American actor

Jason Geiger (born September 17, 1974), professionally known as Austin St. John, is an American actor and martial artist. He is best known for his portrayal of Jason Lee Scott in the Power Rangers franchise.[1]

Early life [ edit ]

St. John was born Jason Geiger[2] in Roswell, New Mexico, U.S. on September 17, 1974, the son of U.S. Marine and martial artist Steve Geiger and his wife Sharon.[3] He has one sibling, a brother named Stephen. With a parent in the armed forces, St. John lived all over the United States while growing up.

Career [ edit ]

St. John's first acting role and most well known role to date came to him when he was just a teenager, when he was cast as teen superhero Jason Lee Scott, the Red Power Ranger in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the first installment of the Power Rangers franchise, which debuted on Fox Kids in 1993. For his role, he took the stage name Austin St. John, Austin coming from The Six Million Dollar Man's Steve Austin and St. John being a name of his own choosing.[2] Like St. John, his character had a background in martial arts. Though the series was hugely successful and brought St. John international recognition as an actor, long hours on set combined with low pay and no union recognition presented real challenges for him. As a result, St. John, along with all of his other co-stars including Jason David Frank[4] agreed to leave the show during its second season if their employers rejected their pay demands and unionization attempts, but when time came, only Walter Emanuel Jones and Thuy Trang joined him in the ultimatum, and ultimately left the show. St. John was replaced by Steve Cardenas as the Red Ranger.[5] St. John went onto reprise the role of Jason several times over, in both film and television, making an appearance as the character in 2002, in an episode of Power Rangers Wild Force entitled “Forever Red”. He also appeared alongside Jones, as himself, in the Power Rangers special The Lost Episode in 1999, which focused on the history of the franchise up to that point and showed the original pilot episode for the series, which had never before been aired. In 2020, St. John reprised the role of Jason in an episode for Season 2 of Power Rangers Beast Morphers entitled "Grid Connection".[6]

In 2017, he made a cameo in the movie Surge Of Power : Revenge Of The Sequel.[7] In 2018, he was acting in the television movie Monsters At Large[7] and had a major role in the dramatic movie A Walk with Grace.[7]

Other ventures [ edit ]

St. John began as a proficient martial artist, holding a second-degree black belt in Taekwondo and a first-degree black belt in Judo, and for a time, he worked as a martial arts instructor.[8] Additionally, he published a book on the subject, Karate Warrior: A Beginner's Guide to Martial Arts, in 1996.[9]

Personal life [ edit ]

St. John attended Robert Frost Middle School and W.T. Woodson High School in Fairfax, VA,[10] before moving to Fullerton, California where he attended Sunny Hills High School, but did not graduate. As an adult, he went on to earn his G.E.D. and ultimately obtained his undergraduate degree from Concordia University.[11] For over a decade, he worked as a paramedic in the Washington, D.C. area. He also worked with the U.S. military as a healthcare provider in the Middle East for several years, though he was not actually a member of any branch of the armed forces. He has two sons and a daughter.

Filmography [ edit ]

Film [ edit ]

Television [ edit ]

Video games [ edit ]

Books [ edit ]