Ke Huy Quan Returned to Acting Because of 1 Movie Before ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’
One of the biggest hit movies of 2022, Everything Everywhere All at Once was the rare exception to the wave of franchise entries hitting theaters these days. However, the acclaimed film does feature some star power in the way of several recognizable faces. One of the actors in the film is best known from the classic The Goonies, but quit acting after a loss of work. Ke Huy Quan later revealed the film that brought him back to Hollywood.
Ke Huy Quan is a beloved former child actor
Quan started his Hollywood journey at just 12 years old. His first film saw him acting alongside Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom, playing Ford’s sidekick Short Round. Quan had auditioned together with his younger brother when he landed the role.
The following year, Quan landed another career-defining role in the Steven Spielberg-helmed The Goonies. The actor, who played Richard “Data” Wang, starred alongside then-up-and-comers Josh Brolin, Sean Astin, and Corey Feldman. The Goonies was a hit with audiences and has become a cult classic.
For a few years, the roles kept coming for Quan, as his IMDb shows. Most notably, he acted opposite Astin again in 1992’s Encino Man. He also appeared in two sitcoms, Together We Stand and Head of the Class. However, by the mid-00s, Quan had disappeared from the big and small screens.
Ke Huy Quan returned to acting because of ‘Crazy Rich Asians’
Quan was everywhere all at once in the ’80s and early ’90s. His first role alongside Ford helped make him one of the sought-after teen actors at the time. However, as quickly as he rose, he descended. The actor told PEOPLE in April 2022 that landing his early roles made him think he was “going to have this amazing career.”
However, things fizzled out quickly as Quan noted that he rarely landed roles, and the few he would get for Asian actors would be small and stereotypical. He told the magazine that he would wait “for the phone to ring, and it rarely did.”
After he stepped away from acting, Quan went to film school at USC. When he graduated, he decided to turn his focus behind the camera, becoming a successful stunt coordinator and assistant director.
Quan didn’t think he’d want to work as an actor again. That is until 2018’s Crazy Rich Asians debuted. When he saw his first American production with an all-Asian cast, it changed things. Quan told the publication that although he was happy behind the scenes, he “had serious FOMO.” “I wanted to be up there with my fellow Asian actors!” he said.
What is Ke Huy Quan up to now?
Quan landed the role of Waymond Wang in Everything Everywhere All at Once after an audition. His character, the husband of Michelle Yeoh’s Evelyn Quan Wang, hops through different universes to help his wife save the world.
Quan told PEOPLE that he felt the role was written for him, and he considers Everything Everywhere All at Once his comeback film, though he also appeared in Finding Ohana in 2021. Next Quan is set to star in the TV adaptation of the graphic novel American Born Chinese, reuniting him with Yeoh.
