YouTube Jacob Bertrand plays Hawk in "Cobra Kai."
During the first season of Cobra Kai, Eli Moskowitz (Jacob Bertrand) undergoes a drastic change in his physical appearance. In Season 1, Episode 6, the teenager takes his sensei Johnny Lawrence’s (William Zabka) advice to transform his look to distract from the slight disfigurement on his upper lip. For the rest of the series, he sports a mohawk and, subsequently, is nicknamed Hawk. The West Valley High School student later gets a couple of tattoos to give him even more of an edge.
Jacob Bertrand Revealed if the Mohawk Was Real in a Recent Interview
Some fans may have wondered if the actor who portrays him has the same haircut in real life. It appears that Bertrand opts for a more conservative look when the acclaimed series is not in production. However, in a recent interview with NBC Los Angeles, the actor stated that he is not wearing a wig and rocks a real mohawk while filming Cobra Kai. During the interview, he described the process of getting his hair and makeup done for the show.
“So I have to get everything: the mohawk, the tattoo, the lip. All of it. It’s a good hour and half, two hours. The mohawk takes an hour. And it’s all my real hair. And it’s way too much hairspray is what I would say. We go through so many bottles of hairspray. It’s not that bad. The tattoo is a temporary tattoo. It comes in three pieces and the lip scar is also a little tattoo,” said the 21-year-old.
The Actor Also Talked About Hawk Being a Morally ‘Grey’ Character
During the NBC Los Angeles interview, Bertrand also talked about interacting with fans who dislike his character’s aggressive demeanor.
“Sometimes people walk up and are like, ‘dude you’re a jerk, like why do you do this stuff.’ You know especially in Season 3. Because in Season 3 Hawk gets — you know I do a lot of bad things to a lot of nice people,” said the actor.
He then proceeded to compliment the show’s creators for writing complex characters.
“That’s what I love about this show is, you know, the writers — there’s no like super bad — no one is just bad, you know. Everyone has layers and there’s this grey area, especially Hawk. You know, he’s kind of this grey area,” stated Bertrand.
The actor shared similar sentiments while speaking to RAIN Magazine in February. He told the publication:
A lot of characters, mine specifically, is a total gray area. There’s not really any moment where you’re like, ‘dude, this kid’s just bad.’ You really get to understand why they make the choices they do. And even though you can admit and concede that this probably isn’t the best decision, you at least know why and where they’re coming from, which I really love. I think it’s great writing.
While Bertrand asserted that no Cobra Kai character is truly evil, he does “love playing the bad guy.”
“I absolutely love it. It’s a lot of fun. It’s nice to go back to the good side and be a good guy for a little while though,” explained the actor.
To see more of Bertrand, be sure to watch Cobra Kai, available on Netflix.