Martin Kove is an American actor best known for his role as John Kreese, the head master of the Cobra Kai karate dojo, in the 1984 film The Karate Kid. He appeared in two sequels, The Karate Kid Part II (1986) and The Karate Kid Part III (1989), as well as the 2018 television series Cobra Kai, in which he reprised his role. The series premiered on May 2, 2018, and received positive reviews. The show was renewed for a second season on April 24, 2019, before being acquired by Netflix in June 2020, upon which a third season was announced. A fourth season was renewed in advance a few months later, in October 2020.

Kove has also starred in Death Race 2000 (1975) as Nero the Hero and White Line Fever as Clem (1975). He played Police Detective Victor Isbecki on the television series Cagney and Lacey (1982–1988). He made an appearance in the sequel to Rambo: First Blood (1985). Kove starred as a parody of himself and John Kreese from The Karate Kid in the 2007 music video for No More Kings’ song “Sweep the Leg.” In a commercial for QuickBooks in 2019, Kove parodied his Karate Kid character once again, this time as a kinder, gentler Kreese who runs a “Koala Kai” dojo of preteen students who are encouraged to “support the leg” and display “more mercy.” Kove keeps up with his fans on Instagram, where he boasts over 600,000 followers.