LakeWales actress talks ‘Cobra Kai’ and upcoming roles
LakeWales actress and producer Susan Gallagher hasworked extensively in film, television and theater, just consult her IMDb page. But fans ofNetflix’s “Cobra Kai” may recognize her as Lynn, the “very sassy, somewhat provocative” homelesswoman who often makes life difficult for Johnny Lawrence(William Zabka) in the hit series based on “The Karate Kid” movies.
“Lynn enjoys nothing more than giving him a hard time, and she’s known for hustling coin and being very territorial,” Gallagher said. “They have a very funny energy between those two characters and bantering back and forth, and it provides a little bit of comic relief because Johnny has a lot of drama going on in his life.”
Itwas a bit of a process to transform into Lynn. Each day of filming, Gallagher was covered head to toe in dirt makeup, including having her teeth painted different shades of brown.
“This is the part that I wanted to challengemyself with, so no whining or complaining here,” she said. “It’s an absolute blast to slip into her filthy skin.”
Gallagher said she’s grateful to play Lynn in the showgraced by original cast members fromZabka to RalphMacchio (asDaniel LaRusso) andMartin Kove (as John Kreese) and created by a trio of filmmaking friends and “Karate Kid” fans— JonHurwitz andHayden Schlossberg (both wrote the “Harold& Kumar” movies) aswell as JoshHeald, of “Hot Tub TimeMachine Fame.”
“You’ve got these great writers and then you’ve got the original cast from‘The Karate Kid’movies, and so that’swhywe have been number one onNetflix,” Gallagher said.
Gallagher hails from Gastonia, North Carolina, where she grew up with a “buzz for the biz” as the
daughter of jazz musician June Craton, who opened for the likes of Tony Bennett and Dinah Shore.
She did some modeling in her teen years, but Gallagher
didn’t seriously pursue acting and modeling untilmoving to LakeWales after marrying her husband, LakeWales native andUniversity of Central
Florida graduate, Jimbo Jahna, and becoming a momto Caroline Jahna Pryor and Bo Jahna.
In Central Florida, productions, talent agents and
acting classeswere abundant. And she had her husband’s support.
“It gaveme a great outlet for creativity and meeting other people that like the same things that I did,” she said. “My husbandwas a smart guy to encourage me to do that because it fulfilled me and it enabled me to continue to growand learn about acting and the craft andwork on that on a part-time basis while Iwas still taking care ofmy children andmy family.”
She started out doing commercials and print work about 30 years ago, which opened a lot of doors.
“That gave a lot of opportunities to many of us actors to earn a decent living whilewe continued to take acting classes and to kind of supplement our theatrical dreams and goals because we didn’t have a whole lot of TV and film likewe did the commercials,” said the 60-year-old actress, who traveled to Atlanta, New Orleans, Tampa, Miami and Jacksonville for jobs.
In addition to her role on “CobraKai,” Gallagher has a few other projects in the works.
She’s currently filming “22— TheUnforgotten Soldier,” amovie directed by SamMedina about veteran suicide and PTSD.
“[Medina] has been passionate about veterans for many years and been working on this film for five years,” Gallagher said. “I was honored to be part of the cast and to hopefully bring what I can to this beautiful film because it’s certainly an important and powerful story.”
Themovie is aiming for a VeteransDay 2021 release.
Gallagher is alsoworking on a pilot for a showby Orlando filmmaker and Full SailUniversity course directorKevin O’Neill called “Grace’s Diner.” Gallagher plays the title character in the series she describes as “Alice” meets “Touched by an Angel.”
“It takes place in a diner, obviously … and there’s some special things that happened in this diner,” she said.
They hope to film in Central Florida with a local crew and talent. It’s being produced by Gallagher’s female-run production company, Her Little Red Productions.
“Central Florida and the Orlando marketing and casting directors have been good to me,” said Gallagher, who is represented by the Brevard Talent Group. “I just thank everybody for all their love and support.”
For more information about Gallagher, visit susangallagher.comor follow her on Facebook (facebook.com/SusanGallagherOfficial), Instagram (@iamsusangallagher) or Twitter (@susanlgallagher). There’s also an Instagramaccount for her character Lynn (@cobrakaishomelesslynnofficial).
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