As of Monday, the series was No. He also has two sisters. Ralph Macchio is earnest when he says that, to this day, he is disappointed in The Karate Kid Part III. And in the valley now, Griffith is getting a second bite at the Terry Silver apple and he is making it count with a newly-constructed complex character, whos already shot to the top of fans most loathed list. Kenpo Karate. I have been a martial artist my whole life and that has just continued to evolve. By high school, he said, he was a martial arts devotee. I've never been one for going out to parties. (November 16, 1991 - present) (2 children), View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro. 2023 The Hollywood Reporter, LLC. Griffith trained as an opera singer in New York City with Metropolitan Opera star Delia Rigal. What does that balance mean to you since you two are so closely intertwined? I just fell in love with it.. Thomas Ian Griffith sings the famous Elvis Presley & Willie Nelson classic song. Has studied Tae Kwon Do since childhood; he's also a black belt in Had you continued your martial arts studies all these years, or was there some rust when you came back for Cobra Kai? The iconic Daniel LaRusso actor notes the script was not where it needed to be, the story too much a rehash of the original 1984 film, among other issues. So he took me to the north end of Hartford where there was this very, very traditional Tae Kwon Do school, Griffith said. Terry Silver is back. . Thomas Ian Griffith will play Terry Silver in Cobra Kai, a role he knows better than anyone he held the original role in The Karate Kid Part III after all. For me, it was a positive experience, but I didnt carry the weight of the prior films. A post shared by Cobra Kai (@cobrakaiseries) In a recent interview on the "Cobra Kai Kompanion" podcast, Griffith also discussed his background in martial arts. Also, we were all in on the joke of a billionaire then and now walking away from his world to go back into the karate world in the San Fernando Valley. Date: 2022-08-09. Griffith grew up in Hartfort, Connecticut. There is that push and pull at times, but that collaboration makes for a better project. He is best known for portraying Terry Silver in the 1989 film The Karate Kid Part III, a role he reprised in the fourth and fifth seasons of the television series Cobra Kai. (Laughs.) 2023 The Hollywood Reporter, LLC. Powered by. That first day, walking on set, Ralph is standing there, and I had not seen him since Karate Kid III. It is by no means a great film, but even to this day, I am proud of my work because I was brave enough not to hold back. Ralph Macchio, William Zabka, Martin Kove, Thomas Ian Griffith, and the creators of the Netflix comedy take us inside the battle for dojo . Netflix just whet their appetites exponentially when they announced Thomas Ian Griffith would return as Terry Silver. He spent part of his youth traveling with his mother to the United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada to participate in Irish step dancing competitions. Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. Thomas was a legitimate martial artist, asserted Kamen. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. Published Jan 19, 2021. It is like what the creators say, What if Terry had won the All Valley Karate Tournament in 1989? So well explore that and it is fascinating. . It's sort of the other way around. 's game-changing season 4 pulls no punches. Still finding himself in a bit of shock over fans deep devotion to the series spawned by the 80s films that made him a star, Macchio prides himself on Cobra Kai using only threads from those films to tell the new stories, and not using fan service as a crutch. On May 27, Griffith ( @tigianpage . For me, on the first day that I heard the concept from the creators of the show, that was something that was so important to me, to have the character woven throughout the series.