{"id":3115,"date":"2026-03-01T13:49:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T13:49:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/viralspotlight26.com\/?p=3115"},"modified":"2026-03-01T13:49:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T13:49:36","slug":"from-chunk-to-powerhouse-attorney-the-wild-journey-of-jeff-cohen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/viralspotlight26.com\/?p=3115","title":{"rendered":"From Chunk to powerhouse attorney: The wild journey of Jeff Cohen"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If you grew up in the \u201980s, you remember Chunk \u2014 the Hawaiian shirt, the legendary Truffle Shuffle, and the lovable chaos he brought to The Goonies<\/span><\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

But Jeff Cohen\u2019s Hollywood story took an unexpected turn.<\/p>\n

Born in 1974 in Los Angeles, he adopted his mother\u2019s maiden name for his acting career and landed the role that made him a pop-culture icon. While filming The Goonies<\/em>, he even hid a case of chickenpox to avoid being replaced. Director Richard Donner<\/span><\/span><\/strong>, with Steven Spielberg<\/span><\/span><\/strong> producing, helped create the classic \u2014 and became a lifelong mentor to Cohen.<\/p>\n

After the film\u2019s success, puberty changed everything. As Cohen put it: \u201cI didn\u2019t give up acting. Acting gave me up.\u201d Unable to find roles, he stepped away from Hollywood and focused on school.<\/p>\n

With Donner\u2019s encouragement and support, he earned a business degree from UC Berkeley and a law degree from UCLA. Instead of staying in front of the camera, he built a career behind the scenes \u2014 becoming a top entertainment lawyer and co-founding Cohen & Gardner LLP.<\/p>\n

In a poetic twist, he later negotiated the deal for his former co-star Ke Huy Quan<\/span><\/span><\/strong> in Everything Everywhere All at Once<\/span><\/span><\/strong>, the role that won Quan an Oscar.<\/p>\n

Today, Jeff Cohen may not look like Chunk anymore, but he\u2019s proud of the impact that 10-year-old him made \u2014 and of the successful life he built beyond child stardom.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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