The Goonies Cast: Where Are They Now?

The daughter of Keith Carradine and Shelley Plimpton, Martha played Andy’s best friend, Stef, who comes along for the ride. Soon after The Goonies, she appeared in Harrison Ford-starring movie The Mosquito Coast (1986) as Emily Spellgood, the daughter of a missionary. She reunited with River Phoenix, who’d played Ford’s son in Mosquito Coast, when they both were in Running on Empty (1988), and the two dated. That same year, she appeared in Woody Allen’s Another Woman, followed by a turn in Ron Howard’s Parenthood (1989), which starred Steve Martin.

She stayed active in the ’90s, with roles in Stanley & Iris (1990), Samantha (1991) and The Beans of Egypt, Maine (1994), in which she starred. She performed onstage as well, including at Steppenwolf Theatre, where she was an ensemble member from 1998-2019, playing the title part in Hedda Gabler (2001). Plimpton has appeared on Broadway numerous times, earning three consecutive Tony nominations for roles in The Coast of Utopia (2007), Top Girls (2008) and Pal Joey (2009). 

Plimpton went on to star in Fox’s Raising Hope, earning an Emmy nomination in 2011, and won an Emmy for her recurring guest role as Patti Nyholm in The Good Wife in 2012. She voiced Yelena, the leader of the Northuldra, in Frozen II (2019), and played Sen. Judith Holt in the Kate Winslet miniseries The Regime (2024). Earlier in 2025, she played Jane Torres in the Apple TV+ series Prime Target, about a mathematician (Leo Woodall) whose area of study becomes life-threatening. 

Outside of acting, Plimpton is a singer and abortion-rights activist. She has several upcoming projects in the works, including the miniseries East of Eden, due out on Netflix in 2026.