The high kicking, speed jabbing martial arts series of Cobra Kai is back with fans from around the world ready for the next installment of light-hearted action, but there’s little known about some of the main actors from the show including Ralph Macchio.
The actor, who surprises fans with his youthful looks at 62 years old, plays Daniel LaRusso – the Italian-American character who fans will remember from the original Karate Kid movies from the ’80s – he moved from the east coast to California and discovered a lot when he got there – his first love, bully and mentor.
Starring alongside other fan favourites from the original action-packed films such as William Zabka who plays Johnny Lawrence and Martin Kove who plays John Kreese, Ralph might be well known as top sensei of Miyagi-Do in the show but in real life, Ralph enjoys keeping himself and his personal life in the shadows.
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CURTIS BONDS BAKER/NETFLIX)
After decades out of the spotlight, Ralph karate-kicked his way back onto our screens in 2018 with the very first episode of Cobra Kai, bringing back memories for fans of all ages and reviving the Karate Kid story for new generation of viewers.
He even admitted to The Guardian in 2022, that “it’s extraordinary how things have come around.”
Born in Long Island and the second son of an Italian-American family who ran laundromats and a trucking business, he had always loved acting and musicals. His older brother, Steven, joined the family businesses but Ralph wanted to carve out something for himself.
And he did. By the time he was in the latter years of being a teenager, Ralph had a bubblegum advert, a movie and a whole US sitcom season under his belt. He briefly moved to Los Angeles after landing a lead role in The Outsiders but Long Island was calling him back for one good reason.
Ralph had already met his future wife, Phyllis, back in Long Island, locking eyes over a bowl of sweets – American Tootsie Rolls – at a birthday party in someone’s basement. Luckily, by the time he was in the running for the main role in The Karate Kid in 1982, he had moved back to Long Island – in part because his relationship with Phyllis had grown more serious.
The pair married young and are still going strong today – married for 37 years. He said: “Marriage is work. A relationship is always work. But having someone to take the journey with? Be understood by, at the deepest level? The totality of that is special.”
The couple went on to have two children. His daughter Julia is now an actor and a dancer and his son ironically named Daniel, works in data analysis.
But there are plenty more unknowns about the actor. His best friend Stan was his body double in the Karate Kid days, he was involved in major first conversations about starring in Back to the Future, and the ‘beef’ between him and on-screen co-star William, who played Johnny was partly real.
When filming first began on The Karate Kid they never fully warmed to one another after an accident on-set while filming the Halloween fight scene. Ralph was knocked out cold, which helped make the bubbling tension between the two even better on screen – and fans loved it.
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©Columbia Pictures/courtesy Everett Co / Everett Collection)
Luckily the two met again at the funeral of Pat Morita, who played Mr Miyagi, in 2005 and let bygones be bygones.
He went on to film The Karate Kid Part II in Japan, starred in a Broadway play with Robert De Niro and voiced a Saturday morning animated version of Karate Kid where he travelled around European capitals on a motorbike, fighting evil magicians.
There have been some big misses over the years, too. He turned down a part in Running on Empty, that allowed the late River Phoenix to sweep in for the role and receive an Oscar nomination for his part, and in 1994 he filmed several episodes of a show that was never broadcast. That same summer, a famous sitcom about six close pals living in New York was released – Friends – alongside a hospital emergency room drama set in Chicago – ER – but somehow Ralph never landed any of them.
The Macchios still live in Long Island but also enjoy time in their summer house in another part of New York, called ‘the house the 1980s built.’ He enjoys days spent renovating it when he’s not filming.
He also has an autobiography Waxing On which tells the story of his fast rise in the 1980s, his leaner spell of acting in the ’90s before his sudden revival into pop culture now.
Source: Mirror
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