Editing Jeff Cohen (actor)

{{short description|American attorney and retired child actor (born 1974)}}
{{other people||Jeff Cohen (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Jeff Cohen
| image              = Jeff Cohen (lawyer and actor) (cropped).jpg
| caption            = Cohen in 2008
| partner            = 
| birth_name         = Jeffrey Bertan McMahon
| birth_date         = {{Birth date and age|1974|6|25}}
| birth_place        = [[Los Angeles]], [[California]], U.S.
| death_date         = 
| death_place        = 
| education = [[University of California, Berkeley]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]])<br>[[University of California, Los Angeles]] ([[Juris Doctor|JD]])
| occupation         = [[Lawyer|Attorney]]
| years_active       = 1983–1991 (actor)<br>2000–present (attorney)
}}
'''Jeffrey Bertan Cohen''' ({{né}} '''McMahon'''; June 25, 1974) is an American attorney<ref name=Gordon>{{cite journal |url=http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/child_actor_parlays_his_connections_into_the_law_business |title=Child actor parlays his connections into an entertainment law practice |first=Leslie A. |last=Gordon |journal=[[ABA Journal]] |date=February 1, 2014 |access-date=February 7, 2014}}</ref> and retired [[child actor]] best remembered for appearing as Chunk in the 1985 [[Steven Spielberg]] production ''[[The Goonies]]''. He is a founding partner of law firm Cohen & Gardner.

==Early life, family and education==
Cohen was born Jeffrey Bertan McMahon on June 25, 1974, in [[Los Angeles]], [[California]]. His father separated from his mother when he was around seven or eight. McMahon took his stage name from the maiden name of his mother, Elaine Cohen.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.heebmagazine.com/blog/view/725 |title=Dirty Irish Secret |date=May 14, 2008 |magazine=[[Heeb (magazine)|Heeb]] |access-date=July 1, 2018 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080709042211/http://heebmagazine.com/blog/view/725 |archive-date=July 9, 2008}}</ref> Cohen is [[Jewish]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jta.org/2023/03/13/culture/fabelmans-flops-at-the-oscars-but-hollywoods-jewish-history-gets-a-nod|title='Fabelmans' flops at the Oscars, but Hollywood's Jewish history gets a nod|first=Andrew|last=Lapin|date=March 13, 2023}}</ref>

Cohen attended the [[University of California, Berkeley]], where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in business. Cohen asked ''Goonies'' director [[Richard Donner]] for a recommendation for his college admissions application. Upon reading Cohen's notes detailing some of his early life struggles, Donner and his wife offered to pay for Cohen's college education.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Lang|first=Brent|date=2021-07-06|title=Richard Donner Remembered: Jeff Cohen, Who Played Chunk in 'Goonies,' on Director's Astounding Generosity|url=https://variety.com/2021/film/news/richard-donner-dies-goonies-jeff-cohen-chunk-1235012107/|access-date=2021-11-12|website=Variety}}</ref> Cohen later earned a [[Juris Doctor]] from the [[UCLA School of Law]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cohen |first=Jeff B. |date=2019-10-01 |title=I Wish I'd Known: Jeff B. Cohen |url=https://abaforlawstudents.com/2019/10/01/i-wish-id-known-jeff-b-cohen/ |access-date=2023-01-16 |website=ABA for Law Students |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Entertainment career ==

=== Acting ===
Cohen was one of the children describing words to the contestants on the 1982–83 [[CBS]] game show ''[[Child's Play (game show)|Child's Play]].'' During the summer of 1985, he appeared as a celebrity on ''[[Body Language (game show)|Body Language]]''. In 1986, Cohen was also in the [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]] TV movie ''[[Ask Max]]''. Cohen's sister, Eydie Faye, is a playwright and actress. In the final scene of ''The Goonies'', when the families reunite on the beach, Faye has a cameo as Chunk's sister.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089218/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_cl_sm|publisher=IMDB|access-date=December 30, 2022|title=The Goonies: Full Cast and Crew}}</ref>

Cohen claimed in ''The Goonies'' DVD commentary track that every role he played as a child had him wearing either a [[Hawaiian shirt]] or a pair of plaid pants, and director [[Richard Donner]] had the idea to put him in both for ''The Goonies''.<ref name="commentary">{{cite AV media notes|title=The Goonies DVD|orig-year=1985|last=Donner|first=Richard|type=Commentary track|year=2001}}</ref> Before ''The Goonies'' started filming, Cohen contracted [[chickenpox]]. Afraid that they would re-cast the role, he told no one of his illness and showed up to work anyway. According to the commentary track on ''The Goonies'' DVD, the chickenpox on Cohen's chest can be seen during the "Truffle Shuffle" sequence.<ref name="commentary" />

{{blockquote|His acting had an incredible sense of genuineness, of reality. He was Jeff—he drew from himself, and I think that's who he is now. He's honest and straight. I think that was in his acting and now in his law practice.|Director [[Richard Donner]]|''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]''<ref name="variety">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.variety.com/article/VR1117992696.html?categoryId=3252&cs=1 |title=Dealmakers Impact Report '08: Jeff Cohen, Cohen & Gardner |date=September 23, 2008 |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |access-date=September 24, 2008}}</ref>}}

=== Law ===
Cohen used introductions from ''Goonies'' director [[Richard Donner]] to get summer jobs on the business side of movie studios; he would say about that time in the ''ABA Journal'' story, "I grew up loving [[The Three Stooges]] and the [[Marx Brothers]], but suddenly I had a new crop of heroes." Cohen chose to pursue a legal career upon finding out that many of the most important figures on the business side of Hollywood had [[Juris Doctor|law degrees]].<ref name="Gordon" />

After his time at Berkeley, Cohen earned a [[Juris Doctor|J.D.]] degree from the [[UCLA School of Law]] in 2000<ref name="Gordon" /> and later became an [[entertainment lawyer]] in [[Los Angeles]]. In 2002, he co-founded the Cohen & Gardner firm in Beverly Hills.<ref name="variety" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cohengardnerlaw.com/about |title=About the firm |website=Cohen Gardner Law |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110210224722/http://www.cohengardnerlaw.com/about |archive-date=February 10, 2011}}</ref> In the September 24, 2008 issue of ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'', Cohen was profiled in the Dealmakers Impact Report.<ref name="variety" />

Cohen was named to ''The Hollywood Reporter''{{'}}s "Next Generation: Hollywood's Top 35 Executives 35 and Under" in their November 5, 2008 issue.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i988131294131bdd81dd849c3d0cc84f7 |title=THR Next Gen 2008: Legal |date=November 5, 2008 |newspaper=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081219170355/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i988131294131bdd81dd849c3d0cc84f7 |archive-date=December 19, 2008 }}</ref> He was named to ''Variety'''s Dealmakers Impact Report in 2013.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://variety.com/gallery/showbiz-strategists-variety-dealmakers-impact-report/#!34/law-jeff-b-cohen/ |title=Showbiz Strategists: Variety's Dealmakers Impact Report, Law: Jeff B. Cohen |magazine=Variety |access-date=July 1, 2018}}</ref>

As of February 2014, Cohen periodically "writes about business, legal and political matters for ''[[The Huffington Post]]'' and [[CNBC]]."<ref name=Gordon/>

Cohen negotiated the deal of his ''Goonies'' co-star [[Ke Huy Quan]] for his casting in ''[[Everything Everywhere All at Once|Everything Everywhere All At Once]]'' (2022). Cohen was in attendance at the [[95th Academy Awards]] where Quan won the [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor]]; Quan publicly thanked Cohen during his acceptance speech, calling him his "''Goonies'' brother for life."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Feinberg |first=Scott |date=January 10, 2023 |title=Austin Butler, Colin Farrell, Brendan Fraser, Jeremy Pope, Ke Huy Quan, Adam Sandler and THR's Actor Roundtable |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/austin-butler-brendan-fraser-colin-farrell-actor-roundtable-1235293939/ |access-date=January 10, 2023 |website=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ke Huy Quan gets Oscar congrats from 'Goonies' co-stars |url=https://torontosun.com/entertainment/movies/ke-huy-quan-gets-oscar-congrats-from-goonies-co-stars |access-date=2023-03-13 |website=torontosun |language=en-CA}}</ref>

==Filmography==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+Film work by Jeff Cohen
|-
!scope="col"| Year
!scope="col"| Title
!scope="col"| Role
!scope="col" class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
|1983
|scope="row"|''Little Shots''
|Ralph
|TV movie
|-
|1985
|scope="row"|''[[The Goonies]]''
|Lawrence "Chunk" Cohen
|
|-
|1986
|scope="row"|''[[Ask Max]]''
|Max Baxter
|TV movie
|-
|1988
|scope="row"|''[[Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School]]''
|Grunt
|Voice
|-
|1991
|scope="row"|''[[Perfect Harmony (film)|Perfect Harmony]]''
|Ward
|TV movie
|}

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+Television work by Jeff Cohen
|-
!scope="col"| Year
!scope="col"| Title
!scope="col"| Role
!scope="col" class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
|1983
|scope="row"|''[[Tales from the Darkside]]''
|Timmy Muldoon
|Episode: "Trick or Treat" (pilot)
|-
|1983
|scope="row"|''[[Webster (TV series)|Webster]]''
|Dwight
|Episode: "A Question of Honor"
|-
|1984
|scope="row"|''[[Kids Incorporated]]''
|Webster Bendetti
|Episode: "The Prankster"
|-
|1984
|scope="row"|''[[The Facts of Life (TV series)|The Facts of Life]]''
|Seymour Slavick
|Episode: "The Summer of '84"
|-
|1984
|scope="row" rowspan = '2'|''[[Family Ties]]''
|Dougie Barker
|Episode: "{{not a typo|4 Rms Ocn Vu}}"
|-
|1987
|Marv Jr.
|Episode: "The Visit"
|-
|1985
|scope="row" rowspan = '2'|''[[Amazing Stories (1985 TV series)|Amazing Stories]]''
|Ralph
|Episode: "Remote Control Man"
|-
|1986
|Eddie
|Episode: "Magic Saturday"
|-
|1986
|scope="row"|''[[Wonderful World of Disney]]''
|Max Baxter
|Episode: "Ask Max"
|-
|1987
|scope="row"|''[[She's the Sheriff]]''
|Percy
|Episode: "Child's Play"
|}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Jeff Cohen}}
*{{IMDb name|169480|Jeff Cohen}}
*[https://www.cohengardnerlaw.com Homepage for Cohen Gardner LLP]
*[https://www.theguardian.com/progress-personified/audio/2016/oct/06/chunk-goonies-jeff-cohen-podcast-lawyer-author Progress Personified: Chunk from ''The Goonies'' is all grown up] (October 6, 2016), ''[[The Guardian]]''

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Jeff}}
[[Category:1974 births]]
[[Category:American male child actors]]
[[Category:American male film actors]]
[[Category:Jews from California]]
[[Category:Jewish American male actors]]
[[Category:California lawyers]]
[[Category:Haas School of Business alumni]]
[[Category:Male actors from Los Angeles]]
[[Category:UCLA School of Law alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century American male actors]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:21st-century American lawyers]]