On Sunday night, Ke Huy Quan capped off a successful awards season by winning the Oscar for best actor in a supporting role in the film Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Quan acknowledged the long road that had led to his first Oscar win in an emotional remark that takes us back back to his days as a child actor.
Quan stated, “My journey started on a boat. I spent a year in a refugee camp. And somehow, I ended up here.”
Quan acknowledged the long road that had led to his first Oscar win in an emotional remark
The victory is scarcely shocking. The Screen Actors Guild and Gotham awards are only two of the accolades Quan has earned for his depiction of Waymond, a mild-mannered husband who guides his estranged wife through the weird bounds of the cosmos.
With the role in Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s sci-fi/fantasy epic, the actor, who initially rose to fame as a child star in movies like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies, has made a strong and well-liked comeback. Yet as a young adult, opportunities dried up for him, until decades later he found Everything Everywhere All at Once.
From forgotten child star to Oscars hero
Ke Huy Quan was a kid star in two of the biggest blockbusters of the 1980s—Indiana Jones and The Goonies—but gave up acting when Hollywood gave up on him. He later became an Oscar winner. By winning an Oscar, he has now completed an amazing comeback.
Before moving in the US, Quan escaped Vietnam as a young boy and sought refuge in Hong Kong.
He stumbled into an audition for the role of Chinese thief Short Round in the 1984 film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. He made his acting debut the following year in The Goonies as the gadget-obsessed Data.
Ke Huy Quan was a kid star in two of the biggest blockbusters of the 1980s—Indiana Jones and The Goonies
But as he aged, the options became less. Then, he made the decision to settle for a job as an assistant director and stunt coordinator.
He approached the age of 50 and was motivated by the film Crazy Rich Asians. And he took the choice to attempt again to follow his dream of acting.
An agency friend agreed to represent him – and two weeks later Quan received a call regarding Everything Everywhere All At Once. That film would provide him both his second big break and his first Academy Award.
Everything Everywhere All At Once wins seven prizes
While Everything Everywhere All At Once dominated the Oscars, Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian woman to win best actress.
Seven honors were given to the stunning multiverse adventure, including best picture, director, and original script.
Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis, Yeoh’s co-stars, won the awards for supporting actor and actress, respectively. No other movie in Oscar history has ever taken home the best picture, best director, and three acting awards.
Everything Everywhere All At Once wins seven prizes
Yeoh portrays a Chinese-American laundrette owner in Everything Everywhere All at Once who is entangled in a tax audit. She bound to a failing marriage, and finding it difficult to connect with her daughter Joy.
Yet she must use the abilities of the various selves she has found across the universe in order to save the world.
In this year’s Oscar contest, the 60-year-old saw a late surge in popularity, eventually passing the early front-runner Cate Blanchett.
Yeoh won for Monster’s Ball more than 20 years ago. And she is just the second person of color to be named best leading actress. The first was Halle Berry.
