You’ll remember him as cheeky Chunk who could do the world’s best truffle shuffle with his belly but these days, The Goonies actor Jeff Cohen is all grown up and unrecognisable from his child star days.
He rose to fame in the 1985 adventure comedy, The Goonies, which was produced by Steven Spielberg and featured an ensemble cast of Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Corey Feldman, Kerri Green, Martha Plimpton and Ke Huy Quan.
The film follows a group of pre-teen youths desperate to save their homes from being knocked down and converted into a golf course. Along the way they discover an ancient treasure map which leads them on an exciting once-in-a-lifetime adventure.
The flick struck a chord with viewers and grossed a whopping $61 million. Fast forward to 2015 and Jeff Cohen has stepped away from the camera and instead works as a partner at his own entertainment law firm, Cohen Gardner LLP.
Looking back on his iconic role, the now-41-year-old told Bitter Empire he landed the gig pretty quickly thanks to his natural confidence. “I had already been acting for a few years at that point, my agent sent me in, I met with the casting director, and then Richard Donner and Spielberg, and they picked me up.”
He credits studying law and growing up to look nothing like his character for helping him avoid the usual path of a doomed child star.
“In my case, when I hit puberty, I looked different. I couldn’t get work anymore. In a way, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Then I find all these other things through academia. I went to Berkeley.”
“I can study political science and literature and business. There is a whole different world out there. I got out of LA. I think what saved me was school.”
Jeff, who often writes political and business features for the Huffington Post, hasn’t married and lives in LA.
Click through the gallery to check out Jeff over the years
He’s come so far from his Chunk days: (L-R) A young Jeff in 1985 strikes a pose in his trademark Hawaiian shirt in The Goonies, while he cut a stylish figure at the Variety and Women in Film pre-Emmys event in LA last week.
Hey you guys, he’s all grown up! Following his meteoric rise to fame, Jeff traded in acting for studying. In 1996, he graduated from Berkeley in California with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.
(L-R) Sean Astin, Corey Feldman, Ke Huy Quan and Jeff Cohen on the set of the cult classic. The film struck a chord with viewers and grossed a whopping $61 million.
(L-R) Joe Pantoliano, Jeff Cohen, Lupe Ontiveros, director Richard Donner, Ke Huy Quan, director Robert Davi and Corey Feldman step out at the Warner Bros. 25th Anniversary celebration of The Goonies in LA in 2010.
Truffle shuffle no more… His character might have carried a bit of pre-teen puppy fat but over the years Jeff has slimmed out.
He credits studying law and growing up to look nothing like his character for helping him avoid the usual path of a doomed child star.
“In my case, when I hit puberty, I looked different. I couldn’t get work anymore. In a way, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Then I find all these other things through academia. I went to Berkeley,” Jeff, pictured with co-stars Sean Astin, Corey Feldman and Ke Huy Quan, told Bitter Empire.
Still all pals! Jeff Cohen catches up with co-star Corey Feldman and director Robert Davi at a special screening of the film in Hollywood in 2013.
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