What child actor who played Chunk in The Goonies looks like now as he completely changed profession
When it comes to childhood films, there’s plenty of specific ones that it feels like just about everybody has seen.
And The Goonies just has to be up there.
Even if we weren’t even born when it came out (1985 if you can believe it), it’s an absolute classic of a film.
Directed by Richard Donner and written by Chris Columbus (based on a story by Steven Spielberg), the adventure comedy of course follows a group of friends on a treasure hunt for the long-lost fortune of One-Eyed Willy.
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The now iconic cast includes the likes of Ke Huy Quan, Sean Astin and Martha Plimpton.
But nowadays one of its particular icons has a completely different profession and, understandably really, looks unrecognisable from how we best know him – as The Chunk.
Jeff Cohen starred as Lawrence Cohen in The Goonies, but obviously we all know that character better as Chunk.
An icon for the ‘Truffle Shuffle’ dance, he’s many fans’ favourite character.
Cohen also appeared in the likes Little Shots, Family Ties, and Ask Max in the 80s but after starring in The Goonies at 10, he grew up to have a very different career.
The now 51-year-old went to study at the University of California, with a recommendation for his application from Donner.
And the director and his wife even reportedly offered to pay for his education with Cohen going on to the UCLA School of Law in 2000.
He soon became an entertainment lawyer with his own firm and in 2008 was named in The Hollywood Reporter's ‘Next Generation: Hollywood's Top 35 Executives 35 and Under’.
The former actor told Chambers Associate that this was the achievement he was ‘most proud of’.
“That gave me confidence that I was on the right track,” he explained.
Cohen also joked that law is his ‘second career’ as: “Puberty forced me into early retirement from my first one as a child actor.”
The Chunk star did say that his background in acting has ‘absolutely’ benefited his legal career.
“Having experience on the talent side makes me a more empathetic advocate for my clients. It's not merely academic,” he explained.
As for why he decided to become a lawyer, Cohen said: “Actually, I wasn't sure that I wanted to be a lawyer but I was sure that I wanted a legal education. I was always fascinated by the entertainment industry and as an undergrad at Berkeley, I developed interests in politics and business as well. A legal background seemed to be a unique tool to help me make an impact in those arenas once I figured out what I wanted to do.”
It’s reported that back in 2022, Cohen negotiated the deal of his old co-star Quan in Everything Everywhere All at Once.
And during his Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor acceptance speech, Quan thanked him and called Cohen his ‘Goonies brother for life’.
Like Quan, their fellow co-star Plimpton has gone one to have a successful acting career both on the stage and screen.
Topics: Nostalgia, TV and Film
Jess Battison