Amanda LaRusso

Amanda LaRusso is a major character in the Netflix series Cobra Kai. She is the wife of Daniel LaRusso and mother of his two children Samantha and Anthony.
She is portrayed by Courtney Henggeler.
== Biography ==
Amanda was born on February 27 in Columbus, Ohio to Joanne and Mr. Steiner. Amanda and Daniel met when she moved to LA and was put in touch with him by her cousin, Jessica Andrews. They began dating and ultimately got married. Daniel and Amanda opened LaRusso Auto Group in 2002, only a few short months before the birth of their first child, Samantha. In 2005, they gave birth to their youngest child, Anthony.
== Cobra Kai ==
=== Season 1 ===
Amanda and Daniel attend a party in at the Encino Oaks Country Club, encountering Isaiah Robinson and his daughter, Aisha, who is Sam's childhood friend. She notices Daniel's mood and then later learns from Daniel that the Cobra Kai Dojo has returned and reopened by his high school rival, Johnny Lawrence. When Daniel was driving to work, he saw a penis drawing on his billboard. He discusses it with Amanda there, they decide to paint over the billboard until Louie LaRusso Jr. and Anoush were able to fix before discovering that Johnny vandalized it.
Later, Amanda and her family have dinner with Armand Zarkarian and his family. When Sam finds out that her friends disinvited her to a concert, Amanda states that she's better off without them. Eventually, Amanda finds out that Daniel was trying to close down Cobra Kai and she encourages him to return to his old self. At the dealership, she interviews Robby Keene, who wants to start a job and she officially hires him.
Daniel's mother Lucille visits the LaRusso home. She and Amanda have an argument about Louie's unprofessional behavior and his use of Daniel's name to make his own deal involving luxury motorcycles. The next day, Johnny trespasses onto the LaRusso home after Louie and his baker gang burned down his car and used Daniel's name. There she notices Daniel and Johnny being prepared to fight. She then breaks it up by suggesting to discuss this over breakfast. Amanda suggests that Daniel should give Johnny a new car at the dealership. They fire Louie for his actions. Later, when she learned from Johnny that Sam was revealed to be involved in a hit and run accident which had hit Johnny's car, Amanda responds by confiscating her electronics and grounding her. While it was Yasmine behind the wheel and not Sam, Amanda feels Sam deserved to be punished because she did not tell her parents what happened.
The next day, Amanda tries to comfort Sam (who dumped Miguel for hitting her and attacking Robby) and Daniel (who found out that Robby is Johnny's son and lied to him). She convinces them to attend the All Valley Karate Tournament since LaRusso Auto Group is one of the tournament's major sponsors and must be represented. They attend the tournament and watch the matches. She encourages Daniel to support Robby after seeing that he got injured in the semi-finals. Later, Amanda and Anthony leave with Sam when she wants to go home through an Uber while Daniel stays.
=== Season 2 ===
Daniel comes home at night after spending the day with Robby at Miyagi-Do. Amanda was also worried that Daniel is having a midlife crisis and is worried about the dealership since Daniel spends a lot of time at Miyagi-Do. Daniel claims that he'll be able to balance everything. She and Daniel move Robby into their house after his mom, Shannon Keene, leaves him to go to Cabo with her new boyfriend and their apartment is due to unpaid bills. 
Amanda, Daniel, Sam, and Robby head to a local beach club. When the hotel manager attempts to kick Robby out due to his recent actions at the area, Amanda convinces him that Robby is their guest and that he should stay. She comforts him saying that everyone deserves a second chance. At some point her wallet has been stolen, it turns out that Robby's old buddies, Trey and Cruz, who have been spending the summer stealing wallets. 
Due to Daniel spending more time in Miyagi-Do, Amanda is upset with him for not making time for the dealership and that most of their employees including Anoush have quit and joined Tom Cole's dealership. Daniel tries everything to make amends such as buying her sushi, making his students wax the cars, but eventually they reconciled and reminisced the past.
One day, Shannon came back to Cabo and is visited by Amanda and Daniel, when Robby returns to the house they give him and Shannon time to talk. Daniel and Amanda go on a date to a Mexican restaurant and runs into Johnny and meets Carmen Diaz, who is Miguel's mother. The 2 couple ends up in a double date, eventually participating in a salsa dance, and it goes successful. 
The next day, Amanda and Daniel wake up and sees that Sam isn't in her room. They see a text message on her computer from Aisha asking if Sam was ok after being drunk. This shocked both of them and they find her location, which is Johnny's apartment. Later, that day, they got a call from the school about a big fight between the Miaygi-Do and Cobra Kai students. Sam have some serious injuries by Tory Nichols. While in the hospital, Amanda ensures to Sam that Tory will be expelled for her actions. Later, Amanda demands that Daniel gives up karate and close down Miyagi-Do for good since it has caused nothing but chaos. Daniel reluctantly agreed.
=== Season 3 ===
Amanda hears that Tory is expelled and Daniel is glad to hear it. Because of the fight, the LaRusso family name is being hated by everyone and the dealership has been a ghost town. She also thought it was unfair that Sam got a 2 week suspension when it was Tory that instigated the fight; it was due to everyone participating. It later revealed that Louie has been rehired into the dealership since he's the first member to help out when Sam got hurt. He informs them that the 1993 Dodge Grand Caravan, which has been gone a couple of weeks. Amanda and Danny think that Robby took it, as he knew the gate codes. So they try to track the car using a GPS. While Daniel and Johnny were looking for Robby, Amanda was horrified after hearing what happened during the trip, especially when visiting Trey and Cruz in prison for clues.
Daniel and Amanda meet with Tom Cole telling them that they will never be selling the dealership to him while Anoush has been rehired due to Cole’s poor treatment on him. They have also heard about Cole’s crass Doyona deal. Daniel insists on meeting them in Tokyo and tells Amanda that he is "not coming back without a yes". While Daniel is in Tokyo and Okinawa, Amanda is very displeased to see Sam and her friends training in karate, especially when they got in trouble at school for the soccer game incident. Sam retorts that she needs to pay more attention if she thinks karate is the problem. Later on, Amanda finds Sam and the Miyagi-Do's at the hospital after Demetri’s arm is broken by Hawk following a fight at Golf N' Stuff's laser tag arena. She comforts her when she cries as her PTSD kept her from saving her friend. A furious Amanda goes to the Cobra Kai dojo to confront John Kreese where she slaps him and vows to shut him down forever.
When Daniel returns from Okinawa after saving the dealership, she informs him of the recent events involving Cobra Kai. She also sent their kids with Lucille due to the events at the arcade. They both know Cobra Kai has to go, but her plan involves going to the police. She wanted to file a restraining order against Kreese to for them to be surprised that Kreese orders one against her for slapping him. Then, Amanda goes with a “nuclear option” to her displeasure. This includes making a deal with Armand to doubles Cobra Kai's rent and rent the dojo’s space out to a future tenant. After giving the deal some thought, Armand agrees to the deal and vows to evict Kreese from the strip mall, with the help of his two nephews, Erik and Grigor. The next day, the couple are at work, happy that they won. To their mutual shock, when Armand calls and tells them that the deal is off, Kreese talks them, their plan failed and now Kreese declares war on them, having planted a live snake at the dealership in response.
Following this, she allows Daniel to reopen Miyagi-Do and resume his teachings. They tell Sam about this, but she refuses to train anymore. Amanda suggests they play hooky to help her through her pain. While Amanda is at the dealership, Daniel helps Sam get her confidence back. When Amanda sees that Daniel is off and he's being hard on his students, he informs her that Robby still resents him for putting him in juvie and she encourages him to let Robby go. Later, Amanda, Daniel, and Sam heads to a city council meeting to convince the council to allow the All-Valley Tournament to continue after it was cancelled due to the school brawl. Unfortunately, Kreese was at the meeting too and Amanda had to be escorted out due to her interrupting Kreese’s statement. Her interference along with Daniel, Johnny and Kreese's arguments proved to the council that the tournament should be banned but Sam and Miguel were able to deliver a speech together and convinced the council to let the tournament continue.
Daniel and Amanda attend a Christmas party at the Encino Oaks Country Club. There she meets Ali Mills, who she finds out dated Daniel in the past back in high school. Amanda learns about Daniel's and Ali's high school life and Johnny's as well. She and Ali have a private talk together while telling Ali about Johnny's relationship with Carmen. After parting ways with Ali, Amanda and Daniel head home, only for it to be broken in by Cobra Kai under Kreese's orders. This leads him and Johnny to confront Kreese before they settle things in the upcoming tournament.
=== Season 4 ===
When Daniel and Sam return home after their first day of Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang training, an alarm goes off and Amanda and Anthony checks out the front, believing that someone from Cobra Kai has broke into the house. They're relieved to see it's just Daniel and Sam before Amanda informs the security company to assure them it's a false alarm. Daniel and Amanda drink wine. They want the Cobra Kai's including Tory in jail for invading the house. Amanda is also shocked that their family's safety is dependent on the upcoming All-Valley tournament.
Later on, Amanda visits Tory at her job at a sushi restaurant to remind her to stay away from Sam while threatening to put Tory in jail if she hurts Sam again. Tory wants her to leave only if she got her message to leave Sam alone. After, she watched Tory leave after getting fired for her behavior. While shopping for groceries, Amanda is then confronted by John Kreese. She is reminded of the restraining order. Amanda then tells him about the deal made between the dojos. and hopes that Cobra Kai will lose. He praises her for defending Sam but tells her about Tory's problems and has her leave her alone. While at work, Tory confronts Amanda and gives her back her groceries she bought for her and tells her that she will humiliate Sam in the All-Valley. Amanda reminds Anoush not to tell Daniel about the confrontation.
Amanda and the family have dinner at their house with Johnny, Miguel, and Carmen joining them. While waiting for the food, Amanda and Carmen have a conversation on the couch. On the table, Amanda asks Miguel about school. He's getting straight A's this semester and wants to attend Stanford. He rages about the campus while Carmen brings up tuition, hoping he'll go local, live at home, and save money.
Amanda and Sam then go to a party place for their worker's child where they found out that Tory works at the place. After seeing Sam getting back at Tory for pulling a prank on her by kissing Miguel in front of her when he arrived which causes Tory to leaves in sadness and anger, Amanda stops Tory, saying she now sees that part of this rivalry is Tory's doing, but that she manages to see Sam instigating. She promises to tell Sam not to do that again. Amanda offers to help Tory, but she says to be left alone and that she will handle everything by herself. Later, she informs Daniel of Sam's treatment during the party.
At the dealership, Amanda see's Johnny's twitter post of his and Daniel's upcoming match at sundown. She wakes up Daniel and shows him the post. She also thought that their rivalry was put behind them before Anoush and Louie tells him not to fight. When asked about what happened, he tells her that his old enemy, Terry Silver, has returned. Amanda also asks Daniel if there are any more Cobra Kai's from his past that could come back and ruin their lives. Daniel emphatically replies "No", and then corrects himself, saying he "can't say that for sure."
At home, Amanda is visited by Tory. She tells Amanda that she can go back to school because of her family situation. Amanda then agrees with it if she stays away from Sam while suggesting Tory that she talks to someone because of her problems. When a shocked Sam sees Tory at the house, she is angered to find out of her re-enrollment and upset of how they wanted her locked up and now Amanda is supportive of Tory returning in school. Daniel agrees with Sam about Tory and also considers this questionable. Amanda tells him of her past troubles she caused as a teenager and after explaining it, she states that she can relate to Troy.
Amanda and Daniel are then called to West Valley Middle School where they learn that Anthony was involved in a fight. They want suspension for the offending kids. The principal tells them that he'll be suspending the kids including Anthony to their shock. Amanda and Daniel finds out that Anthony is a bully as he and his friends have been bullying Kenny Payne since he transferred to the school. The principal then shows them the video of Anthony and his friends chasing Kenny in the hallway and their video of filling Kenny's locker with milk. Daniel and Amanda then ground Anthony by taking away his electronics.
Amanda and the rest of the LaRusso's take pictures with Samantha with Miguel and the Diaz's (with Amanda meeting Miguel's grandmother, Rosa) before she gets ready for the prom. Vanessa, Louie's sister, puts Daniel and Amanda through therapy where they talk about Anthony. She then states on how they haven't been involved in Anthony's life. After Amanda gets angry, Vanessa concludes that Amanda and Daniel are the problem with Anthony. The next day, Amanda and Daniel sees Anthony taking out the trash where he admits his mistakes to Kenny. To make amends, he offers Daniel to help him at the dealership or the dojo and Daniel agrees. Amanda praises the situation.
Amanda attends All Valley Karate Tournament to cheer for Daniel, Sam, and Miyagi-Do. She and Anthony sit with Carmen and Rosa. She gets excited after seeing grammy award winning artist Carrie Underwood perform "The Moment of Truth." After the final round of the boys division, Amanda praises Tory for going to therapy. Amanda says that Tory can show her appreciation by not being ruthless in her fight against Sam in the finals. Amanda just wants their fight to be clean. During Sam and Tory's fight, Amanda gets shocked when Sam uses the flying tornado kick on Tory to get the first point and when Tory accidentally elbows her eye. Nonetheless, Tory fights clean and defeats Samantha in the girls' finals, which Amanda doesn't mind. She then comes home with her family disappointed over their loss to Cobra Kai.
=== Season 5 ===
With summer officially arriving, Miyagi-Do closed, and Kreese being put in jail, Amanda's life continues to be riddled with karate messes. Her new house guest, Chozen Toguchi, swims naked in her pool. She confronts Daniel about Chozen's presence, as she thought Chozen would only be there for a few days, not living with them. She wants to enjoy her summer. Daniel promises that things will return to normal soon, but presses his concerns that Cobra Kai will affect every kid in the valley. Later, Amanda goes outside to the pool to find Daniel lounging with a drink ready for her.
Amanda and Daniel takes time to attend a charity auction by a foundation Amanda strives to be part of, Dreams for Teens. Amanda greets the charity founder, Eva. The couple encounter Terry Silver, who owns the beachside mansion. Amanda tries to calm Daniel down by going him a drink as he's uncomfortable doing the event with his enemy. She needs this event to go well, as it's important to her, and he understands. Silver talks to Amanda about how he's not against Daniel and talks to her about his past actions with Daniel and that he changed. He adds that he usurped Cobra Kai from John Kreese and he wants to train students to become better. As Silver's antics begin to cause a divide in the couple, Daniel confronts him about what he was saying about Amanda after seeing him talking to Eva. When he points at him, he blocks it and Terry falls on his bonsai trees made it look like that he caused a scene. This results Amanda being embarrassed by the event. Amanda argues with Daniel about how he let his rivalry with Terry affect Amanda's chances of being on the charity. She is upset that Daniel can't let go of the past and can't go through one day without karate drama. Daniel asks for her trust into letting him and Chozen to handle this situation, so she snaps for him to handle it, but she won't be around to watch. She leaves and takes Sam and Anthony with her.
Amanda, Sam, and Anthony visit Amanda's mother Joanne in Ohio, taking some much needed time away from the valley and the karate drama. Jessica arrives and takes them to a local bar while surprised to see that Daniel's not with them. The women talk at the countertop where Jessica wants to know why Daniel didn't make the trip. Amanda admits that it all started when he got back into karate. She's tired of his old enemies popping up, with the latest being Terry Silver. This shocks Jessica, recognizing the name from her time in LA in 1985. She tells Amanda about all the abuse Silver did to Daniel including his plan to to destroy his life. While talking, a few of their former high school classmates, led by Amanda's old rival, Elizabeth-Anne Rooney, begin to pick on them including calling Amanda's cruel nickame she had in high school. The bickering leads into a fight, with the women brawling at the bar until the woman's friends subdue them. When Elizabeth readies to hit Amanda, Sam intervenes with her karate skills to save Amanda and Jessica. The four then quickly leave the bar. Once back at Joanne's, the women talk more about Daniel and Silver where Jessica still has nightmares from the things Silver did, recommending Amanda cut Daniel some slack and reminds her that Daniel has a right to hate Terry Silver.
Now that she learns more about Terry Silver and understands that he needs be defeated, Amanda goes home to patch things up with Daniel, only to learn he was brutally attacked by Silver after another failed attempt to stop him on his own. A week later, Daniel is still on bed, recovering from his injuries, while Amanda, Sam, Johnny, and Chozen brainstorm their next move. Daniel has no interest in continuing his feud with Silver, having nearly lost everything he had. He's ready to go back to the dealership. Amanda tries to convince him not to give up, to no avail. Nonetheless, the trio and Sam continue to learn more about Silver's expansion across the valley, understanding that a time to act is imminent. After Johnny and Chozen's attempt to confront Silver failed, they bring Amanda up to speed, including Cobra Kai's new sensei's. They are ready to fight but Amanda is adamant that Daniel leads the charge. When reminded he doesn’t want to, Sam tells them how she thought the same. She believes they need to keep with this fight. Amanda agrees. 
Ultimately, Amanda brings Daniel back to the Miyagi-Do dojo so he can heal. He goes into Mr. Miyagi's old room, which hasn't changed since the man lived there. Amanda shares how she visited Mr. Miyagi the night before the wedding. They talked about Daniel and how he always fought for what he believed in and standing up to Silver is right. Daniel is scared of people getting hurt, losing his family again, and failing the kids. She promises they are all here for him, leading him outside to where the Eagle Fang's and Miyagi-Do's, including a redeemed Robby who rejoined the team and left Cobra Kai, have all gathered. Daniel takes his place with Chozen and Johnny while Amanda joins the group, all bowing.
Chozen, Daniel, Johnny, and Amanda continue to brainstorm a way to defeat Silver as Cobra Kai's expansion is growing. She suggests that beating a monster might require a monster - Kreese. Initially reluctant about this, but Daniel and Johnny ended up visiting Kreese in prison to find out what Silver's after next. After finding out from Kreese that Silver's plan to enter Cobra Kai in the Sekai Taikai tournament to expand the dojo worldwide, Amanda and the Miyagi-Fang sensei's interrupts Silver's pitch to the Sekai board who are visiting the Cobra Kai Dojo. They want the now-combined Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang dojos to fight for a spot in the tournament. The board, interested by the duel styles of fighting, agrees to let them audition. With training about to begin and the male and female fighters selected, Amanda and Carmen make homemade pizza for the dojo students.
Amanda learns of Johnny and Carmen having a baby. She, Daniel, Chozen, Louie congratulates him. The group heads out for a night on the town through a limo to celebrate Carmen's pregnancy reveal, with Carmen and Amanda having fun on the dance floor. When the night ends, Amanda and Carmen decide to go home but encourage Daniel, Johnny, and Chozen to continue their fun before taking off in the limo.
Amanda and Carmen return to the LaRusso house and talk, but a panicked call from Daniel changes plans. He reveals that Mike Barnes hijacked their limo and then he, Chozen, and Johnny went off to fight Silver at his home while drunk. He needs Amanda to pick him up. Shortly, Carmen and Amanda gets worried when a Cobra Kai car pulls into the driveway. Luckily for them, it's Stingray, who has a change of heart after learning about a brawl at the dojo against the Miyagi-Do's and Eagle Fang's through a text he received. He helps the women save Daniel and drives them to the Cobra Kai dojo, where Stingray defeats the students guarding the door. Amanda wants to call the police a few times, until she remembers they're the ones breaking and entering. When the trio enters the dojo, they see the kids brawling and bleeding, so Amanda decides it is time to call the cops. The fight stops when everyone sees the video of Silver confessing to Tory that he bribed the All-Valley referee in the tournament, which shocks everyone. Amanda supports Daniel in his rematch with Terry Silver. Daniel and Silver fight which results in the two-time All Valley champion defeating Silver and Amanda, Sam and Anthony embrace Daniel. They reunite with Johnny, Barnes, and Chozen outside and watch Silver being arrested for his crimes.
=== Season 6 ===
Daniel and Amanda are happily living their lives after Terry Silver's arrest. Daniel tells Amanda that he still wants to have his Miyagi-Do students compete in the Sekai Taikai while planning to use the competition as a way to spread Mr. Miyagi’s legacy across the globe. Although she’s concerned if it’s the right decision for him, Daniel reassures her that he’ll retire immediately afterward and settle down. When Johnny and Chozen disagrees of the new dojo name, Daniel tries to talk them out of it. Back at the LaRusso house, Daniel comes back home and tells Amanda how did his talk with his two former rivals went. Shortly, Sam arrives after a double date at Golf N'Stuff to tell her parents that she and Tory have settled their differences; inspired by this, Amanda tells Daniel to do the same for Johnny and Chozen.
Johnny pays a visit, explaining to Daniel and Amanda that he needs to borrow an air mattress because Carmen's place is flooded. At LaRusso Auto, Daniel and Amanda see Johnny sell a car to a customer with Chozen's advice, and the customer praises him for selling her a car. Johnny says that balance is important, and Amanda and Daniel welcome him to the dealership.
Carmen has her gender reveal at the LaRusso house. Amanda is about to confront Anthony for the cannoli but it was really Chozen, who ate it as a midnight snack. Amanda and everyone cheers when Johnny and Carmen reveals that they are having a girl. At Miyagi-Do, Daniel tells Amanda that he is happy that Chozen will live in Mr. Miyagi's old house after the tournament is over. After he helps Chozen move his bed, he sees a hidden door on the floor. When he opens it, he finds an old box with Mr. Miyagi's old stuff. Daniel looks at Mr. Miyagi's old stuff where he learns big things about him. He learned that he was a boxer and his passport has an old address. Amanda suggests to go to that address. He, Amanda, and Chozen goes to a boxing gym. When they arrive, one of the boxers flees, thinking that Daniel is a police officer. Chozen and Daniel chase him off while Amanda stays until they get back with the boxer. The three learn from the boxer how his grandfather and Mr. Miyagi had a good relationship. He also explains that the reason why he had a fake document because he could've been hiding something. Chozen explains that Miyagi left Okinawa for America but the boxer said he fled from America. Despite their efforts, the boxer leaves them. The next day at Miyagi-Do, Chozen tells Daniel that Mr. Miyagi is a good man but Daniel vents that he hid this information from him for a very long time. Amanda tells Daniel that it's best to make time for their loved ones.
When Daniel and Johnny's partnership starts to escalate once again, Daniel vents to Amanda about Johnny taking over training for the captain's match. He tells her that he hasn't fully embraced Miyagi-Do despite the training and especially when he picked a fight with Mike Barnes. Amanda tells him that anything is possible. Daniel counters saying Mr. Miyagi never wanted this to happen. Amanda states that Johnny's takeover can be a good thing due to Daniel's plan to retire being a sensei. At LaRusso, Johnny, upset at Daniel for putting him in test drive while he takes over the training, tells everyone he is leaving and asks several employees to go with him but no one, including Louie and Anoush, refuses before he is stopped by Amanda. Amanda tells Johnny that the reason why Daniel's been acting strange is because of Mr. Miyagi's old box. She tells him what was inside it. 
Amanda then watches the captains match for the Sekai Taikai, starting with Miguel and Robby's match for male captain, which Robby wins and earns the position. Before Sam and Tory's match, Amanda wishes Tory good luck. While the fight is happening, the hospital calls and Amanda answers and she is shocked to hear that Tory's mother recently died. She has Daniel, who notices Tory's emotions change, stop the fight and he rightfully does, stopping Tory from potentially hitting Sam since she is apparently emotionally unstable. This upsets Johnny since he's the ref, but Daniel tries to tell him what's going on and Tory reveals her mother has died to everyone's shock. Tory insists that she has to do this for her mother. Daniel and Amanda express their condolences, but the former says they'll have find another way to appoint the captain and Johnny contradicts saying Tory needs to fight. The LaRusso's and Robby tries tries to help Tory but she is so angry and upset. She believes that Daniel and Amanda are just gonna take Sam's side because she's their daughter, but Amanda tells Tory they're not taking sides, though Johnny makes it worse by doubting that in front of Tory. She then storms off and quits the team and presumably karate. Sam becomes female captain by default. Amanda and Daniel's decision results in a new rift between Daniel and Johnny, with Johnny declaring that he is done with Daniel once they get through the Sekai Taikai.
== Personality ==
To be added.
== Trivia ==
* Amanda's actress, Courtney Henggeler, and Elizabeth Anne-Rooney's actress, Sunny Mabrey, both appeared in the TV movie Escaping Dad in which they play characters who are best friends instead of enemies.
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