The Warriors: Hey, That Was Trini!

Whenever I'd see some great movie over the weekend, I'd always talk to my friends in school the following day about it, and I remember gushing incessantly about some urban sci-fi fantasy I'd just seen on cable called The Warriors. Though a heralded classic nowadays, back then it was this little known and very strange movie with carnival-esque gangs fighting each other over turf, murder and revenge in a quasi-futuristic New York all set to the tunes of cool rock n roll music! But it was a hit among us kids, and back then cable showed the same movies over and over so everyone got a chance to see 'em!

Indeed, one of my classmates named Ross had already seen it, and said, "The Warriors? Yeah, it's cool- Gramercy Riffs and Baseball Furies, right? Cyrus and CAN YOU DIG IT?!" 

I agreed and then he added, " I liked the part where the Rogue dude threw the candy bar at Trini from 3-2-1 Contact!" "Eh?" I laughed. What was he talking about?!

In the scene, the Rogues have just killed Cyrus, a huge leader figure in the gang world and have placed the blame on the Warriors. But the heat is coming down on them and the other members are starting to worry.  In front of a newsstand, they discuss their future while helping themselves to the candy there. As they walk off, the girl running the stand says, "Hey, what about the money you owe?" to which the Rogue guy throws the candy at her and yells "FER WHAAATTT!"

A great scene, and I had to laugh, because the girl DID look a LOT like the aforementioned Trini, she  of course one of the three hosts (along with Marc and Lisa) of the PBS science-oriented kids show 3-2-1- Contact! back in the 80's...

I didn't think it was ACTUALLY her, (not that there was really any way I could find out back in those early non-internet years) but always laughed whenever that scene came on and thought of my classmate enjoying the candy fiasco and how funny it would be if it really WAS Trini!

Fast forward to 2025 and for some reason the Warriors crosses my mind and that mystery girl, and I realize that with the power of Google-Fu, I can FINALLY  find out just who she actually is!

Going onto Google, I type in "3-2-1 Contact, Trini" and it immediately comes up with "Trini: Played by Ginny Ortiz". With that info, I open a new window, and, feeling rather foolish, type in: "Ginny Ortiz, The Warriors". I hit 'enter" and...WHADDAYA KNOW:

Holy HECK, It totally WAS Trini running that Newsstand! WHAAAA! Guess my classmate really had an eagle eye for details ...or just really liked 3-2-1 Contact...(or Trini, for that matter!) HAHAHA, This is a mystery I've wondered about for YEARS that has been waiting to be solved! So COOL to find out, YEP, it's HER! Ain't technology grand??

I do think it's funny that in her credits, The Warriors is listed FIRST, and 3-2-1 Contact isn't mentioned at all! Guess her brief appearance is the highlight of her career!