- Ke Huy Quan is a Vietnamese-American actor.
- After early acting roles as a kid, he retired from acting in the early aughts.
- Ke Huy Quan won a Golden Globe, SAG and Oscar for his role in ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once.’
Ke Huy Quan won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar at the 2023 Academy Awards and won America’s heart during his emotional acceptance speech. His phenomenal work in Everything Everywhere All At Once garnered him the trophy after he spent almost two decades off-screen. He also snagged a Golden Globe and SAG Award for the role. While his amazing performance alongside Michelle Yeoh in the adventure comedy has earned him newfound recognition, he’s no stranger to the entertainment business. Find out more about Ke Huy Quan, who also goes by Jonathan Ke Quan here.
1. Ke Huy Quan was born in Vietnam
Despite appearing in many classic American movies, Ke Huy was actually born in Vietnam to parents of Chinese descent in 1971. In 1978, his family went to a refugee camp in Hong Kong, and they later moved to the United States in 1979. The family moved to the Los Angeles area of California.
2. He was a child star
At just 12 years old, Ke Huy was cast in his first acting role, and it was a major movie. He starred alongside Harrison Ford, playing Short Round in Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom (1984). After his role in the beloved adventure classic, Ke Huy was the star of another classic 80s movie: The Goonies (1985). He played Data in the adventure comedy, and he evidently stayed very close with his co-stars. He revealed that he asked fellow Goonies star Jeff Cohen, who is now a lawyer, to read over his contract for Everything Everywhere All At Once during an Oscar Contenders roundtable from The Hollywood Reporter. “When the producer of our movie was trying to make my deal, he said he never imagined that he’d have to talk to Chunk and Data for his movie,” he joked.
3. He went behind the camera as an adult
After starring in two 80s classics, Ke Huy continued acting in a few different TV shows and movies throughout the 90s and early 2000s, but after spending most of his childhood as an actor, he decided to try some off-screen jobs. He’s done stunt work in movies like X-Men (2000), served as an assistant director in 2046 (2004), worked in the sound department for The Other Side (2006) and much more.
4. He returned to acting almost 20 years later
Ke Huy’s final role before going off-camera was in 2002’s Second Time Around. Before he joined the cast of Everything Everywhere All At Once, he did have a small role in the Netflix adventure comedy Finding Ohana in 2021. The actor revealed that he was inspired to go out for movies after seeing Crazy Rich Asians in a February 2022 interview with Entertainment Weekly. He also called Finding Ohana a “much-needed warm-up” for his next role.
Regardless, Ke Huy admitted that he was very pleased with how Everything Everywhere All At Once turned out in the EW interview. “I think it’s an amazing movie; I feel so blessed to be a part of this. I think everybody’s amazing in it. And, honestly, I think the [writers and directors] Daniels are freaking geniuses. They wrote this beautiful script which, when I first read it, I cried and I laughed harder than [at] any script I’d ever read. I know people say this all the time, but it’s so hard for an original movie to come by, and to a part of this original story, original movie, is just a real blessing,” he said.
5. He’s joining the MCU
While it’s hopeful that moviegoers will see much more of Ke Huy in the coming years, Marvel fans will get to see him in the upcoming season of Loki. His character hasn’t been revealed yet, but he’s set to appear in six episodes of the second season of the Disney+ show, per IMDb.