FOURTEEN years and 28 roles on, actress Amy Jo Johnson is still being stopped on the street and asked: 'Hey, aren't you the Pink Ranger?'
 
It's no wonder, considering the range of B-movies and TV roles she's done since then, excluding a nice stint on Felicity as guitar-strumming Julie Emrick.

But Pink Ranger she is no more, thanks to a new role on Flashpoint, a Canadian cop drama revolving around an elite tactical police unit.

The series was such a hit that it was brought over to the US, to air on the CBS network in a timeslot between Ghost Whisperer and Numb3rs. It's showing here on Universal Channel (StarHub Ch 99) on Wednesdays at 9pm.

In her new acting gig, Johnson, 39, may not be wearing a shiny pink suit but she's still kicking butt as sniper Jules Callaghan.

Speaking to The New Paper over the phone from her home in Massachusetts, Johnson said she very nearly didn't take the role when she found out she was expecting after she'd auditioned.

'Who does a show like this pregnant right?' she said, laughing.

But her reservations were dismissed by fiance Oliver Giner, who encouraged her to take the job.

'I hadn't acted for about two years, and I was kind of itching to do something, so he said I should go for it, baby or no baby!'

Exhausted

 
But how does one hide a growing belly while in police uniform?

By always being in bulky bullet proof vests and carrying heavy-looking firearms all the time.

But while the bulge was easily disguised, her exhaustion was not.

'It was definitely very challenging, filming while being five, six months pregnant,' she said.

She gave birth to a girl, Francesca, last December.

Of motherhood, Johnson said it is 'the most amazing, fantastic experience I've ever had'. She said: 'It's really nice - I've always wanted to have a girl and play house.'

And she's serious about the playing house bit - Johnson and her fiance do not have a babysitter, and have no intentions to hire one, even though mummy has returned to work and daddy is a stage actor.

'We do everything ourselves,' she said. 'It's been okay so far, so I think we'll continue like this.'

When news of the birth was announced on website Celebrity Baby Blog, the well-wishes poured in, with the usual references to her Power Rangers days.

She laughs over it now, but she was once ashamed of it, telling music channel VH1 that she would 'never live it down'.

But since then, Johnson has tried hard to branch out into other things, especially music. She's released two albums independently, The Trans-American Treatment (2001) and Imperfect (2005). One of her songs was used on Flashpoint.

But now, Johnson says she's experimenting with being an author.

When she took a break from acting for two years before Flashpoint, she wrote an expose of her time as an actress in Los Angeles. Though the novel is done, she said it won't be published anytime soon.

'The book is so incredibly personal, so I decided not to pursue it further,' she said. The novel, she said, explained her reasons for leaving LA in 2006, when she 'got tired of the scene'.

We may still be able to see her name on a book one day - Johnson says she may write another book, but promises it will be 'completely fiction'.

And, she says, she hasn't completely shelved the idea of publishing that tell-all book.

'Maybe in 10 years, when people won't care so much.'

This article was first published in The New Paper