If you grew up in the ’80s, you know Chunk.

The Hawaiian shirt.The legendary Truffle Shuffle.

And loveable chaos machine who stole scenes in The Goonies without even trying.

But what happened to the kid behind the icon —Jeff Cohen — might be one of the most surprising Hollywood story of all.
Jeff Cohen’s rise (and crash) from child stardom happened almost overnight.

Born Jeffrey Bertan McMahon on June 25, 1974, in Los Angeles, he watched his family shift early in life. When he was around seven or eight, his parents separated, a moment that marked him deeply.

Not long after, he chose a new identity for the screen, adopting “Cohen” as his stage surname, a tribute to his mother Elaine’s maiden name.

Before his breakout role in The Goonies, Cohen was already popping up on television. In 1982–83, he appeared as one of the kids who helped explain clues to players on the CBS game show Child’s Play.

A few years later, in the summer of 1985, he returned to TV as a young celebrity guest on the game show Body Language.

While filming the legendary The Goonies, Cohen cemented his place in pop-culture history with the unforgettable Truffle Shuffle, bringing infectious energy to the role of the lovable misfit, Chunk.
With Richard Donner at the helm and Steven Spielberg producing, the adventure-comedy told the story of a ragtag bunch of kids embarking on a high-stakes quest for lost treasure in hopes of saving their neighborhood.

A funny behind-the-scenes tidbit that many fans might have missed: Jeff Cohen was actually covered in chickenpox while filming Goonies. Worried he might get replaced, he kept it a secret and showed up on set anyway. According to the DVD commentary, sharp-eyed viewers can even spot the chickenpox on his chest during the iconic “Truffle Shuffle” scene.

Director Richard Donner once said that Jeff’s acting had a real, genuine quality — he was just himself on screen.

This is how Cohen has described getting the role of Chunk:

“There were basically about four fat kids in town, so every time there was a fat kid role you saw the same people at the audition,” he told the Daily Mail.

“It was survival of the fattest.”

”Acting gave me up”
After the success of The Goonies, Jeff Cohen would have loved to continue acting, but one thing stood in his way.

”When I hit puberty, it was a career-ender for me. I was transforming from Chunk to hunk, and I couldn’t get roles anymore,” he said.

Then came the line that broke every Goonies fan a little:

“It was terrible. My first love was acting, but puberty had other ideas. It was a forced retirement. I didn’t give up acting. Acting gave me up.”