In June 1985, Warner Bros. released The Goonies. Richard Donner directed it, Chris Columbus wrote the screenplay, and the story came from Steven Spielberg. It follows a group of kids from Astoria, Oregon, who go looking for a pirate's treasure, with a family of crooks close behind them. The film became a cult favorite, and in 2017 the Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry. In February 2025 a sequel was announced. Here is what some of the cast have done in the decades since they first said "Goonies never say die."
Ke Huy Quan
Ke Huy Quan was born in Saigon in 1970. His family came to the United States in 1979 through the Refugee Admissions Program, after a stay in a refugee camp in Hong Kong. He became a child star as Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and then played the gadget-loving Richard "Data" Wang in The Goonies. Good roles became scarce, and he stopped acting for about two decades. During that time he earned a film degree from the University of Southern California, worked as an assistant fight choreographer on X-Men (2000), and was an assistant director on Wong Kar-wai's 2046. He came back as Waymond Wang in Everything Everywhere All at Once, which won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in March 2023. He was the first Vietnam-born actor to win an Oscar. In his speech he thanked co-star Jeff Cohen as his "Goonies brother for life." Since then he has appeared in Loki, Love Hurts and Zootopia 2.
Sean Astin
Sean Astin was born in Santa Monica, California, on February 25, 1971. His mother was the actress Patty Duke. The Goonies was his first film, and he was 13 when he played Mikey Walsh, the leader of the group. In 1993 he played the title role in the college football film Rudy. A wider audience came to know him as the loyal Samwise Gamgee in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–2003). He also earned an Academy Award nomination for Kangaroo Court, a short film he directed and co-produced. Later he played Bob Newby on Stranger Things, made his Broadway debut as Santa in Elf the Musical, and finished a master's degree at American University in 2024. In September 2025, SAG-AFTRA members elected him national president, succeeding Fran Drescher. His mother had led the Screen Actors Guild in the 1980s.
Josh Brolin
Josh Brolin was born in Santa Monica, California, on February 12, 1968, and is the son of actor James Brolin. In The Goonies he played Brandon "Brand" Walsh, Mikey's weight-lifting older brother. He later played the lead in the Coen brothers' No Country for Old Men (2007). His work in Milk earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Marvel fans know him as Thanos, whom he played through motion capture in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. He also played Cable in Deadpool 2 and Gurney Halleck in the Dune films. He starred in and executive produced the Prime Video series Outer Range. In 2024 he published a memoir, From Under the Truck. In 2025 he appeared in the horror film Weapons and in Rian Johnson's Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.
Corey Feldman
Corey Feldman was born on July 16, 1971, in Reseda, Los Angeles. He started acting at age three in a McDonald's commercial. By the time he played wisecracking Clark "Mouth" Devereaux in The Goonies, he had already appeared in Gremlins and in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. Next came Stand By Me (1986), in which he played Teddy Duchamp, and The Lost Boys (1987), in which he played vampire hunter Edgar Frog. He returned to that role in two sequels. He made several films with Corey Haim, and the pair later starred in the A&E reality series The Two Coreys. Feldman also has a music career and has released several studio albums. More recently he competed on The Masked Singer in 2024 and on season 34 of Dancing with the Stars in 2025.
Martha Plimpton
Martha Plimpton was born in New York City on November 16, 1970. Her parents are the actors Shelley Plimpton and Keith Carradine. Her breakthrough came in The Goonies as Stef Steinbrenner, the sharp-tongued, glasses-wearing member of the group. She went on to Running on Empty (1988) and Ron Howard's Parenthood (1989), and she also built a strong stage career. She earned three Tony Award nominations in a row, for The Coast of Utopia, Top Girls and Pal Joey. Her recurring role as attorney Patti Nyholm on The Good Wife won her a 2012 Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. From 2010 to 2014 she played Virginia Chance on the Fox comedy Raising Hope. Her recent work includes HBO's The Regime and the 2025 series Task.
Joe Pantoliano
Joe Pantoliano was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, on September 12, 1951. In The Goonies he played Francis Fratelli, one of the bumbling criminal brothers chasing the kids. He had already been noticed as Guido in Risky Business (1983). He went on to play Deputy U.S. Marshal Cosmo Renfro in The Fugitive, Cypher in The Matrix and Teddy in Memento. He has played Captain Conrad Howard throughout the Bad Boys series, up to Bad Boys: Ride or Die. His role as Ralph Cifaretto on The Sopranos won him the 2003 Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. He founded the nonprofit No Kidding, Me Too! to reduce the stigma around mental illness. He has also written two memoirs.
Robert Davi
Robert Davi was born in Astoria, Queens, New York, on June 26, 1951. In The Goonies he played Jake Fratelli, the opera-singing criminal brother. He soon became known for tough-guy roles. He played FBI Special Agent Johnson in Die Hard (1988) and drug lord Franz Sanchez, the villain of the James Bond film Licence to Kill (1989). From 1996 to 2000 he starred as FBI Special Agent Bailey Malone on NBC's Profiler. In 2007 he made his debut as a director with The Dukes, which he also starred in. He started a singing career in 2011. His first album, Davi Sings Sinatra – On the Road to Romance, reached No. 6 on the Billboard jazz chart.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ke_Huy_Quan
- https://ca.news.yahoo.com/ke-huy-quan-wins-best-005934988.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goonies
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ke_Huy_Quan_(43865682592).jpg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ke_Huy_Quan_GalaxyCon_Raleigh_July,_24,_2026_724.jpg
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Astin
- https://www.wsls.com/entertainment/2025/09/13/sean-astin-who-starred-in-lord-of-the-rings-and-rudy-is-elected-as-sag-aftras-new-president/
- https://www.thewrap.com/sean-astin-elected-sag-aftra-president/
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sean_Astin_SDCC_2014_(cropped).jpg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sean_Astin_at_Rose_City_Comic_Con_02_(cropped).jpg
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Brolin
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Josh_Brolin_2_SDCC_2014_(cropped).jpg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Josh_Brolin_TIFF_2025_(cropped).jpg
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corey_Feldman
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Corey_feldman.jpg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Corey_Feldman_at_Fan_Expo_Anaheim_2026.jpg
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Plimpton
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Martha_Plimpton.jpg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Martha_Plimpton_at_Rose_City_Comic_Con_01.jpg
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Pantoliano
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joe_Pantoliano_1.JPG
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joe_Pantoliano_(15467606429).jpg
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Davi
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_Davi_2000.jpg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_Davi_at_Rose_City_Comic_Con_01.jpg
