Actor Sean Kanan Brings His WAY OF THE COBRA

By Alexxis Steele

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with actor, author, and producer Sean Kanan. Sean Kanan is a man of many talents and his career encompasses many facets of the entertainment world.

Sean was born in Ohio but Raised in New Castle, Pennsylvania, the town known for fireworks and hot dogs.

He graduated from Mercersburg Academy in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, 1985; and was in good company with another actor who also attended the school. It was attended by actor James Stewart, from 1927-1928.

Kanan attended Boston University where he majored in Political Science, for two years before graduating from UCLA with a B.A. in political science. During Christmas 1999, he accompanied Christie Brinkley and Al Franken as guests of Secretary of Defense William Cohen, to Bosnia and Kosovo where they entertained U.S. troops.

Early in his career in 1989, Kanan was chosen over 2000 hopefuls for the role of Mike Barnes in the Karate Kid III.

During filming he had suffered internal bleeding from injuring his omentem membrane that connects the stomach to other organs and 4 days later collapsed at a vegas hotel and underwent life saving surgery. Sean did not let that stop him from reaching his goals, and with strength and determination, fought his way back to good health.

Lovers of the Karate Kid franchise were thrilled when the characters came back through a new show called Cobra Kai, and brought back Bad Boy Mike Barnes in season five.

Thanks to Netflix, we will get to see Sean Kanan reprise his role around the end of 2024 in season six as Mike Barnes in the tv show Cobra Kai, which is loved by millions of fans worldwide. I have to say that we are all bummed out that this will be the final season, and hope there will be some spin off shows to appease our desire for Sean’s character portrayed in the show.

Some of the more recent films Sean has been in, was performing with another Pennsylvania boy, Daniel Roebuck, in the space movie “Colonials”, playing the role of Alien, Zeke. Sean explained to me that this was probably his favorite character that he has portrayed, because it challenged him, and is not the kind of role you would normally expect him to be in. This movie is available on Amazon Prime.

Having the opportunity to perform alongside one of his favorite actors, Bruce Willis, in 2 films: “Killing Field” and “The Fortress”, he felt blessed to have had that time with him. Unfortunately,Bruce had to stop working due to his health issues.

Kanan also appears as bad boy with a heart of gold, “Deacon Sharpe,” on the world’s most-watched daytime drama, CBS’s “The Bold and the Beautiful”, as the father of Hope Logan. Kanan’s character fathered her with the love of his life, Brooke Logan. Currently, he teamed up with and got engaged to the most hated character on the show- Sheila Carter, so B & B fans will want to see how this plays out! Kanan has also portrayed the same role on its sister show, the number one daytime drama in the U.S., The Young, and the Restless. Before joining the premiere daytime lineup, Kanan also played “AJ Quartermaine” on “General Hospital”.

Kanan has authored four books:

1. The Modern Gentleman: Cooking and Entertaining with Sean Kanan, teaches men how to relate to women, as well as being a cookbook.

2.Success Factor X, was co-written with motivational speaker Jill Lieberman. In this book Sean spoke with many successful men, such as Shark Tank’s Mark Cuban.

3. Way of the Cobra (WOTC) Transform yourself and you can transform the world. Kanan urges you to release your inner Cobra. This book was recently released as an audiobook on Audible,and is narrated by Kanan himself.

4. Welcome to the Kumite, his latest release, draws on intimate personal stories to illustrate his strategies and philosophy for achieving success.

In 2021, Kanan won the Daytime Emmy® award for Outstanding Limited Series as the Executive Producer and Creator of Studio City (Amazon Prime), for which he was also Emmy® nominated in the categories of Outstanding Lead Actor and Outstanding Writing Team. Kanan won the Indie Series Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in 2019 and 2023 for portraying Studio City protagonist “Sam Stephens.”

2022 brought a surprise as the “Bad Boy Mike Barnes” role was reprised from the Karate Kid III franchise, in season Five of the popular Netflix series Cobra Kai. We are eagerly awaiting his return for season six at the end of 2024, but disappointed at this being the final season.

Kanan remains steadfast in his mentoring on the Way Of The Cobra lifestyle, being healthy, and keeping fit. You can find him on Instagram offering his seminars for improving your life and losing weight.

Follow him on Instagram: @sean.kanan and Twitter: @seankanan.