The Netflix series “Cobra Kai” imagines what everyone’s favorite “Karate Kid” adversaries would be like as adults with kids of their own. Daniel LaRusso, played by Ralph Macchio, has a happy family when the story of redemption and reluctance to forgive starts. But when his daughter Sam LaRusso (Mary Mouser), takes up the sport that made him a local star, her Miyagi-Do lessons about unity and patience don’t help her much when the karate craze at her school causes her a lot of trouble.
Mouser says that even when the “Cobra Kai” cameras are not rolling, Macchio treats her like a daughter. “I was so scared that I had to have him come kill a bug in my apartment,” she said at FanFest in 2018. “When I had a cold, he sent me text messages telling me to stay inside and keep warm. Much like Daniel’s karate moves, Ralph’s expert parenting skills come from experience. When he began playing the father of a teen girl on “Cobra Kai,” his own daughter, Julia Macchio, was well into adulthood. Ralph told BBC News in 2022 about how young he still looked, “I’ve had it my whole life, which is both a blessing and a curse. Now that I’m over 60, it’s not as much of a curse.” Ralph had trouble getting the more mature roles he wanted after “The Karate Kid” because he looked so young, but we think his daughter, who looks just like him, is glad she got his genes.
Ralph Macchio and Julia Macchio played relatives on Cobra Kai
Just like Sam LaRusso, Julia Macchio found out that she and her father liked the same things. Julia started her own acting career when she got a part in the 2012 comedy “Girl Most Likely.” She worked with big names like Kristen Wiig, Annette Bening, Matt Dillon, and Natasha Lyonne in her first movie. After that, she had a few more roles, and almost a decade after her first movie role, she got to act with her dad in “Cobra Kai.”
Julia was a great choice to play Daniel LaRusso’s cousin Vanessa because she looked just like Vanessa. Julia looks a lot like her dad. She has big brown eyes, a warm smile, and dark hair. Julia told the “Cobra Kai Kompanion” podcast that she was inspired to act by Marissa Tomei in “My Cousin Vinny” when she was getting ready to play a college student studying to be a child psychologist. (On the show, Vanessa is even compared to Marisa Tomei.)
Julia says that she and her dad have a strong bond. Some kids might find it weird or annoying to work with their parents, but she said that her close relationship with Ralph made it easier for her to do her job on the set of “Cobra Kai.” “We’re so comfortable there that we can really play around,’ she told “Cobra Kai Nation. ” Ralph told People what he thought about Julia’s performance: “She did an excellent job. That day, I was the proudest dad on set.”
Julia Macchio and Ralph Macchio can both dance
Fans of “Dancing with the Stars” might remember that Ralph Macchio and his pro partner Karina Smirnoff did a great job on the show in 2011, when they finished fourth. Ralph played the lead in a touring production of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” in the 1990s, which was a long time before that. Ralph started dancing when he was only three years old, so one of the hardest things for him to do was to make it look like he wasn’t a pro.
She proved that she had inherited her dad’s talent by getting the lead role in a touring production of “Flashdance,” a musical based on the classic movie that came out a year before “The Karate Kid.” In 2015, Julia told The Times that her character, Alex Owens, a welder whose dream is to become a professional ballerina, was easy for her to relate to. She said, “I’m proud that I’ve worked for everything I have.” “Nobody ever gave me anything.”
Julia doesn’t want anyone to think that her acting career has been helped by her family, but she did let Ralph tag along when her show went on tour in New Zealand. At that point, her proud father told the NZ Herald that he had seen the musical more than six times.
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