers TV series.[1]

Early years

Cardenas was born May 29, 1974 in Newport News, Virginia, but was raised in San Antonio, Texas. He is of half Mexican descent.[2] He started training in martial arts when he was about 12 years old and reached black belt in tae kwon do at age 16. Steve Cardenas has been in martial arts for 28 years. He earned 5th degree black belt in tae kwon do and a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.[3]

Power Rangers and acting career

At age 20, Cardenas moved to Los Angeles to audition for a Mighty Morphin Power Rangers role that would change his life. His character, Rocky, replaced Jason Lee Scott (played by Austin St. John) as the Red Ranger in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers TV series, and he later became the Blue Ranger for Power Rangers Zeo. He had no previous acting experience and had to learn on the job. Cardenas left the Power Rangers series during Power Rangers Turbo, in order to focus on his karate school and other disagreements. Many years later, starting at the 2007 Power Morphicon convention, he began making convention appearances with other former cast members.[4] He has since appeared at Anime Expo 2009 and Power Morphicon 2010.

After Power Rangers, he owns a martial arts studio in Burbank, California and in Texas. In 2009, he started a kids-specific program at Hollywood Brazilian jiu-jitsu studio in West Hollywood, and in 2011 he opened the Force/Balance Brazilian jiu-jitsu & Yoga school. Cardenas had become interested in Brazilian jiu-jitsu after losing a friendly match against "a blue belt in BJJ... [he] choked me out in 10 seconds! He was only training for a year and a half at that time and I had been training for 10 yrs. It was an immediate eye opener." The style was more difficult for him to learn than other martial arts disciplines[5]

He holds multiple awards from martial arts contests, including two Silver Medals at Copa Pacifica (2009 and 2011), Gold Medal winner of the 2009 American National Championship, Gold Medal in the 2010 Jujitsu Pro Gear Open, and Silver Medal in the 2010 No-Gi World Championships.[5]

Filmography

Film

Television

References

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  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ [1] Archived July 17, 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 [2][dead link]

External links

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