Forty years ago, The Goonies was released in theatres and, in some ways, we’re still feeling the reverberations. If you’d told a punter at the time that the Richard Donner-directed, Stephen Spielberg-produced movie would still be inspiring the biggest and most expensive TV shows of the 2020s, they’d probably have told you to shuffle your truffle.
In our nostalgia-driven culture, it’s still a Goonies world, and we’re all just living in it; and something similar could be said for the movie’s stars, who have been lighting up our screens in a wide variety of places since 1985, and for the most part continue to do so. If you’d gone on to tell our imaginary friend that four of the original Goonies would eventually be nominated for Oscars, one of them even going so far as to win, they’d have probably passed out.
Whatever the case, it’s always a great time to revisit Donner’s classic—not least with Stranger Things on the verge of its long-awaited finale and Spielberg’s return to science fiction and wonder looking quite imminent next year. Read on to discover more, and use the guide below to discover what the cast of The Goonies have been up to in the years since.
Josh Brolin
When it comes to tallying up the achievements of the Goonies cast in the last 40 years, nobody comes close to Josh Brolin. That movie was the actor’s big screen debut, and since then, he’s gone on to become an A-list star and something of an all-American treasure.
Aside from one Paul Verhoeven movie, the ‘90s and early ‘00s were a bit of a bust, but something happened around 2007 that changed the course of the actor’s career. All of a sudden, he found himself in Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror, Ridley Scott’s American Gangster and the Coen brothers’ No Country for Old Men—the last of which earned him a nomination for Best Actor at the Academy Awards. A decade later, as Thanos, Brolin arguably played the lead role in two of the most successful movies ever made.
In 2025 alone, Brolin has added three acclaimed movies to his cluttering CV: Wake Up Dead Man, Weapons and The Running Man. Look out for him next year in Dune: Part Three.
One to watch: If you like Fargo, try No Country for Old Men.
Sean Astin
Looking at Sean Astin’s post-Goonies work, three credits rise above the others like Barad-dûr—and there’s absolutely no shame in that. Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, in which Astin delivered a performance as warm as a Hobbiton stew, are by some metric the most universally beloved movies of the 21st century so far.
Before Middle Earth, Astin enjoyed an otherwise steady post-Goonies career, picking up roles in quality movies like The War of the Roses, Toy Soldiers and Rudy and, in the years since, has leaned into his celebrity with roles in The Big Bang Theory and even a recurring run as Bob Newby on Stranger Things.
One to watch: If you like fantasy, jump in with The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
Martha Plimpton
Since her performance as Andi’s best friend, Stef, in The Goonies, Martha Plimpton (surprisingly, unlike her co-star Kerri Green) has gone on to be a consistent, reassuring presence across American movies and television. On the big screen, she appeared in ‘80s classics like Parenthood and Running on Empty before pivoting into grittier work in recent years with critically acclaimed movies like Small Town Murder Songs and the recent festival hit Sovereign, with Nick Offerman.
Plimpton has also guest-starred on several long-running shows in that time, like The Good Wife, and now appears to be making a long-overdue jump to prestige TV. Her performance in Task this year, opposite Mark Ruffalo, was incredible, and fans will get to see her again next year in Zoe Kazan’s hotly anticipated adaptation of East of Eden—the first major spin on that novel since Kazan’s grandfather, Elia, directed James Dean to a debut Oscar nomination in 1955.
One to watch: If you like what Brad Ingelsby did with Mare of Easttown, you’ll love Task.
Ke Huy Quan
If you asked viewers in 1985 what Goonies cast member would be the first to win an acting Oscar, and when? Few would have guessed it would take 37 years, and fewer still would have guessed it would go to Ke Huy Quan.
With his open expressions and adorable energy, Quan quickly established himself as one of the most cherished child actors of the 1980s (he’d starred in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom a year before). It would be decades, however, before Hollywood saw him as a mature actor, thanks to the Daniels’ Everything Everywhere All at Once, a movie that won him a heartwarming Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and basically reignited his career. Since then, Quan has appeared in the MCU, the Russo Brothers’ Electric State and starred in his own action movie, Love Hurts.
One to watch: If you like your multiverses extra crazy, it has to be Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Joe Pantoliano
By 1985, Joe Pantoliano had already appeared in movies as big as Risky Business, but his performance as Francis Fratelli in The Goonies solidified his place as one of Hollywood’s go-to sleazebags. In the decades that followed, Pantoliano would bring that energy to everything from The Fugitive to Memento, to Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun and, as Captain Howerd, to four Bad Boys movies—and counting.
When I think of Pantoliano, however, I usually think of two roles: as the backstabbing Cypher in The Matrix and, better yet, as Ralph Cifaretto in three seasons of The Sopranos.
One to watch: If you’ve got the time, start The Sopranos. If not, put on The Matrix.
Corey Feldman
Having already appeared in Gremlins and two Friday the 13th movies, Corey Feldman was (at least aside from Quan) probably the closest thing to an established child star in the Goonies cast before the movie’s release. In the years that followed, he became synonymous with ‘80s cinema—consistently picking up the coolest roles in films like Stand by Me, The Lost Boys and, my personal favourite, The Burbs.
The following years were less kind to the actor—a classic case of an industry chewing up a young star and spitting them back out. In 2020, he went on the record with his experiences from that time in the tell-all documentary (My) Truth.
One to watch: If you like Hanks in pure ‘80s mode, it’s gotta be The Burbs.
Anne Ramsay
A little like Feldman, Anne Ramsay is one of those faces that seems to only exist in the 1980s—at least as far as movie fans of that era are concerned.
Born in 1929, the actress best known for playing Mama Fratelli only started acting in the early 1970s, but her career enjoyed a late-flourish in the years after The Goonies. In 1988, she even earned a surprise nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars for the Danny Devito/Billy Crystal buddy comedy, Throw Momma from the Train, but sadly passed away just a few months after the ceremony, which she attended. She appeared posthumously in Scrooged that November—and unsurprisingly, that movie is dedicated to her.
One to watch: If it’s December, go Scrooged.
Lupe Ontiveros
You might not know the name, but since playing Rosalita in The Goonies, Lupe Ontiveros went on to have one of the most lively careers of any cast member. When she passed away in 2012, at the untimely age of 69, her IMDb had already reached a formidable 111 credits. Given the options for Latinx actors during that time, it’s probably no surprise that she was often typecast, but that didn’t stop her from making her mark on movies like As Good as it Gets and shows like Desperate Housewives, the latter of which earned her an Emmy nomination for Best Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.
One to watch: Certain parts of As Good as it Gets haven’t aged the best, but it’s still well worth seeing.
Robert Davi
Robert Davi started in TV before landing the part of Jake Fratelli in The Goonies, a role that would basically influence the rest of his career. In the decades that followed, Davis went on to play admirably meat-headed bad guys in everything from Predator 2 and License to Kill to Paul Verhoeven’s misunderstood classic, Showgirls.
The latter of those earned him a Razzies nomination, which he lost to Dennis Hopper for the equally undervalued Waterworld—what a year! If you know Davi from anything, however, it’s probably for playing the taller of the two Special Agent Johnsons in Die Hard.
One to watch: Definitely Die Hard.
John Matuszak
John Matuszak is one of the few Goonies cast members who came into the movie at the end of his career. Before putting on the prosthetics to play Sloth, Matuszak had already won two Super Bowls during a decade-long career in the NFL. Outside of The Goonies, he appeared in ‘80s movies like North Dallas Forty and One Crazy Summer before his tragic death in 1989, when he was still just 38 years old.
One to watch: I can’t claim to have seen any, but North Dallas Forty has Nick Nolte in it, so it seems like as good a place as any to start.
