A look at Ke Huy Quan’s extensive pre-Oscar Winning career

One of nine children, Quan’s refugee family was split up fleeing the Vietnam War before reuniting in Los Angeles.

While accepting the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Quan mentioned his path to stardom: “My journey started on a boat. I spent a year in a refugee camp. And somehow I ended up here on the biggest stage in Hollywood,” Quan said.

In 1983, casting directors went to his Chinatown school in Los Angeles looking for a young Asian boy to be in a Steven Spielberg movie. According to CBS News. When his brother decided to go to the casting call, Quan joined him. A casting director saw Quan coaching his brother through the audition and suggested Quan try out, the outlet reported.

The role in question? Starring in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” with Harrison Ford.

In 1984, 12-year-old Quan starred in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom as Short Round, Indiana Jones’ sidekick throughout the film.

Quan spoke fondly of his time on set, and his relationship with Spielberg, To the Associated Press in December 2022.

“I am forever grateful to that man. Not only did he teach me so much, but he changed my life in the most wonderful way. I think it has a lot to do with why I love acting so much,” Quan. he told the outlet. “I have such fond memories of that experience. That’s why I fell in love with the actor.”

Nearly 39 years later, Quan reunited with his “Indiana Jones” co-star when Harrison Ford presented Quan with his Oscar. It’s worth noting that Spielberg and Quan have also met several times during the 2023 awards season.

Quan quickly became a popular child star in Hollywood. A few months after his work on “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”, Quan starred in the 1985 hit “The Goonies”.

Quan wasn’t the only “Goonies” star to have a notable career in Hollywood: It was also a stretch for child stars Corey Feldman, Sean Astin and Josh Brolin.

Quan told reporters at the 2023 Academy Awards that Feldman called her before the Academy Awards to wish her luck. Feldman He also took to Instagram to celebrate his friend’s victory.

After the release of “The Goonies,” Quan says her roles in Hollywood became few and far between.

“Well, I started at the very top, so it was all downhill from there!” Quan said of his acting career CBS News in February.

He was cast as Sam in the short-lived 1986 sitcom “Nothing is Easy,” before landing the role of Rick in “Passenger: Sugisarishi hibi,” a Japanese action film about a woman who falls in love with a famous bicycle racer.

In 1990, Quan joined the cast of the sitcom “Head of the Class” for one season as Jasper Kwong. Jasper played a transfer student in the high school sitcom about gifted kids.

The following year, Quan took on the role of Charlie Moore in the 1991 martial arts film Breathing Fire, showcasing his martial arts skills. In the film, Charlie and his brother Eddie must use their kickboxing skills to protect a young girl from her bank-robbing father and his gang.

Quan’s martial arts skills would eventually lead to behind-the-scenes work in the industry as an investigator coordinator on the 2000 “X-Men” and 2009 short films “Enigma.”

In a March 2022 interview with VultureQuan credited “Lethal Weapon 4” action director Corey Yuen for his stunt coordination skills.

“He taught me everything about choreographing a fight sequence: how to shoot, how to edit,” Quan said. “It was one of the best times of my life.”

Quan worked with 2023 Oscar winner Brandon Fraser in the 1992 comedy debut “Encino Man.”

Frazer played Link, a frozen caveman who enters modern life when two teenagers unfreeze him, while Quan had a small role as Kim, a classmate of the teenagers.

In the 1997 Hong Kong film “Red Pirate”, Quan played Ko-Wei Kuan. In this martial arts action film, Quan shows off his technical taekwondo training that helped him perform the stunts in “Everything Everywhere All Once.” According to Variety.

Quan began training with a Tae Kwon Do master after his role in the movie “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.” According to a March 2022 profile in Vulture.

The film is a sci-fi action romance adventure where a gambler must travel back in time to correct his mistakes.

In this 2002 Hong Kong action film, Quan portrays Sing Wong, the main character’s best friend and gambler.

It was after that Quan took a break from camera work.

In March 2022, Quan explained to Variety He said the 2018 romantic comedy “Crazy Rich Asians” prompted his return to acting.

“When ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ came out and I saw my fellow Asian actors on screen, I wanted to be there with them. I called an agent friend of mine and asked if he wanted to represent me, and he said yes,” Quan told the outlet.

In “Finding ‘Ohana,” Hawaiian siblings Pili and Loane are New York natives who return to the island with their mother, Leilani. In the film, the couple searches for a long-lost treasure to save their family home and reconnect with their Hawaiian heritage.

Quan plays George Phan, Leilani’s high school friend and island resident, on a treasure hunt in this “The Goonies”-style adventure film.

Quan won his first Oscar for his role as Waymond Wang in the 2023 Academy Awards best picture winner “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

The sci-fi film follows critically-acclaimed laundromat owner and immigrant mother Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) as she tries to save lives by connecting her to the lives she could have lived in the multiverse.

Evelyn’s main mission is to heal her relationship with her eccentric daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu). Waymond, Evelyn’s husband, is a crucial figure in almost every life she visits.

Quan’s real-life wife, Echo, worked as a Chinese translator for the film, According to Gaur. In Quan’s Golden Globes acceptance speech for Best Supporting Actor, he thanked her and credited her as “the one person who never stopped believing in me.”

Quan said winning an Oscar for his role was an “American dream” in his acceptance speech.

The Vietnamese actor has been very open in the past about his struggle to find work in Hollywood. In March, Quan said James Corden on “The Late Late Show.” That he didn’t have health insurance after filming “Everything Everywhere All Once” because no one would hire him.

Thankfully, it looks like Quan is now back in the acting mix. In 2023, Quan will play Freddy Wong in the Disney+ series “American Born Chinese.”

He will also have a recurring role on the streaming service’s Marvel show “Loki.” The second season of “Loki” is expected to premiere in the summer of 2023.