Ralph Macchio
American actor, the portrayer of Daniel LaRusso in the Karate Kid films and the series Cobra Kai, who earned a legitimate karate black belt in April 2025.
Quick Facts
United StatesBiography
Ralph Macchio was born on 4 November 1961 in Huntington, New York. He has been a professional actor since 1980. He is associated with martial arts through the role of Daniel LaRusso, which he played in four films over four decades: Karate Kid (1984), Karate Kid Part II (1986), Karate Kid Part III (1989) and Karate Kid: Legends (2025), in the last one alongside Jackie Chan.
In elementary school he learned a little karate and jiu-jitsu. Before filming Karate Kid he underwent training in the Okinawan style Goju-ryu. He earned a legitimate karate black belt only in April 2025, more than forty years after the first film. In May 2025, at the premiere of Karate Kid: Legends, he and Jackie Chan received honorary black belts from the World Karate Federation.
In the first film, at the age of 22, he played the seventeen-year-old Daniel, a student of Mr. Miyagi, whose balanced philosophy stands against the aggressive style of Cobra Kai sensei John Kreese. The fights were choreographed by Pat E. Johnson, a Tang Soo Do black belt, who also played the tournament referee in the film; Pat Morita as Mr. Miyagi was doubled in stunt scenes by the karateka Fumio Demura.
He reprised the role of Daniel LaRusso in the series Cobra Kai, which ran from 2018 to February 2025 in six seasons of 65 episodes; he directed one of them, Sleeper. In 2022 he published the bestselling memoir Waxing On: The Karate Kid and Me. He also made and directed two award-winning short films.
Ranks and titles
- Black beltKarate · 2025
Filmography
A screen role does not mean the person actually practises the art — that is listed above.