The Karate Kid 's Ralph Macchio - From teen idol to sexy at 59!

MARRIED TO HIS HIGH SCHOOL SWEETHEART AND A DAD, THE ’80S ICON IS SAVOURING HIS SECOND ACT WITH THE SUCCESS OF COBRA KAI

Ralph Macchio knows his self-described “young gene” can be confusing to fans. When he became a household name playing teen martial-arts student Daniel LaRusso in 1984’s The Karate Kid, he was 22. When he appeared as a college student in the Oscar-winning 1992 film My Cousin Vinny, he was already married and expecting his first child. And as he reprises his Karate Kid role in the spin-off series Cobra Kai more than three decades after the movie made him a star, he has no trouble sliding back into the athletic part – even if he now uses reading glasses for the script.

“Depending on the time of day and camera angle, it’s a little less flattering than it might have been 20 years ago,” the star, 59, says with a laugh from his home on Long Island. But a consequence of looking like the boy next door for most of his life is that he’s recognised whenever he leaves the house. “I always joke that if there’s a fly in a restaurant,” he says, referring to one of Karate Kid’s famous scenes, “I have about nine seconds to get out before someone’s handing me a pair of chopsticks.”