“The Karate Kid” and “Cobra Kai” star Ralph Macchio turned 64 in 2025 — but you’d never guess that based on his age-defying boyish good looks. In fact, the veteran actor has spent the majority of his career playing characters that are much younger than he is in real life. For instance, Macchio was actually 21 when he played 16-year-old gentle-hearted greaser Johnny Cade in 1983’s “The Outsiders,” which is loosely based on a true story. This coming-of-age film, based on the S.E. Hinton book of the same name, is about two rival Oklahoma gangs who get into a deadly brawl with serious consequences in the 1960s.
The Francis Ford Coppola-directed film helped launch Macchio’s career alongside other rising stars at the time like Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, and Tom Cruise, who all went on to become household names. Of course, not every young actor who featured in the film went on to achieve stardom (for more details, here’s what happened to the cast of “The Outsiders”), but Macchio was one of the lucky ones. “The Outsiders” is still one of his most iconic films: As Johnny Cade, Macchio uttered the gut-wrenchingly famous line “Stay gold, Ponyboy” when saying goodbye to C. Thomas Howell’s uniquely named character.
Macchio also played a teen in The Karate Kid
Starring in “The Outsiders” kicked off a prolific era for Macchio, who just one year later became a household name as the crane-kicking Daniel LaRusso in the ’80s classic “The Karate Kid.” He once again played a younger character: When the first film in the enduring franchise was released in 1984, Macchio was 22 years old while his karate-chopping character was 17 and still in high school.
Macchio went on to star in two “Karate Kid” sequels and he resurrected the cherished character many years later for the wildly popular sequel series “Cobra Kai,” which ran from 2018 to 2025, and the film “Karate Kid: Legends,” which dropped to mixed reviews in 2025 — it has a critical rating of just 58% on Rotten Tomatoes, but general viewers loved it, as the film’s 90% audience score proves.
To date, the “Karate Kid” franchise — which also includes two non-Macchio-starring reboots — has brought in over $720 million at the global box office. As such, “The Karate Kid” and “Cobra Kai” have overshadowed most of Macchio’s other acting roles, including “The Outsiders,” but he also had notable roles in 1992’s “My Cousin Vinny” and the popular TV series “Ugly Betty,” among numerous other film and TV credits.