TMNT II Stuntmen Reflect on Playing Tokka and Rahzar 35 Years Later

Thirty-five years after the release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze on March 22, 1991, the men who wore the suits for Tokka and Rahzar looked back on the unusual jobs that made them minor movie monsters. Creators replaced Bebop and Rocksteady with a snapping turtle and a wolf for the sequel, and those new villains were realized by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop as practical foam latex suits.

Inside those costumes were veteran stuntmen Kurt Bryant as Tokka and Mark Ginther as Rahzar; Frank Welker supplied both characters’ voices. Bryant had previously performed stunts in Die Hard and Ghostbusters II, and Ginther would later play Lord Zedd in Power Rangers.

Both men found time in their busy stunt schedules to join a Zoom call and reminisce about the experience. The audition and fitting process leaned heavily on size and physical work. Ginther noted that his 6'5" height helped secure the part, while Bryant said a friend urged him to wear lifts to register taller during the tryout.

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