Ralph Macchio

Ralph George Macchio Jr. was born on November 4, 1961, in Huntington, New York, a suburb of New York City. His father, Ralph George Macchio Sr., was of half Italian and half Greek descent and operated laundromats and a wastewater disposal company; his mother, Rosalie, née DeSantis, is of Italian ancestry. Macchio has a younger brother named Steven. He graduated from Half Hollow Hills High School West in Dix Hills, New York, in 1979, and began tap dancing lessons at age three, studying at the June Claire School of Dance in Babylon, Long Island. A talent agent discovered him at age 16.

Macchio's professional career began with a Bubble Yum commercial in 1980, the same year he was cast as Jeremy Andretti in the final season of the television series Eight Is Enough. He went on to portray Johnny Cade in Francis Ford Coppola's 1983 ensemble film adaptation of S. E. Hinton's novel The Outsiders, sharing the screen with Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, Emilio Estevez, Leif Garrett, C. Thomas Howell, Diane Lane, Rob Lowe, and Patrick Swayze. Macchio was 21 years old when he played the 16-year-old Cade. His work in that film led directly to his casting as Daniel LaRusso in the 1984 blockbuster The Karate Kid, in which he was 22 portraying a 17-year-old. The character, a high school student who learns karate from mentor Mr. Miyagi, played by Pat Morita, became the role most closely associated with Macchio's career. He reprised LaRusso in The Karate Kid Part II in 1986 and The Karate Kid Part III in 1989.

Also in 1986, Macchio appeared in the film Crossroads, portraying music student Eugene Martone, and made his Broadway debut in Cuba and His Teddy Bear, starring alongside Robert De Niro. A decade later, in 1996, he returned to Broadway in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, taking on the lead role of J. Pierrepont Finch in the U.S. tour revival of the 1962 Tony Award-winning musical. Macchio noted a personal connection to the show, having performed as a chorister in a high school production of the same musical. His Broadway career spans 1986 to 1996.

In 1992, Macchio starred opposite Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny, playing Billy Gambini, a young man wrongfully accused of murder while passing through a small Alabama town. Additional film credits include Distant Thunder, Naked in New York, A Good Night to Die, Beer League, Too Much Sun, and Up the Academy, the latter two featuring Robert Downey Jr. In 2012, he was cast in the film Hitchcock, portraying Psycho screenwriter Joseph Stefano. On television, Macchio appeared in several episodes of Ugly Betty beginning in October 2008, playing Archie Rodriguez, a local politician and love interest to the character Hilda. From 2017 to 2019, he had a recurring role as Officer Haddix on The Deuce.

From 2018 to 2025, Macchio reprised the role of Daniel LaRusso in Cobra Kai, a martial arts comedy-drama series created by Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg and distributed by Sony Pictures Television. The series premiered on May 2, 2018, originally on YouTube Premium, before moving to Netflix, and concluded on February 13, 2025, after six seasons comprising 65 episodes. For his performance, Macchio received nominations for two Critics' Choice Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award. In 2025, he again played LaRusso in Karate Kid: Legends alongside Jackie Chan, marking his fourth appearance as the character across the film franchise. In 2022, Macchio published a memoir, Waxing On: The Karate Kid and Me, which became a New York Times bestseller.

Beyond acting, Macchio has directed two short films: Love Thy Brother in 2002 and Across the Alley in 2013, both of which won awards at U.S.-based film festivals. In February 2011, he competed on ABC's Dancing with the Stars, reaching the semi-finals and finishing fourth overall. In November 2024, Macchio received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. That same month, he appeared in the music video for the Coldplay song "The Karate Kid" and later joined the band onstage to perform the song during a concert in Melbourne, Australia.

Macchio married Phyllis Fierro on April 5, 1987, having been introduced to her by his grandmother when he was 15. Fierro is a nurse practitioner. The couple have two children, Julia, born in 1992, and Daniel, born in 1996. Julia appeared in seasons four and five of Cobra Kai, portraying a character connected to her father's role in the series.