Ralph Macchio Still Gets a Kick Out of ‘The Karate Kid’ 35 Years Later

It’s hard to believe Ralph Macchio’s children are older than he was when he starred in 1984’s The Karate Kid. Now they’re fans of Cobra Kai, the hit YouTube Premium series that catches up with Ralph’s Daniel LaRusso and his nemesis, Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka), 35 years after their fateful face-off in the first film.

“They love the show,” Ralph, 57, exclusively told Closer Weekly in the magazine’s latest issue, on newsstands now of daughter Julia, 27, and son Daniel, 23, at the Paley Center for Media season 2 premiere of Cobra Kai. “They have watch parties with their friends. To sit on the couch and watch this with them, knowing it’s something that I did when I was younger than they were, it’s pretty special.”

Ralph has never lost his boyish good looks, and he admits that has been a curse as well as a blessing at times over the years. “Right now it’s a blessing,” he says. “It was a curse maybe 10 or 15 years ago when I was still trying to graduate out of playing 16, but considering the alternative, I guess it’s a good thing.”

In a recent interview with ScreenRant, Ralph explained that he loved filming The Karate Kid because the movie talked about important issues in life like bullying. “That’s the beauty of what happened with the release of The Karate Kid back in 1984 and still to this day is that people connect. It connects on a level. It’s relatable,” he said. “Daniel Russo was the every kid next door. And I think that’s one of the things I’m most proud of with that character is he was relatable in a way that he kind of had no business winning anything.”

“So we all felt that we walked in those shoes and we felt the outsider or the fish out of water or the diminutive one and a social environment,” he continued. “And yet, obviously with the magic of the Han Yoda, as I call them, Mister Miyagi character, which is part of the wish fulfillment and the aspirational element of the film and the story there is that, that inner confidence that he gains.”

For more on Ralph Macchio, pick up the latest issue of Closer Weekly, on newsstands now — and be sure to sign up for our newsletter for more exclusive news!

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