Very unlike his character from the 1984 movie, “The Karate Kid,” Billy Zabka spoke to an audience of 250 at an Anti-Bullying Event in Maryland.
Best remembered for his role as the high school bully, Johnny Lawrence in “The Karate Kid,” Zabka was invited by Rick Rando, the owner of the dojo, Kickmasters Karate, in Clarysville to be the keynote speaker at their second annual Anti Bullying Day.
Zabka's speech was delivered to a packed audience of martial arts senseis, students, and prospective black belts, and broadcast to a crowd outside as well.
“Bullying is never cool ... not when you can be the hero in your own story,” Zabka said to the audience.
His speech was uploaded to YouTube by one of the audience members for all the world to see that real life certainly does not imitate art in Zabka's case.
Although he played the ex-boyfriend of Elisabeth Shue's character and the leader of the Cobra Kai gang who would torment Daniel (Ralph Macchio) in real life Zabka couldn't be more of an anti-bullying advocate.
According to past interviews, Zabka shared that he was a wrestler in high school and was always an athlete. Although he had no martial arts training prior to being cast as a Karate champ in “The Karate Kid,” he said he was able to ease into training easily for the role and even continued martial arts training after shooting for the film wrapped up.
Although his Hollywood acting career has remained low-key since his villainous role in the 80's, he had appeared in a few more Hollywood and independent films and a few guest TV roles, including a recurring character on the sitcom “How I Met Your Mother.”
In 2004, he was nominated for an Academy Award for his work on the film, “Most.”
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