Radames Pera

Radames Pera
Pera as John Edwards with Melissa Sue Anderson in Little House on the Prairie, 1976
Born	(1960-09-14) September 14, 1960 (age 56) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1972-1987, 2010
Spouse(s)	Marsha Mann (m. 1984)

Radames Perá (born September 14, 1960) is an American former actor best known for his role as "Grasshopper" the student Kwai Chang Caine in the 1972–1975 television series Kung Fu. He is the only living regular cast member from the show.

Pera was born in New York City, New York, the son of actress Lisa Pera. His mother moved to Hollywood in 1963 so that she could pursue an acting career.

From 1972 until 1975, Radames appeared as the young Kwai Chang Caine in the ABC television series Kung Fu. Caine was an orphan from Hunan Province in China who had an American father and a Chinese mother. He appeared throughout the 4-year run show on ABC and worldwide re-runs. For the role of Caine, Radames had to shave his head other than the pilot movie where he was initially shown with hair before scenes showing his head being shaved. He appeared bald in all other episodes. In the series he mainly worked with veteran Asian-American actors Philip Ahn (Master Kan), Keye Luke (blind Master Po, who called him "Grasshopper") and Richard Loo (Master Sun), and was mostly shown living in a Shaolin Monastery where he was taught by the monks to be a Shaolin master. He is depicted as the first person to be welcomed into a Shaolin Monastery who was not of full Chinese birth. The main role of Kwai Chang Caine as an adult was played by David Carradine.

Radames also had a recurring role on Little House on the Prairie as John (Jr.), eldest adopted son of Mr. Edwards, and became Mary Ingalls' love interest during the show's first three seasons.