From television’s most iconic daytime dramas (The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful, General Hospital) to independent films and the hit Netflix series Cobra Kai as bad boy-gone-good, Mike Barnes, Sean Kanan has been a familiar face for nearly three decades. Beyond his work as an actor and single father to his daughter, he has made his mark as an author and Emmy® award-winning producer. This has made him one of Hollywood’s most successful and respected jack-of-all-trades. In 2021, he won the Daytime Emmy® award for Outstanding Limited Series as the Executive Producer and Creator of Studio City (Amazon Prime) and was also nominated in the categories of Outstanding Lead Actor and Outstanding Writing Team. In December 2024, Sean was appointed showrunner and executive producer of Un$uited, a new series he stars in with Tony Dennison and Tom Arnold.
Michele Kanan is an entertainment industry success story in her own right as a writer and EMMY-winning producer for her work on Studio City. She achieved what some may view as impossible, taking the path from a suburban mom with four kids and a job as an administrator for a medical practice to getting a movie produced and made. From there, she produced ten films, including ’Til Death Do Us Part with Jason Patric, Orlando Jones, and Cam Gigandet; Darkness of Man with Jean Claude VanDam; and a Cannes Film Festival sci-fi favorite, Colonials with Greg Kriek and Sean Kanan. At press time, she was in post-production on the young adult television show, Pretty Little Gun, and is set to direct the feature films, A Gift of Magic and Snipers. Several other projects are in the works.
While you could label them a “power couple,” this popular label does not tell the whole story. Both believe that even with their separate pursuits and collaboration on their recent book, Way of the COBRA Couples, communication is the key to an enduring relationship or marriage communication, which recently won an “International Impact Book Award” to officially be presented on 2/23 in Phoenix. Although other prominent celebrity couples known for major entertainment industry productions, production companies, and collaborations have come–and in many cases–gone, Sean and Michele insist that what allows the personal and professional partnership to ensure beyond high-profile appearances and Instagram goals is setting a foundation for continuous communication. Or, in brief, doing the work.
“This isn’t just another relationship book—it’s your roadmap to how a notorious Hollywood bad boy and a carpool mom with four kids turned chaos into a Tinseltown power couple success story,” says Michele. “We’re sharing the mindset, philosophy, and battle-tested strategies that helped us thrive, even in the toughest times. It’s important to trust your partner as your ‘Magnetic North,’ and create your own ‘Relationship Rule Book,’ and we want to show readers how we did it. Embracing your wild or non-traditional origin story can build a deeper, more meaningful connection. If you’re not laughing while building your life together, you’re doing it wrong. Blame does not exist in this dojo!”
Simply put, the “power” aspect is not just about functioning as a unit but also creating a climate of safety, understanding, listening, and complementing each other’s strengths rather than compensating for anything that may be missing. For Sean, the philosophy goes beyond a couple being greater than the sum of their parts.
“If people want to call us that, I’m flattered,” Sean says. “When we work together, there’s not a whole lot that we can’t accomplish when we put our minds to it. However, it’s more a function of drawing on our individual skill sets and then focusing them in a unified direction. We talk extensively about boundaries in the book. In the metaphoric rulebook that each couple creates, each partner agrees to adhere to the perceptual health of the relationship and the ability to move forward to fulfill the goals you both want to achieve. This ensures that your love continues to grow even as you remain flexible as you grow.”
Each of you has separate projects going. How does balancing your collaborations and separate projects ultimately make your business and personal relationships stronger?
Michele: I think it’s important in a relationship that each partner maintain his or her individual identity, and in our case, our own projects. On some level or another, everything we do interconnects at some point. Even as we are proud of our team projects, continuing separate pursuits reminds us to stay in touch with and maintain our individuality. I love being a supportive sounding board position for Sean’s projects and he does the same for me. We have separate home offices next to each other. So you know we might not see each other for hours at a time during the day, but we communicate back and forth. Sometimes that communication is asking for advice from each other or touching base about how to move the ball further down the field for things.
Do you hope this book will draw attention to your earlier Way of the COBRA books, especially as they tie into the importance of building and maintaining relationships?
Sean: It’s much in the same way as the Cobra Kai‘s success has reinvigorated the original Karate Kid feature films. There’s a whole new generation of people who are seeking out the original source films because they wanted to know the story before the series. The Way of the COBRA book trilogy has a specific sequence in order to it, but they can all be read on their own. If somebody decides to read Way the COBRA Couples first and loves the message, they can absolutely go back and read Way of the COBRA or Welcome to the Kumite, and get tremendous value out of it. Although I put my own spin on the material (that I researched for the book), the readers realize that this is universal information that lives within all of us.
Michele: I grew up in Michigan, and I was offered the chance to write a documentary about a woman whom I really admire, named Marion Ilitch, the co-founder of Little Caesars. Her story also resonated with me because she’s from my hometown. She came to this country with nothing and, with her husband, Mike, built Little Caesars. While he was the idea man who came up with the “Pizza Pizza!,” tagline, she did the books. Today, she’s 90 years old, has seven children, and owns the Detroit Tigers and the Detroit Red Wings. She also had a hand in revitalizing the city and owns a casino, making her the only female casino owner in the world. It resonates with Sean and me in terms of what we bring into our relationships and projects.
In the book, the fact that you are “co-Sensei’s” strengthens the argument that marriage and long-term relationships should operate as partnerships. How does this work in how couples hold each other accountable, be supportive, and agree to be equals?
Michele: You and your partner are puzzle pieces that fit together. You go along the grooves to figure out how you can navigate things together, and when you add kids in–especially in blended family situations– it is really challenging. The way Michele and I ensure everything fits together is by communication. One method we use that we cover in the book is the “day meter.” As most people are not mind readers and don’t always know what our partner is thinking, we use the day meter to let them know how we are functioning on a particular day. (“This is where I’m at today. I’m at 20% of how I normally function.”). I’m more of a digital person. So if you send me a text or you write something to me, it’s much easier for me to understand. And Sean is more verbal. And so we really try to when it’s important, we remember those things and we implement those steps. So instead of him trying to explain something to me 100 times, he just sends me a text and we avoid arguments.
Sean: When we both know it’s not going to be an exceptionally challenging day, instead of trying to just ping off of each other and grab some strength that isn’t there, we use the system to make it clear to one another how we are doing. Your partner may feel resentment when you put how you are feeling into a box and wait for the next day. The day meter can help you track how you can give and receive love.
Millennium: The term “power couple” can be loaded with all kinds of interpretations. What has allowed you to avoid the pitfalls?
Sean: Michele and I had collaborated on projects prior to writing “Studio City,” and Michele’s been instrumental in helping me with the first two books, The Way the COBRA and Walking with the Kumite. We knew we wanted to do something collaborative again. And the topic of strategies and philosophy to be the best possible couple seemed like a great subject. And when you talk about yourselves as a couple, you need to have two different perspectives. So our teaming to write this book together made sense. I felt a magnetic pull to Michele when I first met her, but we still had to overcome significant challenges at the beginning of our relationship. As life continues to throw us challenges, we deal with them in a way that crystallizes our relationship. While it’s important to learn how to depend on and trust each other, when faced with things that might initially seem overwhelming, we take a deep breath and figure out how to approach it together to have the best shot at finding a solution.
What drew you to Cobra Kai, and as you’ve continued working on it, what are the qualities that have allowed it to become the phenomenon it is?
Sean: What drew me to the show immediately was the fact that I was already a part of the “Miyagiverse” coming from the feature films. Mike Barnes is a legacy character, and when I heard that the show was coming out, I was excited and rooted for its success from its inception. I credit the show’s success to many things. The first is that the source material is timeless. The information that Mr. Miyagi passes on to Daniel is deeply rooted in universal and Eastern philosophies. It’s relatable to everybody, and it’s distilled in a way that a Western audience can understand it. I also think that Cobra Kai straddles the age demographics of parents–the original Karate Kid audience–and their kids.
Parents like the show for its nostalgic value because they remember the original films. Kids and teens who aren’t familiar with the source material love Cobra Kai because of the younger actors on it. The show effectively acts as a magnet, bringing these age groups together to enjoy something during a time when it’s not always easy for kids and parents to find common ground.
From the writer/producer perspective, how does the way it is written and produced make for a show that appeals to the original Karate Kid fans and younger fans?
Michele: It updates the storyline. Back in the ’80s and ’90s when the first movies came out, there were good guys and bad guys. As audiences have evolved, stories have a hero, an anti-hero, and everything on the spectrum. That really resonates a lot with today’s kids. Back in the 80s, a bully was either a bad kid or somebody who used to be a bad kid. Today, a bully generally is a kid who has problems and who is acting out and trying to seek help. There’s an understanding more in today’s audience for that, and Cobra Kai really taps into that. It also explains to parents how concepts like “bullies” have evolved. It opens a larger conversation for parents and kids to connect on that specific matter. Having Sean involved with it is great because he speaks about anti-bullying and volunteers with anti-bullying charities and organizations.
“Life lessons” is a theme that runs through both the Karate Kid films and Cobra Kai. How has that informed how you approach motivational speaking and Way of the COBRA Couples?
Sean: As mentioned earlier, the philosophy that Mr. Miyagi originally imparted is timeless and it’s rooted in the tenets of martial arts–empathy, courage, and finding strength within when overcoming challenges. Remaining a lifelong student is also a part of the story, and I learned this when I was training in martial arts. I have continued to train, and I carried it with me into my adult life. I apply it in my acting, my writing, and everything else I do. Much of what I do is reflective of the information that we see in Cobra Kai and the Karate Kid films because they came from the same origins.
Having been involved in the Way of the COBRA and several philanthropic endeavors together, what would you want people to know about the “give and take” required for couples to thrive personally and professionally?
Michele: We have a shared calendar. At the beginning of the year, we do what we call the “State of the Union,” where we plan our year and determine what goals we want to achieve individually and what we want to achieve as a couple. This is our baseline. We also set our phones to silent after 10:00 p.m., and that’s our time. We try to wrap things up at 6:00, and as we each have an office, we compartmentalize the work part of it. And then in terms of work, If it’s him, I am a sounding board for him. If it’s mine, he’s a sounding board for me. If it’s a joint collaboration, then sometimes we just duke it out, and the best idea wins.
Sean: Whether I’m writing, doing stand-up comedy, doing a TEDx Talk, or acting, I draw on my own personal life experience. I always advise my acting students to, “Look to your own life and your own emotional and experiential Rolodex before trying to create something that is made up for any character.” My TEDx Talk is based upon my life experience, as is “COBRA Couples.” I try and bring my life experience to everything I do, which is singular and specific to me. I’m a big believer in focusing on your strengths and working on your weaknesses.
As the casual Saturday conversation wraps and the Kanans prepare to take on pressing tasks for their respective projects, Michele chimes in, “I’m more math, and science-based, so I tend to lean into logistics. Sean’s more of an idea machine, and comes up with concepts that are amazing. He’s good at jumping in and kicking things off. And I’m good at taking them and completing them.”
Although she expresses that one of her big challenges is to become more detail-oriented like Sean is, as opposed to her tendency to see the ‘big picture,’ Sean shakes his head, and with earnestness and support in his voice, tells her she is more detail-oriented than she gives herself credit for. “Our individual skill sets complement and fill in the gaps of the other,” he says as he gathers his papers. “With Michele, I’ve been able to significantly improve a perceived weakness of being too detail-oriented thanks to her perspective on things.”
While there are at least two sides to every story, including those featured in Cobra Kai, the Kanans aim to tell their stories in the best way possible. Having many facets, as the book argues, will ultimately keep those listening interested.