Ralph Macchio

Description

Ralph George Macchio (born November 4, 1961) is an American actor with Italian ancestry. He is best remembered for his role as Daniel LaRusso in the Karate Kid series.<p>Born in Huntington, New York, on Long Island, Ralph Macchio attended Half Hollow Hills High School West.<p>Macchio began his acting career during the mid 1970s, as star of television commercials for products like Bubble Yum and Dr Pepper. In 1983, he starred alongside many young actors who had yet to become major stars such as C. Thomas Howell, Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze and Matt Dillon in The Outsiders. It was not until 1984, however, that he became an international teen idol, after the release of the first Karate Kid movie, where he starred alongside Pat Morita and Elisabeth Shue. With his boyish looks, Macchio became one of the most famous teen idols of the mid-1980s, his face appearing on the cover of many teen "bubble gum" magazines such as Tiger Beat, 16, and Teen Beat.<p>Macchio participated in the first three Karate Kid...