Cobra Kai’s Courtney Henggeler Quits Acting After 20 Years in the Industry: ‘I No Longer Wanted to Be a Cog in the Wheel’

• Courtney Henggeler is best known for playing Amanda LaRusso in Cobra Kai for all six seasons of the Netflix show’s run
• The actress recently announced on her Substack account that she was quitting acting for good because she “no longer wanted to be a cog in the wheel of the machine”
• Though Henggeler felt like “one of the lucky ones” for landing a main role on a successful show, she said the grind to make it big eventually “became stifling,” which led to her decision

Courtney Henggeler is calling it quits on Hollywood.

The Cobrai Kai actress, 46, announced her decision to leave acting behind after more than 20 years in the entertainment industry in a lengthy post shared to her Substack account in late March.

PEOPLE has reached out to Henggeler’s reps for comment.

“After 20-plus years of fighting the good fight in the acting business, I hung up my gloves on Friday,” Henggeler began. “I called my agents and told them I was tapping out. I no longer wanted to be a cog in the wheel of the machine.”

Henggeler said when her agents asked what she “did want to do, I simply replied, ‘I want to be the machine.’ “

“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 knew was the hustle,” she explained. “The hustle, the grind, sprinkled occasionally with the odd acting job. Perhaps a line or two to TV’s Dr. House – ‘Sorry’ (that’s it. That was my line. Genius).”

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Though Henggeler said she would land roles as a “recurring guest-star,” like in the case with Fox’s House, the joy was short lived when her parts “never seemed to recur.” Eventually, she would return to the grind and continue to hustle to one day make it big.

Over the years, Henggeler landed small roles in Jane the Virgin, Henry Danger, Royal Pains, Mom, NCIS, Criminal Minds and The Big Bang Theory. She also appeared in films like Friends with Benefits, Nobody’s Fool and Feed.

“We survived off the crumbs. We filled our cup with the possibility; our mugs with delusion. Our plates were empty, but a golden goose hung over our heads,” she continued. “Today might be the day. Today might be the day I reach the golden goose.”

Henggeler eventually went on to land the main role of Amanda LaRusso in Cobra Kai in 2018. She portrayed the role through all six seasons until it came to an end in February 2025.

“I’m considered one of the lucky ones,” she said. “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 still, she wasn’t entirely happy. “For years I silenced the voice in my head, begging me to walk away,” she wrote.

“The voice, the constant gnawing. Not because of the acting itself. But because of the gauntlet I had to run to reach the acting,” she continued. “What once felt necessary, something I willingly participated, even celebrated, became stifling.”

Henggeler’s decision to quit comes shortly after Cobra Kai concluded its sixth and final season in February.

Netflix first announced that the show would be renewed for the last time in January 2023, and creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg shared their thoughts on the “bittersweet” decision via Instagram.

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“Reacquainting the world with the Karate Kid universe has been our humble honor,” they wrote. “We’ve never once taken this opportunity for granted.”