Why didn't Ralph Macchio have a bigger career?
Of course, Ralph is now having a resurgence of sorts with Cobra Kai but why didn't he have a bigger film career outside of the Karate Kid trilogy. His most noteworthy post-KK film role is probably in My Cousin Vinny.
Did he get stereotyped into playing Guido roles and could never break out? On that same token, was he perhaps, considered too ethnic? Also, while The Karate Kid films were enormously popular, they were still modestly budgeted, and therefore wasn't proof enough that Ralph could carry a big Hollywood movie or blockbuster.
https://www.datalounge.com/thread/20075727-why-didnt-ralph-macchio-have-a-bigger-career-
This is what this blog entry has to say about why Ralph Macchio's career didn't become bigger:
https://lebeauleblog.com/2014/04/19/what-the-hell-happened-to-ralph-macchio/share
Macchio made fun of himself for being too nice and normal for Hollywood. I think there is something to that idea. It’s not that a nice guy can’t be successful in Hollywood. But to be an A-list movie star, certain sacrifices have to be made. You don’t get to be Tom Cruise unless you put your career first in your life. Macchio chose family over stardom. Even at the peak of his career, Macchio took a lot of time off between movies. As a result, audiences only got to know him as Daniel LaRusso. And when that story was over, they weren’t all that interested in seeing Macchio do anything else.
Also, Macchio had a weird age thing. Generally, being able to play younger than you actually are is a good thing for an actor. But once Macchio could no longer pass as a teenager, it left him in an odd place. As an adult, he wasn’t a traditional leading man. A lot of child actors deal with this difficult transition. But Macchio got to that point late in his life. He was able to play teens through most of his twenties. When he hit thirty, there just wasn’t anywhere for him to go.
While Macchio’s time as a movie star was fleeting, I think you have to give the guy credit for balancing his career with family. Really, he’s doing what most of us do every day. His job is just a little more glamorous than ours.