After 20 years in the business, Cobra Kai actress Courtney Henggeler said she is quitting acting.
In a Substack post made late last month, Henggeler said she “hung up my gloves,” informing her agents that she “was tapping out. I no longer wanted to be a cog in the wheel of the machine.”
Deadline has reached out to Henggeler’s representatives for comment.
Known mostly for her six-season run as Amanda LaRusso in Netflix’s recently concluded hit Cobra Kai, Henggeler has also landed bit parts in series like The Big Bang Theory, Mom, Fuller House, Jane the Virgin, Bones, Melissa & Joey, Happy Endings and others.
“All I’ve ever known in my professional life was acting. But not even the art or craft of acting. All I’ve truly ever [known] was the hustle. The hustle, the grind, sprinkled occassionally [sic] with the odd acting job. Perhaps a line or two to TV’s Dr. House – ‘Sorry‘ (that’s it. That was my line. Genius),” she wrote.
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Henggeler noted her frustration with “recurring guest-star [roles] that never seemed to recur.”
“We survived off the crumbs,” she continued. “We filled our cup with the possibility; our mugs with delusion. Our plates were empty, but a golden goose hung over our heads. Today might be the day. Today might be the day I reach the golden goose.“
However, the performer added that she is “considered one of the lucky ones,” referencing her time on Cobra Kai: “I was on a series. A successful series. I made money. My face was on the billboards I longed for 20 plus years. I was directed by George Clooney for godsakes. This by all definitions is the golden goose.”
But that didn’t stop the nagging dissatisfaction, she said.
“For years I silenced the voice in my head, begging me to walk away. The voice, the constant gnawing. Not because of the acting itself. But because of the gauntlet I had to run to reach the acting. What once felt necessary, something I willingly participated [in], even celebrated, became stifling,” she said.
Henggeler ended her statement with a series of questions, including, “What if we have been handing our power away because we have been told that this is how it is done. We lose perspective on our own machine, because we are convinced we need another.”
