Ke Huy Quan
Quan at the White House in 2023
Born
Quan Kế Huy

(1971-08-20) August 20, 1971
Saigon, South Vietnam
NationalityAmerican
Other names
  • Jonathan Ke Quan
  • Jonathan Quan
Alma materUniversity of Southern California
Occupations
  • Actor
  • stunt choreographer
Years active1984–2002; 2021–present (acting)
2000–2004 (production assistant)
SpouseEcho Quan
AwardsFull list (80 awards as of November 2023)
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese關繼威[1]
Simplified Chinese关继威[2]
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabetQuan Kế Huy[3]
Chữ Hán關繼威

Ke Huy Quan (born August 20, 1971), also known as Jonathan Ke Quan (/kiːˈkwɑːn/), is an American actor. As a child actor, Quan rose to fame playing Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Data in The Goonies (1985). Following a few roles in the 1990s, he took a 19-year acting hiatus, during which he worked as a stunt choreographer and assistant director.

Quan returned to acting with the family adventure Finding ʻOhana (2021), followed by the critically acclaimed Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), a performance that won him various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Quan is one of two actors of Asian descent to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and the first Vietnam-born actor to win an Academy Award. Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2023.[4] He has since starred in the second season of the Disney+ series Loki in 2023.

Early life

Quan Kế Huy was born on August 20, 1971, in Saigon, South Vietnam.[5] He was born into a family of Chinese descent with eight siblings.[6] In 1975, the North Vietnamese occupied the South and took control of Vietnam; three years later, Quan fled from Vietnam with his family.[7] He, along with his father and five siblings, fled to Hong Kong, while Quan's mother and three other siblings went to Malaysia.[8] After staying at a refugee camp in Hong Kong, Quan's entire family was admitted to the United States as part of the Refugee Admissions Program in 1979.[9] In the U.S., Quan grew up in California, where he attended the Mount Gleason Junior High School in Sunland-Tujunga, Los Angeles and Alhambra High School in Alhambra.[10]

Career

Child stardom and film production

Quan became a child actor at age 12, starring as Harrison Ford's sidekick Short Round in the Steven Spielberg film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in 1984.[11] The casting director auditioned a number of children at Castelar Elementary School, including Quan's younger brother.[12] He described the role as "one of the happiest times of my life".[9] For his performance, he was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor.[13] In 1985, Quan co-starred in The Goonies as a member of the eponymous group of children, the inventor Richard "Data" Wang. He played a pickpocket orphan in the 1986 Taiwanese movie It Takes a Thief. In 1987, he appeared in the Japanese movie Passengers (Passenjā Sugisarishi Hibi) with the Japanese idol singer Honda Minako. He played Sam on the short-lived TV series Together We Stand (1986–1987) and played Jasper Kwong in the sitcom Head of the Class from 1990 to 1991. In 1991 he starred in the movie Breathing Fire, and had a small role in Encino Man the following year. He played the starring role in the 1993 Mandarin-language Taiwan TV show Eunuch & Carpenter, which ran for forty episodes.[14][1] He also starred in the 1996 Hong Kong-Vietnam co-production Red Pirate. He studied Taekwondo under Philip Tan on the set of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and later trained under Tao-liang Tan.[15]

As an adult, Quan found it difficult to find acting work in the United States. He eventually quit acting and enrolled in the film program at University of Southern California.[5][16] During his time there, he edited a comedy horror short film titled Voodoo alongside fellow student Gregg Bishop, who directed the film.[16] Voodoo won the Audience Award at the 2000 Slamdance Film Festival, and continues to be shown to USC students to this day.[17] After graduating from USC, Quan was asked by Corey Yuen to go to Toronto, Ontario, to help choreograph fighting sequences in X-Men (2000).[5][12] For the next decade, he worked behind the scenes on various productions in Asia and the United States.[12] He again helped Yuen as a stunt choreographer for The One (2001).[18] Quan worked as assistant director on Wong Kar-wai's 2046 (2004).[12]

Return to acting and upcoming projects

Sean Astin, Quan, and Corey Feldman at The Goonies panel, 2019 Fan Expo Toronto

Quan was inspired to return to acting following the success of Crazy Rich Asians in 2018.[19] That same year, the filmmaking duo Daniels began casting for their film Everything Everywhere All at Once. They struggled to cast an actor in the role of Waymond Wang, a character who would appear in three different incarnations of the film. Co-director Daniel Kwan stumbled upon Quan on Twitter. Two weeks after getting a talent agent, the actor received a call to audition for the film.[16] In January 2020, Quan was announced as a cast member of Everything Everywhere All at Once.[20] The film was released in March 2022 to overwhelming acclaim, with Quan's performance receiving near unanimous praise and media attention, eventually leading to him winning a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award and an Academy Award for his role. The Screen Actors Guild Award win made him the first Asian man to win any individual category at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, with his win of the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role. He was the first Vietnamese-American actor to be nominated in that category.[21][22][23][24] Quan is one of two actors of Asian descent to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, the other being Haing S. Ngor in 1985,[25] and is the first Vietnam-born actor to win an Academy Award.[26] Everything Everywhere All at Once is also the most awarded film of all time.[27]

Quan at the White House speaking to guests at Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Celebration with U.S. President Joe Biden, before American Born Chinese TV series screening (May 2023)

In 2019 he was cast in a supporting role in the Netflix film Finding ʻOhana, released in 2021.[28] Quan approached director Jude Weng after overhearing her describing the film as The Goonies meets Indiana Jones, in both of which Quan had appeared.[16] In February 2022, it was announced that he had joined the cast of the TV adaptation of American Born Chinese for Disney+, which was subsequently released in May 2023.[29][30] In September 2022, Quan was announced to have joined the cast for the second season of the Marvel Cinematic Universe series Loki for Disney+, which premiered on October 6, 2023. For his performance he received a Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series nomination.[31][32] In June 2023, it was announced that he had been invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as an actor.[33] On December 12, 2023, he joined the voice cast for Kung Fu Panda 4.

Personal life

Quan is of Han Chinese ancestry from the Hoa ethnic minority group of Vietnam. He is fluent in English, Vietnamese, Cantonese, and Mandarin.[34] Quan is married to Echo Quan, who served as the on-set translator for Everything Everywhere All at Once,[35] and resides in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles.[16][5] Quan holds a second-degree black belt in taekwondo; he started taking classes after learning from a taekwondo instructor for his role in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.[16] He remains close friends with his Goonies co-star Jeff Cohen, who is also Quan's entertainment lawyer and helped Quan negotiate his contract to star in Everything Everywhere All at Once.[12]

Filmography

Film

Film acting work by Ke Huy Quan
Year Title Role Notes
1984 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Short Round
1985 The Goonies Richard "Data" Wang
1986 It Takes a Thief Little Guan
1987 Passenger Rick
1991 Breathing Fire Charlie Moore
1992 Encino Man Kim
1996 Red Pirate Kwan Chia Chiang
2002 Second Time Around Sing Wong
2021 Finding ʻOhana George Phan
2022 Everything Everywhere All at Once Waymond Wang
2024 Kung Fu Panda 4 Han Voice; in production[36]
The Electric State TBA Post-production
TBA With Love TBA Lead role[37]

Other credits

Other film work by Ke Huy Quan
Year Title Role
2000 X-Men Assistant fight choreographer, translator
2001 The One Assistant action choreography director
2004 2046 Assistant director

Television

Television acting work by Ke Huy Quan
Year Title Role Notes
1986–1987 Together We Stand Sam Randall 19 episodes
1990–1991 Head of the Class Jasper Kwong Main cast (seasons 4–5)
1991 Tales from the Crypt Josh Episode: "Undertaking Palor"
1993 Eunuch & Carpenter Ba Dajia Main role; TV series from Taiwan, 40 episodes
2023 American Born Chinese Jamie Yao / Freddy Wong Main role[38]
Loki Ouroboros "OB" / A.D. Doug Season 2; Main role

Awards and nominations

In 2023, Quan won a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award, for Best Supporting Actor, for his role in Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022).[39][40] He was the first Asian man to win any individual category at the Screen Actors Guild Awards for the same role, as well as the first Vietnamese-American actor to be nominated in the supporting category.[21][22][23][24]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 蕭采薇 (April 22, 2022). "獨／季芹17歲第一個緋聞對象是他！ 關繼威：看到她現在很幸福". ETtoday (in Traditional Chinese). Archived from the original on May 23, 2022. Retrieved January 12, 2023.
  2. ↑ Jonathan Head, Tran Vo. "奥斯卡金像奖：越南为何不愿认可创下历史的关继威？". BBC (in Simplified Chinese). Archived from the original on March 18, 2023. Retrieved March 18, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Quan Kế Huy nhớ thời chật vật ở Hollywood". VTV (in Vietnamese). January 11, 2023. Archived from the original on February 8, 2023. Retrieved March 13, 2023.
  4. ↑ "Time 100". Time. April 13, 2023. Archived from the original on April 13, 2023. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Ito, Robert (April 5, 2022). "Ke Huy Quan: From Short Round to Romantic Lead in Just Four Long Decades". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on May 3, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  6. ↑ Tamagawa, Emiko (April 8, 2022). "Actor Ke Huy Quan returns in front of the camera in 'Everything, Everywhere, All at Once'". WBUR-FM. Archived from the original on April 24, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  7. ↑ Youngs, Ian (March 13, 2023). "Ke Huy Quan: From forgotten child star of Indiana Jones and The Goonies to Oscars hero". BBC. Archived from the original on March 13, 2023. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  8. ↑ Bedigan, Mike (March 13, 2023). "Ke Huy Quan's triumphant return to the world of mainstream acting". Yahoo! News. Archived from the original on March 14, 2023. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  9. 1 2 Lee, Ann (November 14, 2022). "'I didn't have a single audition for a year': Goonies and Indiana Jones child star Ke Huy Quan on finding fame again". The Guardian. Archived from the original on March 13, 2023. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  10. ↑ "Ke Huy Quan". Empire. Archived from the original on December 19, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  11. ↑ Canby, Vincent (May 23, 1984). "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 12, 2014. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 Ebiri, Bilge (March 11, 2022). "In Another Life, Ke Huy Quan Was a Star". Vulture. Archived from the original on April 24, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  13. ↑ "Past Saturn Awards". February 11, 2009. Archived from the original on September 6, 2014. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  14. ↑ Della Cai (December 6, 2022). "Ke Huy Quan's True Hollywood Comeback". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on March 15, 2023. Retrieved March 18, 2023.
  15. ↑ Nick Mamatas (December 14, 2012). "10 reasons we still love The Goonies 25 years later". Syfy Wire. Archived from the original on January 9, 2018. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Collis, Clark (February 24, 2022). "What Short Round did next: The strange journeys of Ke Huy Quan". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on April 11, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  17. ↑ Wampler, Scott (March 13, 2023). "Wanna See Oscar-Winner Ke Huy Quan's Award-Winning Horror Short, VOODOO?". Fangoria. Archived from the original on March 13, 2023. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  18. ↑ "The kid from Indiana Jones: What does he look like now?". Now (1996–2019 magazine). August 8, 2015. Archived from the original on August 10, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  19. ↑ McEvoy, Colin (March 8, 2023). "Oscar Frontrunner Ke Huy Quan Had Quit Acting for Good. 'Crazy Rich Asians Brought Him Back". Biography.com. Archived from the original on March 8, 2023. Retrieved March 8, 2023.
  20. ↑ Fleming, Mike Jr. (January 23, 2020). "A24 Reunites With 'Swiss Army Man' Directors; Finance & Distribute AGBO's 'Everything Everywhere All At Once'". Deadline. Archived from the original on September 14, 2021. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
  21. 1 2 Dresden, Hilton (February 26, 2023). ""Look At Us Now": 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' Cast Celebrates Asian Talent with SAG Awards win". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on February 27, 2023. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
  22. 1 2 Thomas, Carly (February 26, 2023). "Michelle Yeoh Makes History with SAG Awards win: "This is for Every Single Girl That Looks Like Me"". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on February 27, 2023. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
  23. 1 2 Dresden, Hilton (February 26, 2023). "Ke Huy Quan Makes History with SAG Award win: "This Moment Belongs to Everyone Who Has Asked for Change"". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on February 27, 2023. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
  24. 1 2 Rosenbloom, Alli (February 27, 2023). "Ke Huy Quan makes history with SAG award win for 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'". CNN. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
  25. ↑ Ordaña, Michael; Phillips, Jevon (January 24, 2023). "Here are the 2023 Oscar nominees". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on January 24, 2023. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
  26. ↑ "'We're very proud': Ke Huy Quan's Oscar win is huge for Asian community, his family in Houston says". ABC13 Houston. March 13, 2023. Archived from the original on March 20, 2023. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
  27. ↑ "'Everything Everywhere All at Once' Makes History as the Most-Awarded Film Ever". Hypebeast. March 12, 2023. Archived from the original on March 21, 2023. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  28. ↑ Kroll, Justin (September 30, 2019). "'Young Sheldon' Director's Feature Debut 'Finding Ohana' Lands at Netflix (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  29. ↑ Otterson, Joe (February 7, 2022). "Michelle Yeoh Among Eight Cast in Disney Plus Series 'American Born Chinese'". Variety. Archived from the original on February 10, 2022. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
  30. ↑ "'American Born Chinese': Release Date, Cast, Plot, and Everything You Need to Know". Collider. February 18, 2023. Retrieved June 28, 2023.
  31. ↑ White, Peter (September 10, 2022). "'Loki': Ke Huy Quan Joins Season 2 of Marvel Series - Deadline". Deadline. Archived from the original on September 10, 2022. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
  32. ↑ Vary, Adam B.; Maas, Jennifer (May 16, 2023). "Marvel Sets Premiere Dates for 'Loki' Season 2, 'Echo' on Disney+". Variety. Retrieved June 28, 2023.
  33. ↑ Sciences, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and. "The Academy Invites 398 New Members for 2023: See the Full List". A.frame. Retrieved June 28, 2023.
  34. ↑ "Ke Huy Quan News & Biography - Empire". www.empireonline.com. Archived from the original on December 19, 2022. Retrieved February 3, 2023.
  35. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 15, 2023. Retrieved March 15, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  36. ↑ Gearan, Hannah (December 12, 2023). "Kung Fu Panda 4 Synopsis Revealed As Two Oscar-Winners Join Voice Cast". ScreenRant. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
  37. ↑ Grobar, Matt (January 4, 2024). "Ke Huy Quan Set For Uni Actioner 'With Love' From 87North". Deadline. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
  38. ↑ Fleming, Mike Jr. (February 7, 2022). "'Shang-Chi's Michelle Yeoh & Destin Daniel Cretton Reunite For Disney+ Series 'American Born Chinese;' Chin Han, Yeo Yann Yann & Daniel Wu Also Star". Archived from the original on December 12, 2022. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
  39. ↑ Globes, Golden (December 12, 2022). "Ke Huy Quan Golden Globes". Golden Globe Awards. Archived from the original on December 12, 2022. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
  40. ↑ Ordoña, Michael; Phillips, Jevon (January 24, 2023). "Here are the 2023 Oscar nominees: live updates". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on January 24, 2023. Retrieved January 24, 2023.

Bibliography

  • Holmstrom, John. The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995. Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, p. 387.
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