What The Cast Of The Goonies Looks Like Today
One of many '80s classics enjoyed by kids of the era without necessarily being 100 percent appropriate for them, The Goonies is more beloved today than ever—but while those treasure-hunting misfits remain forever frozen in time on our TV screens, the actors who brought them to life have obviously changed quite a bit. Here's what the cast of The Goonies has done since their big-screen adventure, and where they are today.
Corey Feldman
Feldman was all over the '80s, and in a lot of ways it seemed like the decade never really left him. The former child actor (who later released an album titled Former Child Actor), has continued to work since playing smart aleck Clark "Mouth" Devereaux; unfortunately, much of what he's done onscreen has been overshadowed what can only be described as "Corey Feldmanesque" antics that include his continued obsession with mid-1980s Michael Jackson, his completely bonkers mansion parties, whatever the heck "Corey's Angels" are—and, of course, his music. His weird music. His really, really weird music. The public's been fairly indifferent to Feldman's song stylings over the last couple of decades, but they're clearly very important to him. You just have to wonder what he's possibly hoping to accomplish here.
Sean Astin
Sean Astin played Mikey, the gang's asthmatic de facto "leader." After Goonies, he starred in the football biopic Rudy, then took his career to another level by taking on the role of Samwise Gamgee in the massive Lord of the Rings trilogy. More recently, Astin booked a role in the second season of Netflix's hit original series Stranger Things, where he will play Winona Ryder's boyfriend, pretty much insuring he'll never be able to escape invitations for appearances at fantasy and sci-fi conventions.
On a personal note, in the early 2000s, Astin took a DNA test to find out who his father actually was. He was raised by Addams Family actor John Astin, but it was long suspected his father was really Desi Arnaz, Jr. Turned out he was actually sired by family friend Michael Tell (whom his mother married briefly to avoid scandal over her pregnancy); to his credit, Sean maintains a close relationship with all three men.
Josh Brolin
Josh Brolin played Mikey's big brother Brand, and like many of his fellow Goonies vets, he's maintained a steady career distinguished by solid work. Most recently, he's played the evil demigod Thanos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, but he's also appeared in No Country For Old Men, Old Boy, Jonah Hex and Milk—the latter of which earned him an Oscar nomination.
Not everything has worked out so well for him, however: in 2013, he checked into rehab to confront a lifetime of substance abuse issues. As a teenager, he was a member of a surfer gang called the Cito Rats and picked up a lot of bad habits, including trying heroin. Drinking proved particularly troublesome, ultimately breaking up his marriage, but he seems to have recovered well; newly clean and sober, Brolin remarried in 2016.
Kerri Green
Kerri Green played the preppy-turned-Goonie Andy Carmichael. After Goonies, she focused on television work for awhile before founding the production company Independent Women Artists, whose projects include the 1999 release Bellyfruit. More recently, she appeared in the bleak domestic drama Complacent alongside Cerina Vincent.
Overall, as a reunion interview with Empire reveals, she seems to feel her real life more fulfilling than anything that might have eventually befallen Andy. When asked what her character would be up to as an adult, she joked that she'd spend her days "still in her mini-skirt, with a cigarette and martini, waiting for [Brolin's character Brand] to come home!"
Martha Plimpton
Martha Plimpton played Andy's nerdy best friend Stef. Before that, she was actually a Calvin Klein model—and since, she's made a ton of appearances on television (most notably ER and Raising Hope), independent and ensemble cast comedy films (200 Cigarettes, Parenthood), Broadway, you name it. She even makes an appearance in the video game Minecraft. In addition to her prolific career, she's made a name for herself as a women's and LGBT rights activist, even organizing a bus to take a group of passengers to the Washington, D.C. Women's March in January 2017.
Jonathan Ke Quan
Jonathan Ke Quan played the gadgety "Booty Trap"-laying character Data. You may also recognize him as Short Round from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Since then, he's played mostly stock nerdy characters, eventually scoring a regular gig on the long-running sitcom Head of the Class. His last acting role in America was in Encino Man, and since then he's worked as a stunt coordinator on the X-Men films, among others. Quan, along with Jeff Cohen and Sean Astin, has said he's down for the proposed animated Goonies series, which has been floating in and out of production for years. If it ever happens, Quan has something in his favor: his voice still sounds almost exactly the same.
John Matuszak
John Matuszak played Sloth, the terrifying but kindhearted Fratelli brother. Matsuzak started out his career as a football player, but his hard-partying lifestyle led to him being traded around until he finally settled with the Oakland Raiders for a stretch that included multiple Super Bowl wins. In 1978, he entered the World's Strongest Man competition—and placed ninth without even training. After Goonies, he continued taking acting roles as gentle (or not-so-gentle) giants in a run of projects that included Ice Pirates, Miami Vice, and One Crazy Summer. Shortly after filming his part for the cop movie One Man Force, Matuszak sadly died of a Darvocet overdose at the age of 38.
Robert Davi
Robert Davi played Jake Fratelli, one of the family of small-time crooks that act as the antagonists in the film. Career-wise, he's practically the anti-Martha Plimpton. After decades of playing various palookas, wiseguys and grizzled FBI agents in over 140 films, he branched out into singing Sinatra-inspired music and far-right politics. He's been writing a column for extreme conservative blog Breitbart for years, and took over Jerry Doyle's place as the host of Talk Radio Network.
Joe Pantoliano
Joe Pantoliano plays Francis, the older of the two criminal Fratelli brothers. Since Goonies, he's become a quintessential "oh hey it's that guy" in countless shows and movies. You've seen him beaten to death by Tony Soprano. You saw him get shot in the face in Memento. He almost killed Neo in The Matrix. Really, he's been all over the place. Most recently, he's reunited with his former Matrix directors for a series of appearances in the Wachowskis' Netflix show Sense8.
Anne Ramsey
Anne Ramsey knew she wanted to be an actress at the age of four. Unfortunately, she didn't get her chance until she was almost 40. Fortunately, once she got her shot, she rode it for all it was worth—she kept busy throughout her career playing dozens of characters on television and film, but really cemented a name and image for herself in The Goonies as Mama Fratelli. She later had a similarly iconic performance in Danny Devito's Throw Momma from the Train, but sadly, she was already developing mouth cancer and the treatments were ultimately unsuccessful. Ramsey died in 1988 at the age of 59.
Lupe Ontiveros
Lupe Ontiveros played the housekeeper Rosalita in Goonies—one of 150 roles she booked in her career. As her career progressed, she spoke out against typecasting and worked to expand opportunities for Hispanic actresses. Ontiveros balked at being asked to fake an extreme accent to get parts, for instance—and while she wished for more roles outside of playing maids, she did appreciate the possibility to "play working people with dignity" and even narrated the 2005 documentary Maid in America. One of her most iconic post-Goonies roles was the crazed fan who murdered singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez in the 1997 biopic Selena, a performance so evocative that fans of the singer catcalled her for it throughout the rest of her life. Ontiveros passed away in 2012 after a battle with liver cancer.
Jeff Cohen
Jeff Cohen played Lawrence "Chunk" Cohen, the portly, frequently picked-on Goonie. His acting career ended shortly after Goonies—but for a surprising reason. As a child actor, he'd made a name taking on "fat kid" roles, but during puberty his body changed, and all that baby fat melted away...along with the calls from his agent.
"There were basically about four fat kids in town," he recalled, "so every time there was a fat kid role you saw the same people at the audition. But when I hit puberty, that was a career ender for me." He's indicated a willingness to participate in a potential Goonies animated series, but who knows if or when that'll come together.