American actor, producer, screenwriter, musician and martial artist

Thomas Ian Griffith

Thomas Ian Griffith is an American actor, screenwriter, producer, musician, and martial artist. His best-known roles include Terry Silver in John G. Avildsen's 1989 martial arts film The Karate Kid Part III, which he later reprised in the fourth through sixth and final season of the Netflix television series Cobra Kai (2021–2025), as well as voicing his character in the video game Cobra Kai 2: Dojos Rising (2022); head vampire Jan Valek in John Carpenter's 1998 neo-Western action horror film Vampires; warrior Taligaro in Raffaella De Laurentiis' 1997 sword and sorcery picture Kull the Conqueror; recurring character Larry Sawyer in the first season of The WB's teen drama series One Tree Hill (2004); and Catlin Ewing in NBC's soap opera Another World from 1984–1987. He also portrayed screen legend Rock Hudson in ABC's 1990 television biopic Rock Hudson, and serial killer Doug Clark in CBS's 2000 television biopic A Vision of Murder: The Story of Donielle.

Born

1962

March 18

Died

Living

Era

1960s

Country

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About

Thomas, in brief

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Life timeline

Key dates

1962 Born

Also on March 18

What else happened on this day, through history

37 Roman Senate annuls Tiberius' will and proclaims Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (aka Caligula = Little Boots) emperor.
417 Pope Zosimus is elected following the death of Pope Innocent I.
1068 An earthquake in the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula leaves up to 20,000 dead.
1229 Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, declares himself King of Jerusalem in the Sixth Crusade.

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The world in 1962

When Thomas arrived

april 21 The Seattle World's Fair (Century 21 Exposition) opens. It is the first World's Fair in the United States since World War II.
april 26 NASA's Ranger 4 spacecraft crashes into the Moon.
april 26 The British space programme launches its first satellite, the Ariel 1.
august 11 Vostok 3 launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev becomes the first person to float in microgravity.

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Same-day contemporaries

Also born on March 18

Christian Goldbach 1690–1764 Prussian-German mathematician and academic (died 1764) Edgar Cayce 1877–1945 American psychic and author (born 1877) F. W. de Klerk 1936–2021 South African lawyer and politician, former State President of South Africa, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2021) Jacob Bunn 1814– American businessman (died 1897) John C. Calhoun 1782–1850 American lawyer and politician, 7th Vice President of the United States (died 1850) Katy Gallagher 1970– Australian politician Kris Dunn 1994– American basketball player Lillian Vernon 1927–2015 German-American businesswoman and philanthropist, founded the Lillian Vernon Company (born 1927) Miguel Poblet 1928– Spanish cyclist (died 2013)

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Same-year contemporaries

Also born in 1962

Art Alexakis 1962– American singer-songwriter and musician Billy Beane 1962– American baseball player and manager Brian Azzarello 1962– American author Chris Sanders 1962– American illustrator and voice actor Clint Black 1962– American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer David Arnold 1962– English composer Dee Bradley Baker 1962– American voice actor Denis O'Hare 1962– American actor and singer Evander Holyfield 1962– American boxer and actor

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More to explore

Thomas's birthday March 18 Thomas's zodiac Pisces When Thomas arrived 1962