Stingray from ‘Cobra Kai’ Is Actually One of Hollywood’s Hottest Stars

From Men's Health

• Raymond—er, Stingray—is one of the most entertaining characters in Season 2 of Cobra Kai, now streaming on Netflix.

• Stingray is played by Paul Walter Hauser, who's actually become one of the hottest and most acclaimed upcoming actors in the industry over the past few years.

• You might have seen him before in movies like I, Tonya or BlackKlansman.

When Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) first meets Raymond (Paul Walter Hauser), he's just a sort of goofy guy helping the former bully turned sensei out in a hardware store. For those who watch a lot of movies, Raymond may look familiar. If they've seen Paul Walter Hauser in any of his other film roles—which have gotten increasingly high profile over the last few years—it would be fair to wonder why he's appearing in this random small role in Cobra Kai.

But then Raymond joins the Cobra Kai dojo, becoming Johnny's oldest student and, simultaneously, one of the series' most valuable comic relief players. By Episode 7 of Season 2, "Lull," Raymond shows up to the competition in the woods at Coyote Creek with a whole new get-up; clad in a leather jacket with aviators on his face and a red, braided beard, he's now calling himself "Stingray." He "flipped the script, Hawk-style," he says, referring to his fellow Cobra Kai member who instantly went from the fearing to the feared when he added a mohawk atop his head and adapted a confident new attitude.

Hauser winds up appearing in 6 of Season 2's 10 episodes as Raymond/Stingray, and once he takes on his new moniker, he basically provides an instant laugh just with a look. He's shown quite a bit through his various film roles, but he has a physicality to his comedy that reminds of Zach Galifianakis; it doesn't take much to get people howling. From showing up at a high school party with his new date (maybe 'flipping the script' actually worked for him too?) to interviewing for a security job with the high school at the exact moment that the epic brawl broke out, he's always funny—and showing up at just the right time.

None of that should come as a surprise—Hauser has been one of the most exciting upcoming actors in the industry over the last few years, and has caught the attention of some very major filmmakers, including Spike Lee and Clint Eastwood. Here's some more you should know about the man who plays Stingray.

You've seen him in some major movies before.

Hauser's biggest role for a while was as Shaun, a goon who helps orchestrate an attack on Nancy Kerrigan in I, Tonya, the 2017 film about Tanya Harding and her infamous 1994 Olympics incident. He plays that role with a sort of screwball, dry, darkness—it's a role that feels straight out of a Coen Brothers movie, but is nonetheless based in reality.

Stream I, Tonya Here

Hauser got his highest profile role when he played the titular character in last year's Richard Jewell. The movie, based on the real-life bombing at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta—and the fallout involving Jewell, a wrongfully-accused security guard—was nominated for Best Picture, and directed by a guy you may have heard of named Clint Eastwood. Hauser's performance as Jewell was universally praised, and the exposure will certainly help him continue landing big-time great roles.

Stream Richard Jewell Here

Hauser has also clearly caught the attention of another of cinema's most iconic directors, Spike Lee; he's appeared in supporting roles his last two movies, BlackKklansman, and Da 5 Bloods.

Stream Da 5 Bloods Here

These roles are actually somewhat intertwined, believe it or not; in an interview with The Detroit News, Hauser explained how the sequencing of these all worked. He had already filmed and worked with Lee on BlackKlansmen, and the director was apparently so pleased that he invited him to return with another part in Da 5 Bloods (calling him at 12:30 at night while he was at home in Saginaw, Michigan), which was set to film in Thailand and Vietnam.

When Hauser was filming Da 5 Bloods, he was contacted by Eastwood's team about the Jewell role, which eventually he would land, and would earn him the best reviews of his career.

He's one of Brad Pitt's favorite actors.

After seeing Hauser's performance in Richard Jewell, Pitt praised the 34-year-old upcoming star in multiple venues. In a red carpet interview with Variety, he said the performance moved him to tears.

“I’ll tell you a performance I just loved. I don’t know if he’s out tonight, but Paul Walter Hauser,” Pitt said. “He was just so moving in Richard Jewell. The degree of difficulty and what he gave, what he did with it was really surprising to me. I almost teared up.”

Pitt also shouted Hauser out during his appearance on Marc Maron's WTF podcast, alongside Leonardo DiCaprio (who himself was a producer on Richard Jewell). The conversation around Hauser starts at about 1:03:48 in the linked clip.

"One of my favorite films of the year, and one of my favorite performances of the year," Pitt says. "He's amazing. Paul Walter Hauser. What a gem."

"He's amazing," DiCaprio added for good measure. "That performance as Richard Jewell? I can't disassociate him from that performance."

He models his career after John Goodman's.

Hauser is very interactive with fans on his Twitter account, at @PaulWHauser. One fan noted his peculiar career arc, presumably after seeing him play Stingray in Cobra Kai.

"The career of Paul Walter Hauser fascinates me," R.J. Lehmann wrote. "He gets significant roles in Oscar nominated films like I Tonya and [sic] BlacKkKlansmen, the leading role in Richard Jewell. But then he also shows up in rando cameos on Superstore and Cobra Kai."

Hauser responded quickly, and with a perfect counter: John Goodman.

"I’m trying to get that John Goodman shit, bruh. Get you a Roseanne AND a Barton Fink."

Given Goodman's roles in a number of Coen Brothers movies, and Hauser's particular skillset, this feels like a very on-point comparison. Hauser would be an amazing fit for a Walter Sobchak type character if anyone is ever looking to be inspired by The Big Lebowski.

He calls his time on Cobra Kai "one of the best gigs ever."

We don't know if Raymond/Stingray will be back on Cobra Kai for Season 3, but it's clear from the way Hauser talks about it that he had an amazing time making the show.

"One of the best gigs ever," he wrote of the show when a fan noted that it looked like he was having fun. "Doing comedy with kind, talented people."

Even as his career skyrockets, he doesn't plan on changing how he picks his roles.

Despite the fact that his career has been on a meteoric rise, and he can count the likes of freaking Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio as fans, Hauser seems like he's really remaining humble still. When one fan recently noted how wild it is that a very recently Oscar-adjacent performer is playing a recurring role in Cobra Kai, he responded in just about the best way possible.

"I’ll always do crazy-ass comic relief characters," he wrote. "I can’t guarantee Oscars. I can guarantee laughter."

The man knows his talent, that's for sure. But even if he can't guarantee Oscars, he can feel OK about his chances of someday getting there.

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