Rob Garrison 1960 – 2019

Biography

Rob Garrison burst onto screens as Tommy, the goofy karate kid with the headband in *The Karate Kid* (1984), instantly becoming part of pop culture history. The Wheeling, West Virginia native parlayed that iconic role into a steady career spanning decades, appearing across film and television productions that kept him in the entertainment spotlight from the 1980s onward. Whether audiences remembered him from that unforgettable tournament or caught him in other roles, Garrison had made his mark as a working actor who consistently landed memorable parts.

Beyond the dojo, Garrison became a fixture in American TV and film throughout his career, maintaining the kind of steady presence that defined reliable character actors of his generation. He stayed connected to his roots even as his career took him across the country, representing the pool of talented performers who emerged from small-town America to make waves in Hollywood.

Garrison passed away on September 27, 2019, at age 59, leaving behind a filmography that stretched across multiple decades and generations of viewers who grew up watching him on screen.