Hey YouTube - Jim here!
Do you recall the days of doing the Truffle Shuffle?
Of hunting down One-Eyed Willie’s treasure?
Then you’re either getting old or just a youngin’ with a great taste for good cinema!
The Goonies is a cult classic, a feel-good film that appeals to all ages, but did its
success do anything for the child actors that made up the unique cast?
Let’s do some informational treasure hunting and see what they've been up to in this very
80’s Where Are They Now!
John Matuszak – Lotney “Sloth” Fratelli While we remember him as the lovable sloth,
Matuszak’s career started as an Oakland Raider.
After eight years in the NFL and one Super Bowl win in 1981, Matuszak retired to dive
deep into his potential acting career.
Other than The Goonies, the former football star was featured in 1979’s North Dallas
Forty, The Ice Pirates, The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission, and had guest spots on M*A*S*H*,
The Dukes of Hazard, and The A-Team.
Sadly, in June of 1989, Matuszak died from an accidental overdose of Darvocet.
His final film role was as Jed Stewart in Down the Drain.
Jeff Cohen – Lawrence “Chunk” Cohen Now that’s what we’d call puberty done
right!
The pudgier, clumsier and younger Cohen endeared viewers and gave us countless GIFs with Chunk’s
staple Truffle Shuffle.
The Cohen of today, who stopped acting in 1991 with the TV movie Perfect Harmony, is
cleaner cut and better known for the Cohen Gardner LLP law firm, which he co-founded
in 2002.
In 2015, Cohen released his first book, The Dealmaker’s Ten Commandments: Ten Essential
Tools for Business Forged in the Trenches of Hollywood” and has provided business
and legal articles for CNBC, The Huffington Post, Lawyerist, and Backstage.
Save for participating in The Goonies’ DVD commentary, Cohen has left the world of acting
behind.
Jonathan Ke Quan – Richard “Data” Wang Before he was Data, the young Vietnamese-American
actor portrayed Short Round in the 1984 film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
With two great 80’s flicks under his belt, surely Quan went on to have a prolific acting
career, right?
Well, not quite.
From 1986 to 1991 he did land a 19-episode deal on Nothing Is Easy and 22-episodes on
Head Of The Class, and let's not forget the 1 episode of Tales from the Crypt he was in.
After an appearance in the 1992’s Encino Man, Quan vanished from American cinema and
appeared in two final Hong Kong movies, 1996’s Red Pirate and 2002’s Second Time Around,
before eventually returning as a stunt choreographer for films like X-Men and The One.
In 2012, Quan conveyed to Access Hollywood an “action project” that he was in the
process of developing, though nothing has come of it as of yet.
Corey Feldman – Clark “Mouth” Devereaux Vampires cower at mention of his name and
angels swoon at the sight of him, so one would think life in Corey Feldman’s shoes would
be pretty sweet, but that’s not entirely the case.
In fact, if not for straight-to-DVD releases of The Lost Boys sequels, Feldman would mostly
be known now for a shoddy music career, his own version of Playboy Playmates, and strange
public appearances.
Though his musical is taking him on the road with the “Corey’s Heavenly Tour: Angelic
2 The U.S.,” he hasn’t given up on acting.
From the recent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series to the future releases of The Sunday
Night Slaughter, Corbin Nash, and Intrusion: Disconnected, we can still enjoy the Feld’s
unique talents.
Josh Brolin – Branden “Brand” Walsh Despite a series of legal issues, including
an arrest for domestic battery against then-wife Diane Lane in 2004 and a 2013 arrest for public
intoxication, Brolin remains a favorite in Hollywood.
While you may recognize him as young Agent K in Men in Black III, Dr. Block in Planet
Terror, or for his portrayal of George W. Bush, Brolin has seen quite a few roles since
The Goonies.
His most recent exploits as Thanos in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Guardians of the Galaxy, and
Avengers: Infinity War is sure to please Marvel fans, but let’s not forget other future
productions featuring the former Brand Walsh, such as Soldado, The Legacy of a Whitetail
Deer Hunter, and George and Tammy.
Sean Astin – Michael “Mikey” Walsh From a Notre Dame underdog to trekking across
Middle Earth, Sean Astin has been pretty busy since his hunt for the treasure of One-Eyed
Willy.
There hasn’t been much of a period of rest for the former child star and if you pay attention,
you’ll be seeing plenty more from Astin in the near future.
From a spot on season 2 of Netflix’s Stranger Things and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to
portraying Theodore Roosevelt on The Alienist, Astin continues to delight audiences.
In 2016, he declared himself a “campaign surrogate” for Hillary Clinton and spoke
out for the former presidential candidate and in 2015 competed in the Ironman World
Championship in Hawaii, finishing in the 2,035th spot, but has recently stuck to reading scripts
for future projects The Lears, Dead Ant, Espionage TV, and LAN.