Ralph Macchio

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This article is about the actor. For the comic book editor, see Ralph Macchio (comics).

Ralph George Macchio (born November 4, 1961) is an actor from Huntington, New York, on Long Island and attended Half Hollow Hills HS West. He is best remembered for his role as Daniel LaRusso in the Karate Kid series.

Macchio began his acting career during the 1970s, as star of television commercials for products like Bubble Yum and Dr Pepper. In 1983, he starred alongside Patrick Swayze and Matt Dillon in The Outsiders. It wasn't 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. 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..

Macchio participated in two Karate Kid sequels, which came out in 1986 and 1989, respectively. However, after The Karate Kid, Part III, his fame as a teen idol began to wane, and he has been seen sporadically as an actor since.

In 1987, he married Phyllis Fierro, with whom he has a son and a daughter.

He has participated as film director a few times, and also appeared in some minor films. Also of note is his appearance in the film Crossroads. He played music student Eugene Martone, who battles Jack Butler (played by guitarist Steve Vai), a protegé of the Devil.

He was recently seen in an episode of the HBO series Entourage with Hugh Hefner. Later in 2005, Ralph Macchio appeared as the character Raffi Bedrosyan in The Daron Bedrosyan Story, a made-for-tv movie by ABC. The show was a critical hit about a young Armenian boy from Toronto, Ontario, Canada who rediscovers his talent in the game of football, his life's passion.

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