Whatever Happened to Phillip Paley, the Actor Who Played Chaka from TV’s ‘Land of the Lost’

LAND OF THE LOST, Philip Paley (as Cha-Ka), 1974-77. — Everett Collection

What To Know

Phillip Paley, who played Chaka on ‘Land of the Lost,’ was discovered after appearing with Chuck Norris on The Tonight Show and became known for his close on- and off-screen friendship with co-star Kathy Coleman.
After the show ended, Paley had a few more acting roles in the 1980s but eventually shifted to working as a paralegal and project manager, citing the competitive nature of acting as a deterrent.
Paley remains close friends with his former castmates and regularly attends conventions with them, maintaining strong ties to the ‘Land of the Lost’ legacy.

If you grew up in the ’70s, chances are you remember Sid & Marty Krofft’s Land of the Lost. Unlike most Saturday morning kids’ shows, it didn’t talk down to its audience. Instead, it challenged young minds and fueled a generation’s creativity. The series followed widowed forest ranger Rick Marshall, played by Spencer Milligan, and his kids, Will (Wesley Eure) and Holly (Kathy Coleman), who took a routine rafting trip and ended up trapped in an alternate, prehistoric dimension.

Sharing their incredible adventures was Chaka, a young member of the Pakuni tribe played by actor Phillip Paley. Paley had come to the attention of the producers of the show when he accompanied Chuck Norris onto The Tonight Show. That video can be found on the official Johnny Carson YouTube channel, and it is certainly fun to see young Mr. Paley manhandling the then-King of late-night talk shows.

On Land of the Lost, Chaka had a special relationship with the youngest member of the Marshall clan, Holly, played byColeman. TV viewers got the feeling that they were roughly the same age, probably because Paley and Coleman were close in age as well. When they weren’t shooting scenes, the two young actors would run around the set and the sets of other shows as well. The friendship between these two has endured to this very day. More on that in a moment.

LAND OF THE LOST, (from left): Wesley Eure, Kathy Coleman, Philip Paley (as Cha-Ka), Spencer Milligan, 1974-77.

Everett Collection

But first, it is worth talking about an episode during the second season titled “The Musician,” where Paley gets to play dual roles: that of Chaka, as well as a young boy who gives Chaka a ring that has extra special powers. One has to imagine that it was an absolute blast for Paley to play a part in the show that didn’t require the tedious task of putting on his Chaka costume and makeup. Plus, all of his friends at home finally got to see him, not Chaka, on TV.

So, after Land of the Lost ended its three-season run, what happened to Paley? Where did he go? Well, Paley didn’t completely disappear from the entertainment industry. During the ’80s, he landed a guest-starring role on the Jan-Michael Vincent TV show Airwolf and also starred in a Roger Corman teen comedy called Beach Balls. But, truthfully, that’s about it.

LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 28: Actor Phillip Paley attends The Hollywood Show held at The LAX Westin Hotel on April 28, 2018 in Los Angeles, California.

Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images

When he wasn’t acting, Paley spent a lot of time hanging around lawyers, of all things. First as a paralegal for about a decade, and then as a project manager for a law firm. Paley has said that even though he loves acting, he hasn’t landed more gigs because going after roles in an uber-competitive environment like the entertainment industry wasn’t fun for him.

Speaking to CBS News in 2009, Paley said this, “I have a problem with the whole pursuit of acting. It’s so fraught with rejection, and the pursuit of it is not really for me, but I really enjoy the doing of it.”

As mentioned earlier, Paley is still extremely close to Coleman, as well as actor Wesley Eure, who played older brother Will. They often make it a point to attend comic and other nostalgia-based conventions together just so that they can hang out, catch up, and relive old times. The three actors are such good friends that they even went on a road trip together to visit their former co-star, Spencer Milligan, prior to his passing in 2024.