Where Is Steve Cardenas Now? The Red Ranger Who Became a Martial Arts Master

By CelebPaid Research · Updated October 7, 2026 · 8 min read

Thematic illustration: a dojo training hall, evoking Cardenas's career in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. This is a generic image, not a photo of the subject.Image via Wikimedia Commons

He was the kid with no acting experience who became a Power Ranger — and then he went back to what he knew. Steve Cardenas's story runs the classic arc in reverse: discovered for his martial arts, famous for pretending to fight, then spending his adult life learning to fight for real. This is the verified story of where Steve Cardenas is now.

The Peak: Rocky DeSantos, Red Ranger (1994-1996)

Cardenas was born at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia and raised in San Antonio, Texas, where he trained in taekwondo as a kid. He had, by his own account, no acting experience whatsoever when he was cast in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers in 1994 — he was a martial artist who could do the stunts, which in the early seasons of Power Rangers was the more important qualification.

He debuted as Rocky DeSantos, the new Red Ranger, in the show's second season — stepping into the most iconic role in the franchise after the departure of the original Red Ranger. Rocky carried the Red through season 3, then transitioned to the Blue Zeo Ranger (Zeo Ranger III Blue) in Power Rangers Zeo (1996), and appeared in Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie (1997). For three years, he was one of the most recognizable faces on children's television — the Red Ranger, the leader, the one every kid wanted to be.

The Power Rangers phenomenon of the mid-90s is hard to overstate: the show was a ratings juggernaut, the merchandise empire was worth billions, and the cast — mostly unknown young martial artists and actors — became instant celebrities with a fiercely devoted young audience. Cardenas, the taekwondo kid from San Antonio, was suddenly famous worldwide.

The Machine: What Power Rangers Was in 1994

It's worth pausing on what Cardenas walked into. When he joined Mighty Morphin Power Rangers for season 2 in 1994, the show was the single biggest children's television phenomenon on the planet. Adapted from Japan's Super Sentai series — with its Japanese action footage intercut with American teen scenes — it drew ratings that embarrassed the broadcast networks' Saturday-morning lineups and spawned a merchandising empire of toys, clothing, and video games.

The casting philosophy was pure Saban: hire young, athletic, unknown performers who could handle the physical demands, pay them modestly, and let the spandex do the rest. Cardenas fit the template perfectly — a taekwondo kid with no acting resume to complicate the salary negotiations. The original cast has spoken openly in later years about the grueling schedule and the pay disputes; Cardenas, arriving in the second wave, inherited both the fame and the fine print.

And yet, for all the industry's cynicism, the show's effect on its audience was genuine. The Red Ranger was a hero to millions of children. Cardenas wore the suit for three years — MMPR seasons 2 and 3, Zeo, and the Turbo movie — and for a generation, that was enough to make him immortal.

The Exit: Back to the Mat

When his Power Rangers run ended, Cardenas did what the show had always been a detour from: he went back to martial arts. Not the choreographed television kind — the real kind. He took up Brazilian jiu-jitsu, the ground-fighting art, and pursued it with the same discipline he'd once brought to the soundstage.

The results were genuine. Cardenas became a decorated BJJ competitor: he won gold at the American Nationals in 2009 and silver at the No-Gi World Championships in 2010 — legitimate achievements in a sport where television fame counts for nothing on the mat. He trained at the Hollywood Brazilian jiu-jitsu academy of actor Sean Patrick Flanery (The Boondock Saints), another performer-turned-martial-artist, and the two became associated in the Southern California BJJ scene.

Then he opened his own school: Force/Balance Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu & Yoga in Burbank, California. The name reflects the philosophy — the balance between force and flow, between the hard art and the soft one. In interviews, Cardenas has spoken about the studio as the center of his adult life: teaching, training, building a community around the mats.

The Intermission: Teaching What Television Pretended

There is a satisfying symmetry to Cardenas's second act. On Power Rangers, he performed elaborate fight choreography for cameras — spectacular, athletic, and entirely fake. In Burbank, he teaches actual fighting: leverage, submissions, the patient chess of ground combat. The television show used martial arts as spectacle; the studio treats it as discipline.

In a 2011 interview with MediaMikes, Cardenas discussed the transition at length — the decision to step away from acting, the appeal of the BJJ lifestyle, the community he was building at Force/Balance. He came across not as a former star clinging to relevance, but as a man who had found the thing he was actually meant to do. The Red Ranger costume is in the past; the black belt is the present.

He also, notably, never badmouthed the show. In interviews over the years — including a long 2011 conversation with Icon vs. Icon about the Forever Red legacy — he has spoken about the Power Rangers years with consistent warmth. The gratitude reads as genuine: the show gave him everything, and he gave it three years, and both parties moved on.

The Returns: Anniversaries and the Netflix Special

Cardenas has never fully closed the door on Rocky DeSantos. He returned for the franchise's 25th anniversary in Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel (2018), suiting up alongside fellow veteran Rangers for the milestone episodes. And in 2023, he was part of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always, the Netflix 30th-anniversary special that reunited original cast members for a feature-length celebration.

These returns are worth framing honestly. They are not a career — they are curtain calls, spaced years apart, each one a celebration rather than a comeback attempt. Cardenas shows up, puts the suit on, delights the fans, and goes back to the mats. He also attends Power Rangers conventions, where he remains one of the most popular guests: the Red Ranger, in person, still beloved three decades later.

The 2023 special carried an additional poignancy. It was dedicated in part to the memory of Jason David Frank, the original Green Ranger, who died in 2022 — Cardenas's castmate and friend. The reunion was, among other things, a farewell.

Where Is Steve Cardenas Now?

As of 2026, Steve Cardenas runs Force/Balance Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu & Yoga in Burbank, California, where he teaches and trains. He is a decorated BJJ competitor and a respected figure in the Southern California martial arts community. He has not pursued acting as a career in decades, appearing on screen only for anniversary celebrations. He attends fan conventions and remains warmly connected to the Power Rangers fandom.

The taekwondo kid from San Antonio got famous pretending to fight on television — then spent his adult life learning to fight for real, and teaching others to do the same. It's not a fall from fame. It's an upgrade.

The Legacy: The Red Ranger Who Earned It Twice

Rocky DeSantos remains one of the franchise's most beloved Rangers — the successor who made the Red his own, the leader of the Zeo era, the face of Power Rangers at its 90s peak. For the generation that grew up on the show, Cardenas is the Red Ranger in the way that matters: the one they watched after school, the one on the lunchbox.

And then he went and earned the credibility for real. The American Nationals gold, the Worlds silver, the Burbank studio full of students — these are achievements no casting director handed him. The kid who got the part because he could do the stunts spent thirty years becoming the martial artist the part pretended he was.

Then vs Now: Two Chapters

Steve Cardenas played a martial arts hero on television — then became a real one. The Red Ranger hung up the suit and earned a black belt. From morphing time to mat time: the rare TV fighter who learned to fight for real.

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