William Zabka

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William Zabka

Born October 20, 1965 (1965-10-20) (age 42)
New York, New York, U.S.
Other name(s) Billy
Years active 1983 - present

William "Billy" Zabka (born October 20, 1965 in New York City, New York) is an American actor. Zabka is best known for playing "bully" types, such as his role as Johnny Lawrence in 1984's The Karate Kid.

Zabka's family is of Czechoslovak descent.

Contents

[edit] Film career

[edit] 1980s

Zabka's breakout role came in his first movie, 1984's The Karate Kid. Zabka played the role of Johnny Lawrence, the main antagonist to the title character played by Ralph Macchio. An unused ending to the film later became the beginning of the 1986 film The Karate Kid, Part II, giving Zabka a brief appearance in the sequel.

During the 1980s Zabka continued to define his "bully" role in the comedy movies Just One of the Guys (1985) and Back to School (1986). Zabka also co-starred on the CBS television series The Equalizer with Edward Woodward (1986-1989) and he played Jack, Audrey's insensitive jock boyfriend, in National Lampoon's European Vacation.

[edit] 1990s-2000s

During the 1990s and 2000s, Zabka sporadically acted mostly in independent films while studying to be a screenwriter/ filmmaker.

In 2003, Zabka wrote and produced the short film Most, shot on location in the Czech Republic and Poland. Most (aka The Bridge) had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival 2003 and won numerous awards at prestigious film festivals. In 2004, Zabka was nominated for an Academy Award for Most in the Live Action Short Film category.

In 2007, Zabka directed and starred in a music video for the band No More Kings entitled "Sweep the Leg". The video stars Zabka as a caricature of himself, living in a trailer park and obsessed with his role in The Karate Kid. The video includes cameos by several of the original Karate Kid cast members, including Martin Kove and Ralph Macchio. The video received over 80,000 views within its first week of release, 3 million views as of May 2008, and became the number one video on YouTube on March 16th, 2007 [1].

At present, he is the creative director for Big Island Music Incorporated [2], a music-publishing firm for television and movies, which is owned by his family.

[edit] Selected filmography

Year Title Role
1984 The Karate Kid Johnny Lawrence
1985 Just One of the Guys Greg Tolan
European Vacation Jack
1986 Back to School Chas
The Karate Kid, Part II Johnny Lawrence
1988 A Tiger's Tale Randy
1991 For Parents Only Ted
1992 Shootfighter: Fight to the Death Ruben/ Shootfighter
2000 Python Deputy Greg Larsen
2001 Ablaze Curt Peters
2002 Python II Deputy Greg Larsen
Landspeed Bob Bailey
Dark Descent Marty
2003 Most Writer / Producer
2004 Roomies Slick Salesman
2007 Sweep the Leg Johnny Lawrence
Cake Sam

[edit] Awards and nominations

Academy Awards

  • 2003 - Best Short Film, Live Action, Most (Nominated)

[edit] External links

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The Karate Kid series
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