Ralph Macchio life and biography

Ralph George Macchio is an American actor, best known for his roles as Daniel LaRusso in the Karate Kid series, Billy Gambini in My Cousin Vinny, and Johnny Cade in The Outsiders. He is also known to American television audiences for his 1980–1981 recurring role as Jeremy Andretti on the comedy-drama Eight is Enough. He will be competing on the twelfth season of Dancing With The Stars.

With his short slender build, large brown eyes, and abundant hair, actor Ralph Macchio has often appeared to be the perennial adolescent -- a fact that has sometimes hindered his career. The actor is best known for his work in the phenomenally popular Karate Kid (1984), in which the then twenty-two year old actor played a troubled 14-year-old boy who is helped by a sage karate instructor. Macchio has been in show business most of his life; born in Long Island, he began performing in local musical productions as a young teenager. At 16, he began working in TV commercials, and before he had even graduated from high school had appeared in the adolescent comedy Up the Academy (1980), though he did not appear in another film until working in Francis Ford Coppola's epic of teenage rivalry The Outsiders (1983). Following the Karate Kid, Macchio began working in a series of minor films, such as the successful My Cousin Vinny (1992). He continued to work on television and on stage, even after his teen heart-throb days were over, appearing on Broadway opposite Robert De Niro in 1986 in Cuba and His Teddy Bears. He also appeared in the next two Karate Kid sequels, along with films like Dangerous Company and Too Much Sun.

In 2002, Macchio tried his screenwriting and directing skills, both helming and penning the short film Love Thy Brother. In 2006, the actor took a comedic turn in the sports comedy Beer League.

Filmography:

1980 Up the Academy ; Eight is Enough
1982 Dangerous Company ; High Powder
1983 The Outsiders
1984 The Karate Kid ; Teachers ; The Three Wishes of Billy Grier
1986 Crossroads ; The Karate Kid, Part II
1988 Distant Thunder
1989 The Karate Kid, Part III
1991 Too Much Sun ; The Last P.O.W.? The Bobby Garwood Story
1992 My Cousin Vinny
1993 Naked in New York
1998 The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue ; Dizzyland
1999 The Other Side (The Outer Limits)
1999 Can't Be Heaven, (Forever Together) ; The Office Party
2001 Popcorn Shrimp
2003 A Good Night to Die
2005 Entourage
2006 Beer League
2007 Head Case
2008–2009 Ugly Betty
2009 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead
2010 Law & Order: Criminal Intent
2010 Psych

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