Ralph Macchio’s New Memoir Goes Behind the Scenes of The Karate Kid, Cobra Kai
The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai fans, this one’s for you: Long Island actor Ralph Macchio’s debut memoir Waxing On: The Karate Kid and Me hits bookstands on Oct. 18.
In this autobiographical release from Penguin Random House, Macchio tells his story of growing up on Long Island and rising to fame on the big screen, mainly through the lens of his character, Daniel LaRusso, in the 1984 film The Karate Kid and most recently in the Netflix series that revisits LaRusso’s story, Cobra Kai.
“I wanted to dive into telling the story of walking in the shoes of this Daniel LaRusso character and everything I’ve gained from it,” Macchio said in a recent interview on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. “It’s equal parts nostalgia and contemporary relevance. It’s very rare to have something that I made in 1983 that is relevant today because you folks won’t let it go away, and it’s awesome.”
Macchio grew up in the Town of Huntington and still lives on Long Island with his family. He’ll make an appearance at a sold-out Madison Theatre at Molloy University on Oct. 17 to promote Waxing On.
The original Karate Kid film spawned two sequels and now a television series continuation of the crazy karate saga. Cobra Kai brings back many original cast members from the first three films, including William Zabka as Johnny Lawrence and Martin Kove as John Kreese. It also features another Long Islander, actress and Huntington resident Courtney Henggeler, playing LaRusso’s wife, Amanda LaRusso.
Season 4 of Cobra Kai is streaming on Netflix, and Waxing On is available Oct. 18 online and in bookstores.
