Martin Kove net worth — Fortune explored as Cobra Kai antagonist accused of assaulting costar Alicia Hannah-Kim

Actor and martial artist Martin Kove reportedly had to leave a fan convention after he allegedly assaulted Cobra Kai costar Alicia Hannah-Kim. The incident took place at the Summer Con in Washington on Sunday, June 22, 2025.

Citing a report from the Puyallup Police Department, TMZ relayed that Hannah-Kim, who was working at a different section, went to meet her co-stars at their booth. People reported that when she tapped Kove on the shoulder, he "grabbed" her arm and bit "so hard it nearly drew blood." The actor proceeded, reportedly, to kiss her arm when she "yelled out in pain."

Alicia and her husband, Sebastian Roche, confronted Martin Kove, who claimed he did it in jest. Eventually, they approached an on-site officer who confirmed she had a "very noticeable bite mark" that was "turning blue and bruising."

When questioned, Kove admitted to biting his co-star. He explained that he was being "funny" and they "play fight" on set all the time. Ultimately, he apologized, and Hannah-Kim decided not to press charges. However, a Cobra Kai producer who was at the venue asked the actor to leave.

Kove is best known for playing the antagonist John Kreese in the Karate Kid franchise. According to Celebrity Net Worth, he boasts an estimated fortune of $2 million.

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Martin Kove is good friends with Sylvester Stallone and shared a personal manager when starting in the industry

Martin Kove was born in the late 1940s in a Jewish household in Brooklyn, New York. While a lot about his early life is not made public, reports suggest he was a substitute math teacher at a school in Long Island before he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting.

He began appearing in films and on television in the early 1970s. One of his earliest roles was in Paul Morrissey's 1971 satirical film Women in Revolt. A year later, he made appearances in James Ivory's Savages and Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left.

In 1975, Martin Kove starred as portrayed gangster Peter Gusenberg in the biographical crime flick, Capone. Notably, the film also featured Sylvester Stallone. The pair has been friends since the early '70s. During an August 2020 interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Kove called Stallone a "terrific guy," adding:

"We go far back as having our own personal manager, where Sly used to get jobs in New York as an usher in the theaters, and I used to get jobs as Santa Clause at a department store... We had the same old German clockmaker who was our personal manager."

Kove and Stallone starred together in movies like Death Race 2000 and Rambo: First Blood Part II.

His other acting credits include The Four Deuces, Seven, Steele Justice, Timelock, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. However, his most memorable role remains that of Cobra Kai sensei John Kreese in The Karate Kid. He would go on to reprise the role in subsequent sequels.

Martin Kove also boasts a successful television career, guest-starring in notable shows like Rhoda, Kojak, Starsky and Hutch, The Twilight Zone, Murder, She Wrote, and The Rockford Files. His first main role came in the short-lived CBS shows Code R and We've Got Each Other. In 1982, he played police detective Victor Isbecki on Cagney & Lacey.

In 2021, Kove appeared as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars alongside dance partner Britt Stewart. They were the first to be eliminated from the show.

On a personal front, Martin Kove is a dad to twins, Jesse and Rachel, born in November 1990. Jesse is an actor and has worked with his father on Cobra Kai's season 3. Talking to EW about working together in January 2021, Kove explained that he felt like a "million bucks" when people praised his son's acting.

In February 2021, Martin bought a 3000 sq-ft home in Franklin, Tennessee. He paid $1.23 million for the 11-acre property, as per Celebrity Net Worth.

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Neither Kove nor Hannah-Kim has publicly commented on the incident at Summer Con as of this writing.

Edited by Ahana Mukhopadhyay