Best known for her portrayal of the evil sorceress Rita Repulsa from the 1993 “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” TV series, Filipino-American actress Carla Perez will be in town late this month to grace “ToyCon Philippines 2017 + Pop Life FanXperience” toys and hobbies convention.
Carla was actually the second actress to portray the iconic villain in the widely popular superhero series that originally ran for three seasons and later spawned several spin-offs, a videogame franchise, and three Hollywood film adaptations.
The former beauty queen who won Mutya ng Pilipinas Globe in 1990 took over the role originated by the late Japanese actress Machiko Soga in the second season of the original series. She went on to play Rita Repulsa (voiced by Barbara Goodson) in most of the “Power Rangers” incarnations.
Aside from the original “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” series, Carla has also played Rita Repulsa in “Power Rangers Zeo,” “Power Rangers in Space,” “Power Rangers DinoThunder,” “Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie,” “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers-Ninja Quest” (released only on video) and “Lord Zedd’s Monster Heads: The Greatest Villains of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” video short.
Although she has embraced the role and in fact uses the handle @realritarepulsa in her Twitter and Instagram pages, Carla has done a lot of other things over the course of her career. While working on the first “Power Rangers” series, she also had a recurring role as Ziktor’s Beauty on another popular children’s series in the 1990s, “V.R. Troopers.”
This year, she was cast as one of the leads in the independently produced film, “False Affairs.” Based in Orange Country, California, Carla has a degree in computer programming and loves technology. Apart from Rita Repulsa, her favorite role is that of loving wife to husband Matthew Camarillo and mother to their nine-year old daughter.
She continues to make the rounds of comic and toy conventions in the U.S. and the rest of the world and is thrilled that the recent blockbuster Hollywood reboot of “Power Rangers” (where Rita Repulsa was played by Elizabeth Banks) has brought renewed interest in the franchise in general and her character in particular.
Talking about her portrayal of Rita Repulsa during her appearance at the Lexington Comic and Toy Convention last year, Carla insisted that they really didn’t have anything in common.
“I’m really not anything like my character. I’m nothing like her and people are so surprised because she’s so evil. And I just like to spread love,” she quipped.
Carla will be appearing at “ToyCon Philippines 2017 + Pop Life FanXperience” along with other guests, namely Charlie Bewley (vampire Dmitri) from the “Twilight” movie franchise, Lindsay Mckeon (Tessa the Reaper) from the hit TV series “Supernatural,” Karen Fukuhara (Katana) from “Suicide Squad,” Stefan Capicic (Colossus) from “Deadpool,” Cas Anvar (the voice of Altair) in “Assassins Creed: Revelations,” and Kevin McNally (Joshamee Gibbs) from the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies.
During the event which takes place at the SMX Convention Center from June 30 to July 2, Carla will have her own meet and greet sessions to be organized by Bully Boy Collectibles.
Co-presented by Globe, “ToyCon Philippines 2017 + Pop Life FanXperience” is organized by the Asian Comics, Toys & Hobbies Collective Inc. and Pop Life Entertainment.
Watch Carla Perez invite her Filipino fans to see her in “ToyCon Philippines 2017 + Pop Life FanXperience” here:
See you in the PHILIPPINES #toyconphilippines #bullyboycollectibles #poplifefanxperience #filipina #pinoy pic.twitter.com/rr3Oxz72NH
— Carla Perez (@RealRitaRepulsa) June 16, 2017