Cast of Netflix Series ‘Cobra Kai’

Mary Mouser | Biography

Actress of 'Cobra Kai,' 'A Stranger’s Heart,' and 'Body of Proof'

• By Grishma Giri
• Update : November 28, 2021

---

Mary Mouser is an American actress well known for her portrayal of Samantha LaRusso on the Netflix series Cobra Kai. Mouser is also recognized for her part in ABC’s Body of Proof.

Who Is Mary Mouser?

Mary Mouser, full name Mary Matilyn Mouser, is an American actress. She started her journey in the entertainment world when she was just five years old. She was a photo-double in the sci-fi horror film Signs for Abigail Breslin. After her lead role as a child in the Hallmark original film, A Stranger’s Heart, released in 2007, she rose as a young star in Hollywood.  

Early Life and Family

Mary Matilyn Mouser was born to Scott and Tina Mouser on 9 May 1996. She grew up with her siblings, Laura Ashley and Aaron Parker Mouser, at Pine Bluff, Arkansas. She was the youngest among her siblings, and she shared a deep emotional bond with them.

Mouser thinks highly of her family. She believes that her career in acting is because of their unconditional support. She chose an acting career regardless of any other options as she thinks nothing excited her as much as acting.

Career

Mouser has consistently appeared on both television and movies. As a young actress, she has appeared in the family comedy Son of the Mask (2005), and the fantasy thriller, The Hole (2009). Mouser also made a fair share of guest appearances on television series before turning ten years old. She was part of Without a Trace (2004), Monk (2005), and Scrubs (2005) in her early television career. 

In 2006, Mouser came into the limelight after working in an animated series, Eloise: The Animated Series, where she worked as a voice-over artist.

‘Life is Wild’

She then played the role of Mia Weller on Life is Wild that got released in 2007. She had a supporting but acclaimed role on The CW’s Life is Wild, which follows the story of a New York veterinarian Danny Clark (played by D.W. Moffett) who moves with his family to his father-in-law’s game reserve in South Africa. The series ran for one season for 13 episodes from October 2007 to February 2008.

‘Stranger’s Heart’

In 2007, she appeared in another acclaimed role in the Hallmark Channel’s romantic television movie A Stranger’s Heart. In the movie, she played the role of an orphaned child Sarah “Cricket” Cummings whose parents’ hearts were transplanted to Callie Morgan (played by Samantha Mathis) and Jasper Cates (played by Peter Dobson). Later, both Callie and Jasper build a strange connection with Sarah and each other.

‘Body of Proof’

Then, in 2011, she played the daughter of the medical examiner, Dr. Megan Hunt (played by Dana Delany), on ABC’s crime drama, Body of Proof. She portrayed the role of Lacey Flaming, who mostly appeared in a sideline role in the first season of the show. Her role developed into the main role during the second and third seasons. The show was canceled in 2013 after season 3.

She shared in an interview with Brief Take in May 2018 that during her three-year time playing on Body of Proof, she considered actress Dana Delany as her family.

‘Scandal’ and ‘Freakish’

Mouser guest-starred in two episodes of ABC’s political thriller drama Scandal as Karen Grant. She first appeared on the show's season 4 episode 4 titled ‘Like Father, Like Daughter’ that aired on 16 October 2014. She then appeared on season 5 episode 9 titled ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside’ that released on 19 November 2015.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Mouser took over the role of Karen after the scheduling conflicts of the original actress Madeline Caroll. On Scandal, Mouser portrayed the rebellious daughter of Fitzgerald Grant (played by Tony Goldwyn) and Mellie Grant (played by Bellamy Young). Both of her parents are the president of the United States. However, Karen couldn’t care less about the political game.

In 2016, she scored a recurring role in Hulu’s high school zombie horror series Freakish. She portrayed the role of Mary Jones, the sister of the show’s main character Grover Jones (played by Leo Howard).

‘Cobra Kai’

In 2018, Mouser made her first appearance as Samantha LaRusso, in the Netflix series Cobra Kai. The show is based on the original film by Robert Mark Kamen, The Karate Kid (1984). It is a martial art, comedy, and drama-based series streaming on Netflix. 

Mouser came to prominence as a young star after playing the role of Samantha LaRusso, a daughter of the original Karate Kid Daniel LaRusso (played by Ralph Macchio). 

However, she almost missed her opportunity to be a part of Cobra Kai because she forgot to set an alarm and did not go for the audition. Fortunately, she got a second chance and scored her career-defining role in the critically acclaimed Cobra Kai.

Despite being a part of the martial arts show, she says she did not have much intense karate training for the show. However, she wanted to do more karate training. In an interview with Brief Take magazine, she said, “I did not have as intense training as some of the other people in the cast, but I definitely did get to play around with some of the stunt training, which was super fun. You can ask literally anyone who worked on this project and they will tell you how much I was so: “More karate! More karate? More karate! More karate?” [laughs] Any day I wasn’t getting to train with them, I was complaining about it.” 

The actress has appeared in forty episodes in the last three seasons from 2018 to 2021. The fourth season is scheduled to premiere on 31 December 2021, per an announcement made during Netflix’s online Tudum event. The series has been renewed for its fifth season in August 2021.

Awards and Recognitions

In 2008, Mouser was nominated for the two ‘Young Artist Awards’ — one for her role in the television movie A Stranger’s Heart and another for her role in the television series Life Is Wild. She was nominated for those awards under the category ‘Best Performance as Supporting Young Actress.’

Life after Type 1 Diabetes 

The actress was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2009. She was just thirteen years old when she had to make some significant changes in her lifestyle. In an interview with Aharon Abhishek for Meaww, she said, “When I was first diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, I felt very isolated and very sad.” She continued, “[being] separated from my family and all these people who were trying to be there for me but you just don’t understand that there’s this wall in your life, you don’t get this massive change that just happened in your life.”

She also mentioned how her condition made it harder for her to cope with her activities on the set of Cobra Kai. She noted, “The basic way I live my life is completely different. Eating is completely different. For instance, hot lights in the set bring my blood sugar down and if I am doing a scene, a bunch of martial art moves, I gotta be stuffing my face with snacks in between, all these things changed in my life.”

Regardless of her busy schedule, she works actively with Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). It is one of the largest nonprofit type 1 diabetes research foundations.

Who Is Mary Mouser Dating?

Mouser is currently in a relationship with actor Brett Pierce. They’ve been together for almost six years. Pierce met her for the first time at a party on 11 November 2015. The actor of Pop TV’s comedy series, This Just In, was attracted to her when they crossed paths. Soon after, they started dating.

On 19 December 2015, Pierce took their relationship a little further and asked Mouser to be his girlfriend. He organized the day at Disneyland, where he asked her to be his girlfriend. The couple celebrated their five years of togetherness in 2020. They also shared pictures of their five-year journey with their fans and well-wishers.

Net Worth and Height

According to Celebritynetworth, Mouser has a net worth of $2 million. She amassed her wealth through her career as an actress. 

She stands at 5 feet 3 inches of height that is equivalent to 1.6 meters as per IMDb.