My training in martial arts was kind of a crash course in how to look like a black belt. I know the moves of a black belt - my kicks, and my stretches, and my punches and all that.
Prior to The Karate Kid (1984), I did commercials - Kool-Aid, Pepsi, milk - and I had always been cast as the all-American nice guy.
Back when I was maybe 19, guys would go, "I can kick your butt!" So I had a few showdowns. To my advantage, I learned martial arts, and what you really learn is not to fight.
Sometimes you become a character, and sometimes the character becomes you.
Strangely, when I was a kid, my first acting job, at 5 years old, was a performance of "The Three Little Pigs". They cast me as the Big Bad Wolf.
I didn't set out to be a villain in film. I'm a character actor, and if my first movie was a comedy, I could have played a geek just as well.
You know, all The Karate Kid (1984) fans from the original are parents these days. I think it's a cool thing.