Key facts
- Born
- William Michael Zabka , ( 1965-10-20 ) October 20, 1965 (age 60) , New York City, New York , U.S.
- Education
- California State University, Northridge (dropped out)
- Occupation
- Actor
- Years active
- 1982–present
- Spouse
- Stacie ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 2008 )
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- William
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- New York City
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Field of work
- martial arts
- Country for sport
- United States
- Image
- William Zabka by Gage Skidmore.jpg
- Number of children
- 2
Show 5 more facts
- ethnic group
- Czech Americans
- date of birth
- 1965-10-20
- Commons category
- William Zabka
- nominated for
- Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film
- start of work period
- 1983-00-00
Sources (8)
via Wikidata · CC0
~8 min read
Encyclopedic overview
William Michael Zabka (/ˈzæbkə/; born October 20, 1965) is an American actor. He is best known for his role of Johnny Lawrence in The Karate Kid (1984), The Karate Kid Part II (1986), and the TV series Cobra Kai (2018–2025).
Zabka's career took off with The Karate Kid, despite having no prior karate training. During the 1980s, he appeared in the films Just One of the Guys (1985), Back to School (1986), and the television series The Equalizer (1986–1989). In the 1990s and 2000s, Zabka focused on independent films and filmmaking. In 2004, he was nominated for an Academy Award for co-writing and producing the short film Most. Zabka continued his directing career, including music videos for Rascal Flatts. From 2018 to 2025, Zabka reprised his role as Johnny Lawrence in the YouTube Red and Netflix series Cobra Kai, which he co-executive produced with Karate Kid costar Ralph Macchio.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “William Zabka” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.