One of the greatest movies of the 1980s, The Goonies, has remained a huge part of pop culture for well over 30 years now. Richard Donner directed this exciting adventure featuring a group of small-town youths from Oregon who set off on a quest to find “One-Eyed Willy’s” pirate ship before a family of foes gets to his lost treasure first.
The team of teens, tagged as “Goonies”, in reference to the “Goon Docks” neighborhood in which they lived, and the supporting characters, were made up of a diverse cast. And many of them are names and faces that have been remembered since the film’s release in 1985.
Since then, everyone from the greatest treasure hunt of the eighties – if you don’t count anything Indiana Jones did — has gone on to other things in their lives. But, where are they now?
Sean Astin as Michael “Mikey” Walsh
Sean Astin played the asthmatic Mikey, Brandon’s younger brother and ringleader of the group of adventurous teens. Thanks to his imagination and willpower, the Goonies are able to go on their quest to save their hometown.
Before his first film role in The Goonies, Astin had only appeared in a TV movie titled Please Don’t Hit Me, Mom, alongside his real-life mother, actress Patty Duke. Into the nineties, Astin appeared in notable films like Encino Man and Rudy before co-starring as Samwise Gamgee in the epic Lord of the Rings series of films during the early 2000s. After that, he continued to work in films and television shows, appearing on programs like 24, My Name is Earl, and more recently, Stranger Things, as Bob Newby. Astin even did voice work as Raphael in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series on Nickelodeon from 2012 to 2017. In 2022, he appeared in Young Rock, Perry Mason, and is currently filming a Christmas comedy movie called Holiday Twist.
Josh Brolin as Brandon “Brand” Walsh
Josh Brolin, son of Hollywood actor James Brolin, was cast as Brandon in this movie. It was his first acting role ever and would become one of the most famous ones in his ongoing career. In The Goonies, Brandon is the “muscle”, showing very early on that he’s the strongest one in the bunch. Because of his supposed physical prowess, he becomes the romantic attention of another group member, Andy, a local cheerleader.
After the success of The Goonies, Brolin would continue to appear in various television productions like Private Eye, The Young Riders, and Winnetka Road. He then went on to appear in many well-known nineties movies such as Flirting with Disaster, The Mod Squad, and Mimic. The next decade would bring Brolin up to a higher level with starring roles in No Country for Old Men, American Gangster, W., and Milk. And during the 2010s, Brolin would continue after taking the role of Thanos in a number of recent MCU blockbusters, along with appearances as Cable in Deadpool 2, Sicario, and Dune, to name a few. Right now, he’s currently filming Dune: Part Two.
Jeff Cohen as Lawrence “Chunk” Cohen
As one of the most popular characters in the movie, Jeff Cohen played Lawrence, more humorously known as “Chunk.” Providing most of the comedy in the film, including his trademark “Truffle Shuffle,” Chunk spends much of his time in the film apart from the rest of the Goonies, befriending “Sloth” on his way to rejoining the rest of his posse.
While he did have a few small roles in popular eighties sitcoms like Webster and The Facts of Life before The Goonies, Cohen’s role as Chunk would be the most famous of his surprisingly short career. After the movie, he would go on to make more TV appearances in Amazing Stories, Family Ties, and even some voice work in the animated children’s cartoon, Popeye and Son. His last acting credit is for a 1991 Disney-made-for-tv movie called Perfect Harmony. Cohen would then step away from acting to pursue a law degree and ultimately work as an entertainment lawyer in California. He still works as an attorney and also does legal consulting for various media outlets.
Corey Feldman as Clark “Mouth” Devereaux
Popular actor and teen idol of the eighties Corey Feldman played the endearingly vocal “Mouth.” For all that he says in the movie, it’s his Spanish vocabulary that’s elemental in the Goonies’ quest for treasure and the final “payoff” at the end of the film.
Feldman had been acting ever since he was three years old, appearing in commercials and countless TV shows during the 1970s, prior to becoming a huge star in the eighties. The Goonies was just one of a list of hit movies he starred in. He was also in Gremlins, Stand By Me, and The Lost Boys, to name a few. He continued to work in the nineties with voice work as Donatello in two of the three original Ninja Turtles movies of the 1990s and even released two music albums. After the turn of the century, Feldman would make headlines for his battles with drugs, sexual abuse, and legal issues despite still taking small cameo roles and several appearances in reality TV shows over the last 20+ years. He just finished work on two films, Tales from the Dead Zone and Sour Party, and is said to be interested in a rumored Goonies sequel, if the right director is ever found.
Jonathan Ke Huy Quan as Richard “Data” Wang
Quan was cast as ‘Data,” a young technical genius whose personal gadgets featured in the film are inspired by the cinematic British superspy James Bond. Just as 007’s extra tools always seem to work in a pinch, the same is the case for Data and the rest of the Goonies during the course of the movie.
Just before co-starring in this movie, Quan became pretty famous in 1984 for playing “Short Round” in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. After The Goonies, he appeared in a few Asian-produced films during the rest of the eighties and joined the cast of the sitcom Head of the Class for two seasons into the early-1990s. Quan then appeared in Breathing Fire and had a small role in Encino Man at that time, also continuing to work in Asia. Toward the end of that decade, he graduated from film school at USC and found more steady work as a fight choreographer. It wasn’t until 2021 when Quan got back into acting with a role in the Netflix film, Finding ʻOhana. He then had another role in the 2022 hit movie, Everything Everywhere All at Once, winning a Hollywood Critics Association Midseason Award for Best Supporting Actor. He’s currently working on Disney’s action-comedy American Born Chinese, which is yet to stream online.
Kerri Green as Andrea Theresa “Andy” Carmichael
Kerri Green got her big break very early on in her career when she was cast in The Goonies. Her character, “Andy,” quickly became a love interest of Brandon’s during the first act of the movie. She was never the “damsel in distress,” apart from a few seconds underwater, as all of the Goonies — for the most part — stay together through the adventure.
Green’s acting career went decently through the eighties, thanks mainly to the success of The Goonies. She would co-star in other films like Summer Rental, Lucas, and Three for the Road, though she wouldn’t work much at all during the nineties. At that point, she worked on a couple of TV movies and made guest appearances in popular shows such as Mad About You, Murder, She Wrote, ER, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Her last acting role was a 2012 feature-length indie drama titled, Complacent. Green currently does work behind the camera with a film production company, Independent Women Artists, which she co-founded in 1997.
Martha Plimpton as Stephanie “Stef” Steinbrenner
Martha Plimpton, the daughter of actors Keith Carradine and Shelley Plimpton, played “Stef” in just the third film role of her ongoing acting career. Like Andy’s character, Stef held her own through all the twists and turns of the movie.
After The Goonies, Plimpton continued acting in both TV shows and movies for the next few decades. She would appear in countless projects like Parenthood, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Beautiful Girls, 200 Cigarettes, and The Good Wife, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. And in 2010, she was a cast as a regular in the Fox sitcom Raising Hope, also winning a Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Television Series Musical or Comedy. In addition to screen acting, Plimpton’s kept herself busy with extensive work on stage in several theatre productions throughout the course of her whole career, leading her to currently reside in London, England.
John Matuszak as Lotney “Sloth” Fratelli
Originally a larger-than-life professional football player at six feet, eight inches, and 280 pounds, Matuszak played the towering “Sloth.” Sloth is the physically disfigured and rudely outcasted member of the Fratellis, the clan of criminals that are trying to find the pirate ship before the Goonies. After being detached from the rest of the Goonies, Chunk adorably befriends Sloth on their journey.
Before getting into acting, Matuszak played football in the NFL through much of the 1970s, winning two Super Bowls before retiring after 13 seasons. He’s most known for his role in The Goonies, but also spent a lot of time during the eighties appearing in several television shows like M*A*S*H, The Dukes of Hazzard, Miami Vice, and The A-Team. On June 17, 1989, John Matuszak died from a drug overdose. He was 38 years old.
Anne Ramsey as Mama Fratelli
Ramsey played Mama, the matriarch of the Fratelli crime family. She’s got two sons, Jake and Francis, who are cruel brothers to Sloth but also do much of the heavy lifting as the family tries to head off the Goonies on the way to One-Eyed Willy’s riches.
Ramsey was also known during the eighties, not just for her role in The Goonies, but also for playing Mrs. Lift in Throw Momma from the Train, for which she won a Golden Globe. She started her acting career in the 1950s as a Broadway actress but then made television appearances during the seventies in shows like Wonder Woman, Three’s Company, and Ironside. Anne Ramsey passed away after losing her battle against cancer on August 11, 1988. She was 59 years old.
Robert Davi as Jake Fratelli
Popular eighties actor Robert Davi played Jake, a recent jail escapee and member of the dangerous Fratelli family. Apart from his impeccable opera singing, Jake is definitely a guy with bad intentions during the course of this movie.
Davi got his acting experience started in the late-seventies, taking small roles in numerous TV shows of that era. It wasn’t until his role in The Goonies, only his second film project, that his film career took off. From there, he appeared in Raw Deal, Die Hard, and Licence to Kill. He continued with acting through the next three decades and is still going on with consistent work, even doing voice work in video games as well as a couple of musical studio albums. Davi just recently portrayed Soviet politician Leonid Brezhnev in an upcoming biopic, Reagan, which is due for release in 2023.
Joe Pantoliano as Francis Fratelli
The role of Francis Fratelli was played by Hollywood veteran actor Joe Pantoliano. Francis might not have the vocal talents that his brother Jake has but he was instrumental in getting Jake out of prison and into the hunt for Willy’s lost treasure.
By the time he was cast in this movie, “Joey Pants” had plenty of acting experience in several movies and TV shows, starting his career in the mid-1970s. Leading up to The Goonies, Pantoliano became widely known for his supporting role in 1983’s Risky Business with Tom Cruise. His star power only grew from there, with more notable appearances in La Bamba, The Fugitive, and its sequel, U.S. Marshalls, all three Bad Boys movies, and as Cypher in The Matrix. Joey Pants has also written two books, not to mention all of the television work he’s done over the past 30 years, including appearances in Tales from the Crypt, NYPD Blue, and Emmy-winning efforts as Ralph Cifaretto on The Sopranos. He’s still padding his resume with numerous side roles on the big and small screens and just finished work on a feature-length comedy called Home Delivery, currently in post-production.
