What Happened to Jeff Cohen? Where He Is Now in 2026

Everyone remembers Chunk. In “The Goonies,” Jeff Cohen played the lovable, motor-mouthed kid who did the “Truffle Shuffle” and confessed his sins to a bunch of criminals. It’s one of the most quoted performances in ’80s cinema. But here’s the twist most fans don’t know: Cohen walked away from acting, went to law school, and became one of Hollywood’s go-to entertainment attorneys — the guy who later negotiated Ke Huy Quan’s deal on the film that won him an Oscar. Here’s where Jeff Cohen is now.

01Profile

It’s a rare résumé: iconic child actor on one line, Beverly Hills dealmaker on the next. Jeff Cohen is proof that a former kid star can not only leave the business gracefully but come back to it from a completely different side of the table — this time, negotiating the contracts instead of reading the lines.

02The Rise: Truffle Shuffle Fame

Chunk and the Truffle Shuffle

“The Goonies,” released in 1985, was a Steven Spielberg–produced, Richard Donner–directed adventure about a group of kids hunting for pirate treasure to save their homes. Among that ragtag crew, Cohen’s Chunk stood out — the loud, funny, perpetually hungry one. His signature moment, the “Truffle Shuffle,” where he lifts his shirt and jiggles his belly to the older kids’ demands, became an instantly iconic piece of ’80s movie comedy.

The film wasn’t just a hit; it became a generational touchstone, the kind of movie people quote line-for-line decades later. And Chunk, alongside characters like Data and Mikey, was a huge part of why.

A short but memorable run

Cohen did some other TV and film work as a young actor, but “The Goonies” was always the role. It’s a testament to how well he played Chunk that a single 1985 performance still defines him in fans’ minds more than forty years later — even after he built an entirely separate, high-powered career.

03Stepping Away From Acting

Here’s where Cohen’s story diverges sharply from the usual child-star script. As he grew up, the acting roles thinned out, and rather than chase them, he pivoted hard toward education.

1985"The Goonies" is released; Cohen's Chunk becomes an instant fan favorite.
1990sCohen attends UC Berkeley, where he serves as president of the student body and earns a business degree.
2000He graduates from UCLA School of Law with a focus on business law.
2002He co-founds the Beverly Hills entertainment law firm Cohen Gardner LLP.

Cohen has always been refreshingly plainspoken about the transition — he’s joked that law school appealed to him partly because he wasn’t sure what else he was equipped to do. But there was real drive underneath the self-deprecation: he became president of the associated students at UC Berkeley, earned a business degree from its Haas School of Business, then went on to UCLA for law.

I became a lawyer for the same reason everyone does. I had no discernible skill set or other options! — Jeff Cohen, Chambers Associate interview

That combination — a business undergrad and a law degree, plus firsthand knowledge of how the industry treats young performers — set him up perfectly for entertainment law.

04The Goonies Brotherhood With Ke Huy Quan

You can’t tell the Jeff Cohen story of the past few years without Ke Huy Quan. The two played alongside each other as kids in “The Goonies” — Cohen as Chunk, Quan as the gadget-loving Data. Decades later, their paths crossed again, this time with Cohen as Quan’s lawyer.

When Quan mounted his remarkable comeback in “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” it was Cohen who negotiated his deal on the film. That movie won Quan the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and during his emotional acceptance speech, Quan singled Cohen out, calling him his “Goonies brother for life.” It was the kind of full-circle Hollywood moment that sounds made up — the kid who did the Truffle Shuffle helping the kid who played Data reach the Oscar stage.

The bond has stayed visible. As Quan’s star kept rising through 2024 and 2025 — including Walk of Fame ceremonies and a 40th-anniversary wave of “Goonies” reunions — Cohen was repeatedly there alongside him, the two of them turning up together on red carpets more than four decades after the film. For fans, seeing Chunk and Data reunited as grown, successful men has been its own kind of feel-good story.

05What He Is Doing Now

A Beverly Hills dealmaker

Today, Jeff Cohen is a working entertainment attorney and a partner at Cohen Gardner LLP, the transactional firm he co-founded in 2002. The practice handles deals for talent and creators, and Cohen’s client roster has included high-profile names — most famously Ke Huy Quan, but the firm operates across the film and TV business. He’s become a genuine dealmaker, the person on the other end of the contract rather than the actor signing it.

Advocate and speaker

Cohen also uses his unusual dual perspective — former child performer turned lawyer — as an advocate for young people in the industry, speaking at law schools and events about the business of entertainment and the realities facing child actors. Having lived both sides, he’s a credible voice on how the industry can treat its youngest talent better.

My Goonies brother for life. — Ke Huy Quan, on Jeff Cohen, 2023 Oscars acceptance speech

That line, delivered on the biggest stage in the industry, captures why Cohen’s second act resonates. He didn’t just quietly leave acting — he built a career that let him circle back and lift up the people he started out with. Not a bad ending for the Truffle Shuffle kid.

06Summary

Jeff Cohen took the “Goonies never say die” spirit and applied it to an entirely new career. He turned an iconic ’80s role into a launchpad for something few child actors manage: a serious, respected profession — and then used it to help an old friend win an Oscar.

Jeff Cohen in 2026: Quick Facts

Played Chunk — originator of the "Truffle Shuffle" — in "The Goonies" (1985)
Left acting, led the student body at UC Berkeley, and earned a business degree there
Graduated from UCLA School of Law in 2000
Co-founded the Beverly Hills entertainment firm Cohen Gardner LLP in 2002
Negotiated Ke Huy Quan's deal on "Everything Everywhere All at Once," which won Quan an Oscar
Reunited publicly with Quan across 2023–2025 events and advocates for child performers

From treasure-hunting kid to Hollywood power player, Jeff Cohen’s journey is one of the great “where are they now” reinventions — and, thanks to his Goonies brotherhood with Ke Huy Quan, it’s still being written.