After giving up on acting in the 1990s, former child star Ke Huy Quan is in the midst of one of the most remarkable comebacks in Hollywood history, largely thanks to one of his cast mates from The Goonies. Known for his roles as Data in The Goonies and Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Quan burst back onto the Hollywood scene with his Oscar-winning turn as Waymond in Everything Everywhere All at Once. His triumphant return to acting has been an inspiration to many over the last couple of years, and it came to be thanks to his Goonies co-star Jeff Cohen.
After winning the role of Waymond in Everything Everywhere All at Once, Quan dedicated himself to preparing for the role, and his hard work resulted in well-deserved recognition. Quan won both a Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work in Everything Everywhere All at Once, and it has re-started his on-screen career. The former Goonies star has since starred in the acclaimed Disney Plus show American Born Chinese, and he is due to appear in season 2 of the Marvel series Loki.
Ke Huy Quan Using Chunk’s Actor As His Lawyer Connects His Past & Present
Known for his iconic role as Chunk from The Goonies, Jeff Cohen retired from acting and became an entertainment lawyer, and he is a founding partner of his own law firm. It was in fact Jeff Cohen who negotiated Ke Huy Quan’s contract for Everything Everywhere All at Once, as he became Quan’s entertainment lawyer thanks to their connection from The Goonies. As Quan told his fellow stars in The Hollywood Reporter‘s Actor Roundtable, “When the producer of our movie was trying to make my deal, he said he would never imagine that he would have to talk to Chunk to get Data to be in his movie.”
Quan originally quit acting after realizing how few roles there were in Hollywood for Asian actors, but after seeing the performance of Crazy Rich Asians, which featured his Everything Everywhere All at Once co-star Michelle Yeoh, Quan asked a friend to act as his agent and began his pursuit of the role of Waymond. When it was time to negotiate his deal, Quan turned to Cohen for the negotiations. Having one of his fellow Goonies co-stars be a major part of his return to the limelight is almost too perfect to believe, and there is a beautiful symmetry in Quan’s past connecting to his present and future like that.
What Happened To Jeff Cohen After The Goonies
Jeff Cohen never had another breakthrough in Hollywood after his iconic role as Chunk in The Goonies. He had a number of small TV roles in Amazing Stories, Family Ties, and Popeye and Son among others, but he stopped acting altogether in 1991, choosing instead to pursue a career in law.
Cohen got his law degree from UCLA and parlayed his continued interest in the entertainment industry into a career. In 2002, Cohen started the law firm Cohen & Gardner, LLP, which specializes in representing actors, writers, and producers. According to Cohen & Gardner, Cohen is also an active writer whose business and law insight can be found on Huffington Post, CNBC, and other high-profile sites. While Cohen no longer acts, Ke Huy Quan has said that he’d be open to a sequel to The Goonies. It’s tough to imagine that moving forward without Cohen’s involvement, so it’s possible he could make a Hollywood return of his own in the future.
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
