Born in New York City. With early aspirations of being a filmmaker, William Zabka began making 8mm movies at the age of 10. In 1984, he began his film career as an actor, playing the role of "Johnny" in the classic movie, THE KARATE KID. While continuing to star in feature films and television shows, Zabka studied filmmaking and screenwriting at UCLA and film aesthetics under legendary cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond. In 2001, after acting in over 20 feature films, Billy began his journey as a filmmaker when he wrote and produced his first film, MOST (2003) a Czech language film shot entirely on location in Prague and Poland. It premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival and went on to win several jury and audience awards at prestigious film festivals, including "Best Of Festival" at the Palm Springs International Short Film Festival and an Academy Award® nomination for Best Live Action Short Film.  Nominated for Short Film (Live Action) 2003: MOST (w. Bobby Garabedian) 1 nomination