LI's own Ralph Macchio dances with stars tonight

Long Island comes to "Dancing With the Stars" Monday night when Ralph Macchio, the original "Karate Kid," steps out for the first time on the ABC show.

Macchio, 49 -- who now lives on the North Shore of Suffolk County -- was born in Huntington, raised in Dix Hills, and attended Half Hollow Hills West High, graduating in 1979. Despite brief sojourns in Los Angeles, home always was and continues to be Long Island, where his parents and extended family also live.

"I pop back and forth [between Long Island and Los Angeles] all the time," he said in a recent phone interview. "But New York is home. I love New York City, and after 9/11 even more than ever. I just have such pride for that city and Long Island."

Macchio's family includes his parents, Ralph and Rosalie, a brother, Steven, his children, Daniel, 15, and daughter, Julia 18, a freshman at Hofstra. His wife, Phyllis, is a nurse practitioner in the congestive heart failure unit at John T. Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson.

Macchio, who is currently developing films as a producer, has resisted "DWTS" since the second season, when the show first tried to cast him. "It just didn't feel like something that was right for me," he says, "and not necessarily because I couldn't move or have no rhythm. It was just never the right timing and I just didn't wrap my arms around competition reality television."

His family made the difference this time, he says. "I asked them and they were a hundred percent" in favor.

"We've always told him he should try to get on ['Dancing With the Stars']," said his cousin, Matthew Macchio of Oyster Bay. "He's a great performer and good actor. He's nimble and fun. I think he'll do well."

To prepare, Ralph Macchio practiced at the Long Island Academy of Dance (his daughter took lessons there for years). "There's no way you can halfway do this."

"He's definitely got rhythm and I'm thinking he'll do well," said Academy director Jill O'Keefe. "We're all rooting for him."