cobra kai's cast includes veterans from
the original films as well as a roster
of younger actors but how close are
their real-life ages to those of the
characters they portray
we've got the answers you're looking for
and some may surprise you
robert downey jr charlie sheen emilio
estevez and nicholas cage were all
reportedly considered for the role of
the karate kid himself daniel larusso
luckily for ralph macchio his
performance in francis ford coppola as
the outsiders left an impression on
casting director bonnie timmerman
and he got the nod for the karate kid
machio was a little older than the
aforementioned actors at 22 but his
babyface meant he was able to pull off
playing a high school student with ease
those youthful looks made it tricky to
land adult roles in the years that
followed but they've also allowed him to
remain recognizable as larusso
and that's not a bad thing the new
yorker's evergreen looks are why so many
people are double taking when they first
sit down to watch cobra kai
believe it or not he'll turn 60 in 2021
the year the third season premieres
the karate kid producers wanted an
unknown actor for the part of johnny
lawrence koberkai's top student
and daniel larusso's worst nightmare the
obnoxious ex-boyfriend of daniel's love
interest ally mills has developed into a
more sympathetic character since the
first film but back then he really was
the worst
in fact william zabka was so good at
making johnny unlikable that the live
audience brought in for the karate kids
final tournament scene actually started
booing him
with cobra kai zabko was given the
chance to redeem the character
something he's actually been doing in
person for over three decades
he told the new york post i'm older now
so i don't look exactly like the 18 year
old johnny but a lot of people would
come up to me over the years like
oh you're that jerk you're that bad guy
and i would defend johnny
the actor turns 55 in october 2020 and
he's definitely still got the moves
in the karate kid part 2 we learned that
daniel larusso's first love ally mills
had wrecked his car and run off with a
football player so it isn't all that
surprising that the character hasn't yet
been brought back for cobra kai
in her place is daniel larusso's
straight talking wife amanda larusso
portrayed by courtney hangler she was
actually on the verge of quitting acting
when she heard about the audition and
luckily for her her husband talked her
into going
before long she was rubbing shoulders
with the idols of her childhood
she told daily actor i met ralph macchio
at the screen test but that's all a blur
to me because i was terrified and then a
week later i got the phone call
you're moving to atlanta in three days
pack up your family there was no time to
even think
she admitted to feeling a bit like an
imposter to begin with though
considering she's supposed to be playing
a woman in her mid-40s that's
understandable
tangler was born in 1981 and she was
only 36 years old when the first season
of cobra kai premiered
martin cove beat out competition from
christopher walken kurt russell harvey
keitel jeff bridges and leonard nimoy
for the role of cobra kai sensei john
crease
an unhinged vietnam war vet and the
overarching villain of the franchise
to get in the right shape and the right
mindset cove shadowed choreographer and
real-life tournament referee pat
johnson who learned martial arts while
stationed in korea with the us army and
later worked with action star chuck
norris
cove picked up more than a couple of
techniques from his mentor
after spending some time in his company
the actor decided that johnson was so
much like crease that he essentially
just needed to mimic him
it seems to have worked as the actor
manages to be just as
if not more imposing in cobra kai
despite being in his golden years
i founded kobrakai
it belongs to me it always has
cove turned 74 in march 2020 but still
has multiple projects in various stages
of production and clearly doesn't plan
on slowing down
tanner buchanan was introduced to the
world of the karate kid by his mother
a black belt in the discipline and a
super fan of the movie buchanan never
got into martial arts himself as a child
but his skill set of gymnastics and
dance meant he was able to adapt to
koberkai's fight choreography with
relative ease
robbie keane is supposed to be an 18
year old in the show but buchanan was
older than that when the first episode
dropped
he turns 22 in december 2020 and with
his mixture of good looks athleticism
and acting chops will most likely be
around for years to come
jolo meridueno is best known as victor
from nbc's parenthood prior to landing
the part of 18 year old miguel miggy
diaz on cobra kai
miggy's neighbor on the show is william
zabka's johnny lawrence who molds the
teen into the top student at the dojo
it's clear from interviews that the
stars of the original movie franchise
have been going out of their way to make
the younger castmates feel at home
and if anyone needs an arm around his
shoulder it's maraduena unlike most of
the kids on the show he's actually
around the same age as his character
he was just 17 when the first season of
cobra kai premiered but despite his
tender years he's become one of the
show's standouts and a firm fan favorite
arkansas native mary mouser had never
seen the karate kid when she auditioned
for the part of samantha larusso
daughter of ralph macchio's daniel
larusso
when she landed the role she decided it
would be wise to familiarize herself
with her new on-screen father's
backstory
she told brief take i sat down with my
boyfriend and binge watched the movies
i loved them i ended up watching them
about five more times over filming the
course of the show
think i'm a bit of a fan girl the late
pat morita's mr miyagi struck a
particular chord with the young actor
reminding her of a mentor that she once
had she recalled
i had a great experience on a show i was
on called body of proof
i worked with desperate housewives star
dana delaney for three years and for the
duration of my 14 year old self to my 17
year old self and all the things i went
through in that period i consider her
family to me
by the time she was cast as 18 year old
samantha larusso on cobra kai she had
more than enough experience to handle
the demanding role
mouser turned 22 in may 2018 when the
first episode of the sequel series
dropped online
she can still pull off being a student
but she'll be in her mid-20s come the
end of 2021 when the third season of the
show is scheduled to air
jacob bertrand's eli moskowitz has been
on quite the roller coaster ride in the
first two seasons of cobra kai
after seeing miggy use his karate to
deal with multiple assailants eli
decides to join the cobra kai dojo so he
can learn the same techniques
but when he does the power ends up going
to his head he goes from being a bullied
kid to the one doing the bullying
an aspect of the character that the
actor really enjoys bertrand told
showbiz junkies
i think that it's harder for those kids
because they have so much aggression
from being bullied
they want payback hawk is very different
from the characters bertrand has played
in the past
the youngstar is used to being
recognized for his work in children's tv
but is now enjoying the fact that he has
some cross-generational appeal
he said at wondercon 2019 i did a lot of
like disney channel nickelodeon stuff
before cobra kai so my fan base was a
lot of younger like
12 year old girls and younger boys now
it's like 40 year old dudes who are like
dude you're so badass so i like that
aspect like my dad's era
being a 40 year old dude apparently
makes you an old man in bertrand's eyes
but that's because he's half that age
the affable actor celebrated his 20th
birthday in 2020.
one of the youngest cobra kai cast
members gianni dicenzo had not long
turned 16 when he auditioned for the
role of jaded social outcast dimitri
the third student to join daniel
larusso's revamped miyagi doe karate
dojo
like his co-star courtney hangler
dicenzo was cast very late in the game
and had to jump in at the deep end
he told cobra kai companion they had
sent me the script a couple of days
before the actual audition i went in and
literally two days later they called me
and said hey you're going to georgia
dimitri is 17 years old on the show so
dicenzo doesn't have to try too hard to
put himself in that high school mindset
his character starts out as a friend of
jacob bertrand's eli but when eli gets
in with the cobra kai lot and transforms
into vengeful bully talk they drift
apart
after a second ill-fated attempt at
joining cobra kai himself dimitri
decides that daniel larusso's teaching
methods are far more suited to him
when he finally faces hawk in season 2
he proves that he made the right choice
sending his ex-pal flying into a trophy
cabinet with a kick
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