Yuji Okumoto

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Yuji Don Okumoto (born April 20, 1959) is an American actor from Los Angeles. He is best known for his role as Chozen Toguchi in The Karate Kid Part II and later in the Cobra Kai series. He has appeared in many other films, including Real Genius, Better Off Dead, True Believer, American Yakuza, Contact, The Truman Show, Pearl Harbor, Inception, and Driven. He is a Sansei, the third generation of Japanese Americans.

Okumoto began practicing karate at age 13 and earned a brown belt by the time of The Karate Kid Part II. He studied acting at Hollywood High School and California State University, Fullerton. His acting break came after a stage performance led to an agent and a role on The Young and the Restless.

In addition to acting, he produced the 2020 film The Paper Tigers, in which he also has a small role. In Cobra Kai, his character Chozen later becomes a friend and ally of Daniel. He once said that perfectionism is the death of good acting.

In 2002, he and his wife Angela opened Kona Kitchen, a Hawaiian restaurant in Maple Leaf, Seattle; a second location opened in Lynnwood in 2019. He lives in Seattle with his wife and their three daughters.