When Xolo Maridueña signed on to star in "Cobra Kai," he was prepared to be surrounded by "jerks."
In fact, the 19-year-old actor thought Ralph Macchio and William Zabka wouldn't be easy to work with. Nothing could be further from the truth.
"To be quite honest, I thought, 'Oh, these guys are going to be jerks. They got so famous when they were so young, there's no way…' but even on that first day, they were so fricking welcoming," he told Page Six. "It's so much more pleasant to work with people who are respectful than jerks."
It's likely that Xolo didn't know much about the original "Karate Kid" or its stars, given that he was born in 2001, 17 years after the original film was released.
"Cobra Kai" — which picks up decades after the original 1985 film — has been a massive success on Netflix. As is often the case with hit shows, fans have had a hard time separating the actors from their characters. Referring to a storyline that played out through much of the third season, Xolo said, "The comments I got for the longest time were, 'When are you getting out of the hospital bed?' Luckily, people can rest, now that I'm out of my coma."
While many were introduced to Xolo on "Cobra Kai," he actually acted in "Parenthood," as well. He credits his parents with keeping him on track.
"One of the big selling points was my mom saying, 'Hey, if you want to act, that's great, but I'm going to make sure you're not going to fall off the deep end,' because I guess when I started, a lot of child actors were going off the edge," he said. "I think as any parent, you don't want that for your child."