Each day in the mainstream media we read “Then & Now” articles about former child actors no longer working in film or TV whose lives are, let’s politely say, less than aspirational. Fortunately there are three great examples of former child stars no longer working in front of the camera but enjoying great professional success as Top Attorneys.

Jeff Cohen, 39, played Chunk in “The Goonies.” Cohen left the world of acting and now works as an entertainment attorney with his own namesake firm. Cohen was even named one of Hollywood Reporter’s Top 35 Executives Under 35.

Cohen revealed in an interview with Bitter Lawyer, that while he enjoyed being a child actor in “The Goonies,” he found his real passion to be entertainment law. When Cohen hit his teen years his appearance changed and he was no longer the funny, chubby kid. “I looked different. I couldn’t get work anymore. In a way, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Then I find all these other things through academia. I went to Berkeley. I can study political science and literature and business. There is a whole different world out there. I got out of L.A. I think what saved me was school.”

From left: Cohen, Saviano and Korsmo today (Photo: Getty Images)

Josh Saviano, former child actor who played Fred Savage’s BFF Paul Pfeiffer in “The Wonder Years.”  Saviano is now senior counsel at Morrison Cohen LLP in New York City.  According to his biography at his law firm, Saviano “focuses on guiding clients through complex commercial transactions and on building, protecting, and exploiting celebrity and corporate brands.”

One last blast from the Child Star past: Charlie Korsmo. Not a household name per se, but Korsmo had a solid film career as a child actor, appearing in Dick Tracy, What About Bob? Can’t Hardly Wait, and Hook.  Like Cohen and Saviano, he left show biz behind and became an attorney.  Korsmo graduated from MIT and went to Yale for law school. He also served at the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, the House Policy Committee, and served as a clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.  He is currently an assistant professor of law at Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio.