Everything Everywhere 's Ke Huy Quan is, all at once, an awards contender
Actor Ke Huy Quan has been recognized by strangers for roles he played as a child: Short Round in 1984's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Data in 1985's The Goonies. Now, at last, people are stopping him to talk about a movie he made as a grown-up.
"So many people have come up to me and said, 'You're from Everything Everywhere All at Once — I love that movie,' " says the 51-year-old, speaking to EW from Atlanta, where he's shooting the Russo brothers' sci-fi movie The Electric State opposite Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt. "For the last 38 years, people would always say, 'You're the kid from Indiana Jones!' 'You're the kid from The Goonies!' I'm grateful for those movies. But to be recognized [for] something you've done as an adult is an incredible feeling."
Dana Pleasant/Invision/AP/Shutterstock Ke Huy Quan
In Everything, Quan plays Waymond, the mild-mannered husband of Michelle Yeoh's Los Angeles laundromat owner Evelyn. He also portrays a more action-hero version of the character from another dimension who takes over Waymond's body and informs Evelyn that she alone can save the multiverse. Finally, Quan plays a third, very suave take on the character, in a dimension where Evelyn is a movie star. "It was important that the audience [be able to] distinguish these three versions," says Quan. "I got an acting coach, a voice coach, a body movement coach to help me with all the nuances."
Writer-directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (a.k.a. Daniels) had Quan learn a martial art called wushu rope dart for a sequence in which Waymond fends off a group of security guards with a fanny pack. "The thing that was difficult was that shot [where] you see me kick the fanny pack towards the camera," says Quan. "I was sweating like crazy. I kick the fanny pack, and I see it almost in slow motion as it flies perfectly towards the camera. There was applause everywhere." Such validation was important for Quan, who had returned to acting after a break of more than two decades. "I didn't know if people wanted me," he says.
Allyson Riggs/A24 Everything Everywhere All at Once
Born in Saigon, Quan was 7 when his family left Vietnam in 1978, eventually settling in Los Angeles. One day, he accompanied his brother to an open casting call for Temple of Doom; it was Quan who caught the eye of director Steven Spielberg and producer George Lucas. Three weeks later, he was on a flight bound for Sri Lanka to costar in the film with Harrison Ford. "Steven Spielberg and George Lucas put an Asian face in a big Hollywood movie," says the actor. "So many Asian Americans have said, 'For the longest time, you were the only face we saw up on the screen.' " After The Goonies, Quan scored a few more parts, including a role on the ABC sitcom Head of the Class, but increasingly struggled to even get auditions. "There was just not a lot of opportunities for an Asian actor," he says. "I spent a lot of time sitting by the phone. It rarely rang."
Quan enrolled in USC's film school and worked behind the camera in various capacities. He helped craft the stunts for 2000's X-Men and worked as an assistant director for filmmaker Wong Kar-wai, but he missed performing. In 2018, he saw Crazy Rich Asians — the romantic-comedy whose cast of Asian actors included Yeoh — and decided to try and make a return to performing. "I felt, 'Oh my God, that's what I want to do after stepping away for so long.' " Around the time Quan resolved to get back in front of the camera, Daniels were looking for an actor to play Waymond. "We needed someone who could do the drama, do the comedy, bilingual, a martial artist, and then be dopey and sweet," says Kwan. "I saw a gif of Short Round from Indiana Jones. I was like, 'What is that guy up to?' He was the first person we auditioned for the role."
Allyson Riggs/A24 Ke Huy Quan in 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'
Everything is very much part of the Oscars conversation, with Quan a top Best Supporting Actor contender. "All this talk about the possible recognition that our movie's going to get is very heartwarming," he says. "The truth is, I've already gotten what I wanted, and so anything [else] is icing on the cake."
Next, in addition to The Electric State, Quan plays a sitcom character from the '80s on the upcoming Disney+ show American Born Chinese. The series co-stars Yeoh and is another project to feature the kind of Asian portrayals that were unknown back when Quan was starting out. "I'm so happy to be reunited with Michelle Yeoh," he says, "but also other Asian actors who have been working really hard for the last 10, 20 years to try to push for more representation."
Quan has a yet-to-be-announced role in the second season of Loki, too. That means the actor is again in the same cinematic universe as Ford, who has replaced the late William Hurt in the MCU role of "Thunderbolt" Ross for 2024's Captain America: New World Order and Thunderbolts. Might we see them paired on screen again? "It would be freakin' awesome if we get to do one scene together," he says.
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