Katherine Marie Hillard AGE: 26 SHORT BIO: Katherine was born in Sydney, Australia and lived their until she was sixteen years old. Even from when she was very little she always loved to help people. At young ages she received several 'Good Samaritan' awards, but that's not why she did it. She had a genuinely good heart and loved to help people less fortunate than herself. It always gave her a sense of accomplishment and purpose in life. It made her feel good to know that she was doing her part to better her community, and that's a hobby that Katherine still holds today, at age twenty-six. It was in Australia that Katherine developed her love for dance and diving. She devoted herself to diving, practicing and practicing, eventually making it into the Pan Global Olympics as a diver who had a real shot at winning....until she split her head open on the diving board performing a dive that she must have done several hundred times before. After that, she avoided the water for a while, focusing on her ballet and form of dance.
Katherine moved to Angel Grove on the verge of her 17th birthday, and like Tommy, Rita saw her chance to take advantage of the newcomer and create yet another evil being. Perhaps this is one of the reasons she was so drawn to Tommy. They had that certain connection that none of the other rangers at the time could even begin to comprehend. At any rate, she was turned evil and given the ability to morph into a cat. An ability in which she utilized to spy on the rangers who would soon become her best friends. At one point, she even mutated into a monster attacking her soon-to-be friends. Luckily, she was stopped without being destroyed.
Perhaps one of the biggest differences between Tommy and Kat's situation was that Kat was able to break the spell all on her own without any real help from the rangers. The fact that she was able to do that really commented on the inner strength she possessed. Despite the spell that Rita cast over her, Katherine fell instantaneously and absolutely in love with Tommy. Love - a factor that should have had nothing to do with the spell Rita had cast. These feelings made her particularly hostile towards Kimberly Hart who, at the time, was his girlfriend. Her love for Tommy as well as her intense compassion for human beings in general is what allowed her to come to the realization that what she was doing was wrong. She was not an evil person, but a wonderfully good human being. She was able to break past the spell and revert to her old, caring, self once more. Once she was back to the side of good, she quickly apologized to the rangers and swore to keep their identities a guarded secret. They didn't need to question her; they immediately forgave her, and the seven became fast friends and remain that way even today.
However it wouldn't be much longer before Katherine (among others) convinced Kimberly to follow her dream of becoming a world renowned gymnast and train for the Pan Global Games, leaving her pink ranger powers to Katherine. Helping Kimberly face her fear of the balance beam also helped herself in facing her own fear of diving. She returned to the water to prove her point that you can come back from accidents which ultimately helped Kimberly to make her final decision to leave. Katherine fit in perfectly with the gang. She was a great ranger, but she was an even better person which is probably why she was just so easy to love. Katherine constantly organized community service projects - always willing to lend a hand to those in need. She is kind and compassionate towards others with a heart of pure gold. You can always count on Katherine to be there when you need someone the most. She's the kind of woman who will always come through. She's someone that you can count on, no matter who you are - She's a very forgiving person. What happened to her was awful, but she knows that she shouldn't let that slow her down. Still, she thinks, and even dreams, about that dark place sometimes and can't help but to wonder what would have happened had she not been able to break through the spell.
Her time as the Pink Ninjetti ranger lasted about a whole nine weeks before Rita and Zedd acted on a new plan, reverting the rangers back to children for a grand total of eleven days, in which they each went on an individual Zeo quest. It was on this quest that Katherine was forced back to her Australian roots. However, being a child trying to find her way back to adulthood wasn't Katherine's only dilemma. By this time, Katherine's feelings for Tommy had only intensified - which was a problem seeing as how he was still dating Kimberly. She tried to stop herself from flirting with him, but she couldn't seem to find a way not to. Her actions were subtle, and had she not known any better, she would have sworn that he did his own fair share of flirting... however, she knew better. Had he been flirting, it was always on a completely subconscious level. Tommy was a lot of things, but a cheater wasn't one of them. Truth to be told, she'd thought Kim and Tommy's decision to remain together – while quite romantic and sweet – was absolutely ridiculous and unrealistic seeing as how she now lived on the other side of the continent. Still, she never once even considered betraying her friend and going after the white/red ranger with the intentions of stealing him away. She was so not interested in being Kelly Taylor with Kimberly as Brenda Walsh and Tommy – Dylan McKay. She hated teen dramas and she certainly didn't want to star in one. Besides, she cared about her friends way too much to do that sort of thing to either one of them. She was and never would be that kind of girl. So she decided to wait; even if it meant forever – if things were supposed to work out between the two of them, they would, and she put her faith in that.
As the days went by, her passion for ballet dancing had also seemed to intensify. It wasn't long before she began teaching classes and hosting dance recitals on top of her school work and ranger duties. It was something that she had always loved – she had even won a few competitions – but teaching gave her a real sense of accomplishment in the art. She loved teaching ballet almost as much as much as she loved dancing on her own. Watching the kids grow and improve in their dancing, it was a feeling that she would never forget because she helped them get there. Even when others judged her on her weight or height... she was truly an excellent dancer and she proved that on several occasions. Besides ballet/dancing, Katherine tried out many different hobbies. Katherine was a woman of many interests really – she experimented with theater, karate, and community service - among several other things - falling in love with the art of each and every one of them. But first and foremost, her number one priority was saving the world – becoming a power ranger gave Kat the opportunity to really, truly help people and actually make a difference in the world, which is all she has ever wanted in the first place.
As time passed by, Kat stood by her team, fighting evil – holding her own and proving that she was capable of defending the world. She watched as both Billy and Aisha left the team, becoming fast friends with newcomers Tanya Sloan and returning veteran ranger, Jason Scott. As the Pink Zeo Ranger, she single handedly saved Tommy Oliver from the clutches of evil, knowing exactly what he needed to hear and see... what he needed to know – If there was ever a moment where she had really stood above the others and shone as a ranger, it was this one. She had stood by Tommy as Kimberly left him, putting her own feelings aside, and trying to be the best friend that she could possibly be. She even went so far as to set him up with someone she thought he had wanted to be with at the time. It was this act that really showed how much she put others happiness above her own. She loved Tommy, even admitting her feelings to Tanya, but that wasn't what was important at the time. Her goal was to be there for Tommy, no matter what – to be his friend. That was all he needed at the time. Besides, if she and Tommy had any chance of being a couple, she most certainly did not want to be his rebound girl. Besides, it didn't matter anyway, she was the girl who got the first and last dance at his dinner date, and she wouldn't have had it any other way. That was the moment that she began to realize that it was all possible. Being there with him, at that exact moment...everything felt so right. At any rate, she helped Tommy through his painful breakup, essentially becoming his best friend in the world, and he hers, over time. She loved how he seemed to really open up for her; how he always came to her when he needed someone to talk to. It was the little things that thrilled her. His smile, his laugh... his touch. They always stood so close together that she found it difficult to breathe, let alone think coherently. She loved it all.
Finally, after what felt like forever for her, he acted upon his true feelings. After much persuasion from their friends, Tommy worked up enough nerve to ask her out for the first time. Katherine can still remember how she felt at that exact moment. She was ecstatic, nervous, scared, excited, amazed... all at once. An entire whirl of emotion had overcome her, making her feel as if she could fly. That tends to happen when you get everything that you've always wanted, like Katherine. After their disastrous first date, the two of them spent a lot of time together – alone and with the gang. They grew closer as time passed... as Jason left once more only to be captured soon after, along with Kimberly, by a new evil force, Divatox. At first, Katherine wondered how the return of his ex-girlfriend would effect Tommy; her insecurities couldn't help but rise to the surface as she wondered if he'd suddenly realize that he had made a terrible mistake in choosing Katherine, and leave her for Kim now that she was back in town and geographically desirable. That is, if she had moved on from her 'new love' from the now infamous letter. After all, Tommy and Katherine were still in the early beginnings of their relationship. They had just barely began to get their feet up off the ground, before Kimberly came blowing back through town. Even so, she would never admit that she wondered these things, instead she just played it by ear. However, all those insecurities were washed away as he ran and hugged her at the end of the Karate match in which Jason, Adam, and he had won a significantly large check for the Little Angel's Haven shelter home – the home that Katherine volunteered at. He hadn't even so much as glanced at Kim, and the moment he wrapped his arms around her, Katherine knew that as lame as the saying may sound, he only had eyes for her. Kimberly was his past, Katherine was his future.
With Divatox's arrival, Katherine and the others had created the Turbo powers to defend Earth shortly after Rocky's injury and ultimate departure from the team. Justin, an eleven year old boy became the blue ranger, and Katherine, as well as the others, began to look after him as his father wasn't around much. It was odd how attached they all got to him. He turned out to be a pretty great kid and a decent ranger... for an eleven year old. Graduation soon arrived where Katherine gave her Valedictorian speech and quickly began student teaching at Angel Grove High. She had decided that teaching was the right path for her during her senior year of high school. As it turns out, she was good at it and enjoyed being able to teach students what they needed to know. It made her so incredibly happy when she saw students understanding and getting what she was trying to say to them. So that's what she stuck with... for the time being anyway. She still had her responsibilities as a ranger so she couldn't exactly head off to college right away. Missing classes and being late on assignments... there would be no possible way for her to maintain a good GPA and stay a ranger. So the rangers put their dreams and futures on hold for the time being. The turbo team grew stronger as they fought Divatox and her minions, but it was soon time for the four older rangers to move on with their lives and pass their powers on to a group of successors.
It was during this time that Katherine finally found the time to seriously think about college and her future. Her relationship with Tommy had deepened a great deal, but her acceptance to a dance school in London changed everything. She went, but her and Tommy were good, which was ironic to her seeing as how she had thought it was ridiculous for Kim and Tommy to even try. Then again, Kat and Tommy weren't barely sixteen-years-old. What they had wasn't high school puppy love. They were in a very mature, adult relationship; it was loves true form, and they both knew that. They wanted to fight for what they had with everything they could, so they stayed together, jumping on and off of planes - visiting each other on every holiday (Kat usually flying back to America considering her parents resided there). They were completely in love. They even got engaged after a few years passed by, but that all changed the fateful day she received his phone call. He had offered no real explanation, just stating over and over that it was all for the best - that she would understand one day, but it broke her heart. Her visits to America became less and less frequent and she began to date other people, but nothing too serious. Tommy had hurt her deeply, leaving a very deep scar on her heart. She continued to dance but also pursued a degree in education (English in particular). Over time, her dancing died down, though her passion for it did not. She instead turned her focus on teaching – a career she could see herself with for the rest of her life – before she moved back to the states to be closer to her family.
It was around then that she got her teaching job at Reefside High where she was abruptly thrown back into Tommy Oliver's life. It had all been very coincidental. She hadn't talked to or about Tommy in a long time. He was no longer a part of her life, so she felt no need to. However, seeing him, actually physically seeing him, hit her like a ton of bricks. Now, secrets have been revealed which changes things slightly, allowing the two to put aside their differences just in time for the two of them to become part of the newest team of Power Rangers – which was the only thing in the world that was more shocking to Katherine than having Tommy suddenly fall back into her life. Even so, agreeing to be a part of the same team forces Tommy and Katherine to put aside their differing feelings and become friends all over again as they suit up once more to save the world from evil.
Katherine, while a little rusty, is the most experienced ranger after Tommy, which gives her a sense of authority in the team. Second in command, if you will. She's stronger now... she's lived longer. She's loved, lost, yearned for... All of this life experience somehow made her more independent. However, no matter how many changes she's been through, how many places and cultures that she's lived in, she's still the same sweet Katherine that she was seven years ago. She loves dancing, teaching, and helping others just as much now as she did back then if not even more... yet she is different too. She fights with more fierce and anger; she's stronger now than she has ever been. Now, while Kat is adjusting to being a ranger all over again, she still has to face the even more challenging obstacles that life is throwing at her.
KAT HILLARD - PINK RANGER
Portrayed By Catherine Sutherland
BIRTHDATE: August 17th 1979
RELATIONS: Mother - Jane Hillard; Father - Mark Hillard
PREVIOUS RANGER FORMS: Pink Ninjetti Ranger, Zeo I Pink, Pink Turbo Ranger
CURRENT RANGER FORM: Pink Fusion Ranger (Tiger Ranger)
ZORD: Tiger Zord
WEAPON: Fusion Bow
ELEMENT/SPECIAL ABILITIES: Wind, Flight
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Pink Tornado Spin