POR Kevin Polowy/Senior Correspondent, Yahoo Entertainment-. Last year was the comeback tour of Ke Huy Quan. Now it’s time for the Ke Huy Quan award tour.
The ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ star, who began his career as Short Round in ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’ (1984) and Data in ‘The Goonies’ (1985), won the Golden Globe for Best Actor Cast and is considered the great favorite to repeat at the Oscars in March.
Quan made his Globes moment immediately unforgettable when he enthusiastically acknowledged the man in the crowd who gave him his first break, ‘Temple of Doom’ director Steven Spielberg, on hand as a Best Director nominee for his semi-autobiographical drama ‘ The Fabelmans’.
“I was raised to never forget where I came from and to always remember who gave me my first chance,” said an emotional Quan, 51, as he clutched his Globe. I’m very happy to see Steven Spielberg here tonight. Steve, thank you!”
(Quan shared a less public, but just as viral, moment with Indiana Jones himself, Harrison Ford, at D23 Expo in September.)
After appearing in the fourth and fifth seasons of “Head of the Class” (1990-1991) and the 1992 comedy “Encino Man,” Quan largely disappeared from the public eye. He had a hard time finding acting work and transitioned to a life behind the camera as a stunt choreographer on movies like ‘X-Men’ (2000) and ‘The One’ (2001).
Nearly 20 years later, ‘Everything Everywhere’ directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (aka The Daniels) recruited Quan to return to the screen to play Waymond Wang, the Chinese-American immigrant who runs a laundromat and is looking for divorce, and their multiverse alter egos.
“When I started my career as a child actor on ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,’ I felt very lucky to have been cast,” Quan said during his speech. “As I got older, I began to wonder if that was it. If that was just luck. For so many years, I was afraid that I had nothing more to offer. No matter what I did, I would never surpass what I achieved as a child.”
“Luckily, more than 30 years later, two guys thought of me. They remembered that kid. And they gave me the chance to try again.”
‘Everything Everywhere’, which became a sleeper hit and a phenomenon among movie lovers, has catapulted Quan back into an acting career. He has already been picked to co-star in the second season of ‘Loki’ on Disney+.
“Everything that has happened since then has been incredible,” Quan said. “Dan Kwan, Daniel Sheinert, thank you so much for helping me find my answer. You have given me more than I could have hoped for.”