Elisabeth Shue, 57, who starred with Tom Cruise in Cocktail, said she cared too much

Cobra Kai actress Elisabeth Shue cared too much about ‘what other people thought’ when she was younger.

The 57-year-old actress – whose first big-screen role came in The Karate Kid with Ralph Macchio in 1984 – has revealed the advice she’d give to herself at that stage in her life and career.

‘I would tell her to not expect so much, and not care so much what other people thought of her,’ she said while appearing on the ID10T with Chris Hardwick podcast. ‘I think that was pretty detrimental to my soul, all those years of caring so much what people thought of you.’

Shue, who worked with Tom Cruise in Cocktail, added, ‘I would tell her that, for sure.

‘And then I would tell her that it’s OK to just be who you are.

‘To be somebody who’s not caring about the business, to be somebody who doesn’t know how to wear dresses properly and is clueless about all the things that I was clueless about.’

Elisabeth – who went on to appear in Leaving Las Vegas, Back To The Future and CSI – admitted she was too hard on herself earlier on in her career.

The sister of Melrose Place star Andrew Shue added, ‘I think I beat myself up so much when I was younger because I expected so much out of myself and was constantly comparing myself and wondering what everyone thought of me.

‘I would just say, “Just accept where you are and just enjoy the moments of working with all these really interesting people. That’s all it’s going to be. That’s it.”‘

Elisabeth – who has kids Miles, 23, Stella, 19, and Agnes, 14, with husband Davis Guggenheim – also revealed what advice she would give to other parents to pass onto their own children.

She explained: ‘Well, one thing I’ve learned about being a mom is that kids do not like advice. I don’t think you can impart too much advice, they don’t wanna hear it.

‘This will sound cliche, but I would say, try to be a good example of how you would hope that they would grow and evolve as humans.

‘I would say that’s the best you can do … mirror, for them, certain character traits. I feel like, at the end of the day, that’s really what your job is.’