William Zabka was born on October 20, 1965 in New York, New York. His parents were both involved in the film industry in various capacities. During Johnny Carson’s first two seasons as host, his father worked as an associate director on “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.”
Zabka’s Early Life
In his late teens, William began performing. His first formal appearance was on the television show “The Greatest American Hero.” A year later, William earned the job that would make him famous for the rest of his life: Johnny Lawrence, the high school bully who menaces Ralph Macchio’s character in “The Karate Kid.” According to mythology, Ralph Macchio told executives that William “scared the heck out of me” during the audition. He had no prior Karate expertise but was a high school wrestler.
Career and Time of Success
The Karate Kid went on to gross $100 million in the United States alone on a $8 million budget, effectively launching a Karate craze worldwide. After being motivated by his experience in the film, William went on to train Tang Soo Do and obtain a second-degree green belt.
Throughout the 1980s, he alternated between film and television roles, appearing in films like “Just One of the Guys,” “National Lampoon’s European Vacation,” “The Karate Kid: Part II,” “The Greatest American Hero,” “E/R,” and “The Equalizer.”
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In the 1990s, he moved his concentration to production, while he continued to feature in films such as “Shootfighter,” “The Power Within,” and “Interceptors” on a regular basis. He wrote and directed the short film “Most” in 2003. The picture went on to be nominated for an Academy Award. He’s also directed a number of music videos. He just returned to acting after a lengthy absence, appearing in an episode of “How I Met Your Mother.”
Cobra Kai
In 2017, William Zabka and Ralph Macchio pitched a new series based on their “Karate Kid” characters to a group of producers. They received bids from a number of studios, including Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and Apple, but chose YouTube Red as the winning bidder. For the first two seasons, both Ralph and William were claimed to have earned $100,000 per episode, which works out to about $1 million per season per person.
They are the project’s co-executive producers. Will Smith has been the series’ executive producer since his firm Overbrook Productions licenced the rights from Jerry Weintraub’s company, Weintraub Entertainment Group.
The first season premiered in May of 2018.
It got tremendous acclaim, but limited viewing because no one has YouTube Red… and no one wants YouTube Red… no matter how many pop-ups and reminders the app tries to bombard you with. Thankfully, the show was finally aired on Netflix in August 2020, where it found a wider audience and quickly became one of the platform’s most popular shows. Netflix will air at least four seasons of the show.
Zabka’s View Over Fifth Season of Cobra Kai
“Trying to uncover your whole self, that’s what all these characters are doing,” “Cobra Kai” star William Zabka said of the fourth season of the Netflix comedy/drama. “I think that’s why the programme is so real and why people are engaging with it,” he says in our latest webchat.
Sure, it has the karate, the nostalgia, and everything else we enjoy. It has these classic characters, but it taps into the human condition in a very authentic way.” Watch our exclusive video interview in the player above. “Cobra Kai,” which is currently in post-production for its fifth season (scheduled to premiere in September), revisits old adversaries Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (Zabka) 35 years after the original 1984 Oscar-nominated hit “The Karate Kid.”
William Zabka Salary and Net Worth
William Zabka is a $3 million net worth American actor, writer, and director. William rose to international prominence after appearing in the 1984 smash “The Karate Kid.” He has gained more recognition and plaudits with the re-launched continuation series “Cobra Kai,” which debuted on YouTube in May 2018 but gained traction when it was added to Netflix in August 2020.