“I thought everyone had forgotten me, but since the movie came out, there’s been so much positivity and so much kindness, so thank you so much,” she shared.
After more than 30 years out of the industry, Ke Huy Quan returned to the big screen with Everything Everywhere at the Same Time, a film that was awarded in the most important categories of the Oscars 2023, including Best Picture. In addition to Jamie Lee Curtis’ triumph, Michelle Yeoh and Quan made history by becoming the first Asians to receive the golden statuette.
The Vietnamese-American actor couldn’t help but break down in tears when his name was announced. The industry had turned its back on him for a long time, leaving him forgotten. Even so, Harrison Ford, and hundreds of fans, would remember him for his performance as Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, where he was just 12 years old. The tender reunion with Ford at the ceremony only showed that the actor had left his mark on the cinema.
The actor from The Goonies achieved great popularity in the nineties, but over time he had many complications to get a role, this also as a reflection of racism in Hollywood. Even after Everything Everywhere at the Same Time, which was filmed during the pandemic, he received no new job offers, so he experienced a feeling of failure.
“I was at home like everyone else trying to stay safe, and I was auditioning left and right, sending in self-tapes. The interesting thing was that I couldn’t get a single job. Not a callback. Nobody wanted me,” she shared for an interview with Insider. However, since the Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert film was released in theaters, the situation was a little more favorable for the actor.