Please welcome Martin Kove to the 2025 Washington State Summer Con lineup in Puyallup from June 20th through the 22nd. Martin is best known for his role as John Kreese, the main antagonist of The Karate Kid. Kove reprised the role in The Karate Kid Part II, The Karate Kid Part III, and the hit television series Cobra Kai.
Martin has participated in some 100 films including Rambo II with Sylvester Stallone and Wyatt Earp with Kevin Costner. The Gambler miniseries with Kenny Rogers. His favorite credits include westerns such as Hard Ground with Burt Reynolds and the re-make of Gentle Ben, both on the Hallmark channel. He also starred in the Emmy-winning TV series Cagney and Lacey for six years as Detective Victor Isbecki.
Kove has since kept constantly busy, primarily in the action / thriller genre, and has notched up over 80 film appearances to date, as well as numerous TV guest roles. As busy as Marty has been over the years, his most gratifying activity, as always, is spending lots of time with his twins, Rachel and Jesse.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Martin Kove has over 3 decades of film and TV work. His television episodic credits include appearances on Walker: Texas Ranger, Kung Fu, Chips, The Rockford Files, The Streets of San Francisco, and Murder, She Wrote, Charlie’s Angels, Burke’s Law, etc.
In 2018, Kove reprised his role as John Kresse in a Karate Kid revival series, Cobra Kai, for YouTube Premium and later Netflix titled Cobra Kai. The series is set 34 years after the events of the first film, and is wrapping up in its sixth season with the final five episodes releasing on Netflix this weekend.