Ralph Macchio's Children Love Watching 'Cobra Kai'

Let me tell you something fascinating. Ralph Macchio, the man who brought Daniel LaRusso to life in the 1984 classic The Karate Kid, now has kids who are older than he was back then when he first made that film. Isn’t that wild? His kids, Julia, 27, and Daniel, 23, are huge fans of Cobra Kai, the YouTube Premium series that revisits Ralph's beloved character and his old rival, Johnny Lawrence, played by William Zabka. The show picks up 35 years after the original movie's climactic fight scene.

Ralph, who’s now 57, opened up to Closer Weekly about how his children feel about the series. “They absolutely adore it,” he said during the Paley Center for Media season 2 premiere of Cobra Kai. “They organize watch parties with their friends. And you know, to sit on the couch and watch this with them, knowing that it’s something I did when I was younger than they are, it’s truly special. It’s like reliving a part of my life through their eyes.”

Ageless Good Looks: A Blessing and a Curse

Ralph Macchio has managed to maintain that youthful charm, and he admits that while it’s been a double-edged sword at times, it’s definitely paying off now. “Right now, it’s a blessing,” he says. “But maybe 10 or 15 years ago, when I was trying to break out of playing characters who were 16, it was kind of a curse. But hey, considering the alternative, I’ll take it.”

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The Timeless Appeal of 'The Karate Kid'

In a recent interview with ScreenRant, Ralph spoke about how much he loved making The Karate Kid because the movie tackled universal issues like bullying. “That’s the magic of The Karate Kid—it connected with people on a real, relatable level,” he explained. “Daniel Russo was the everyday kid next door. And honestly, that’s one of the things I’m most proud of with that character—he was relatable in a way that made it seem like he had no business winning anything. But he did.”