Ke Huy Quan facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Ke Huy Quan
Quan in 2023
Born	Quan Kế Huy (1971-08-20) August 20, 1971 (age 53) Saigon, South Vietnam
Other names	Jonathan Ke Quan Jonathan Quan
Citizenship	American
Alma mater	University of Southern California
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1984–2002; 2021–present (acting) 2000–2004 (production assistant)
Spouse(s)	Echo Quan
Awards	Full list
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	關繼威
Simplified Chinese	关继威
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Guān Jìwēi Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Gwāan Gaiwāi
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabet	Quan Kế Huy

Ke Huy Quan (born August 20, 1971), also known as Jonathan Ke Quan, is an American actor. He became famous as a child actor in the 1980s. He played Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). He also played Data in The Goonies (1985).

After acting as a young adult in the 1990s, he took a long break from acting. During this time, he worked behind the scenes in movies. He was a stunt choreographer and an assistant director.

Quan returned to acting in 2021 with the movie Finding ʻOhana. Then, he starred in the highly praised film Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022). His performance in this movie won him many awards. This included the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He is the first actor born in Vietnam to win an Academy Award. Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2023. He has also appeared in the Disney+ series Loki in 2023.

Early Life and Journey

Ke Huy Quan was born on August 20, 1971, in Saigon, South Vietnam. He grew up in a large family with eight siblings. His family was of Chinese descent.

In 1975, the Vietnam War ended. Three years later, in 1978, Quan and his family fled Vietnam. He, his father, and five siblings went to Hong Kong. His mother and three other siblings went to Malaysia. After staying in a refugee camp in Hong Kong, his whole family moved to the United States in 1979. They were part of a special program for refugees.

In the U.S., Quan lived in California. He went to Mount Gleason Junior High School and Alhambra High School.

Ke Huy Quan's Acting Journey

Starting as a Child Actor (1984–1999)

Ke Huy Quan began acting at age 13. His first big role was as Harrison Ford's sidekick, Short Round. This was in the Steven Spielberg film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). The casting director found him when auditioning children at his school. Quan has said this role was "one of the happiest times of my life." He was even nominated for an award for his performance.

In 1985, Quan starred in another popular movie, The Goonies. He played Richard "Data" Wang, an inventor who was part of a group of adventurous kids. He also acted in other films and TV shows. These included the Taiwanese movie It Takes a Thief (1986) and the TV series Head of the Class (1990–1991).

Taking a Break and Working Behind the Scenes (2000–2020)

As Ke Huy Quan grew up, he found it hard to get acting roles in the United States. He decided to stop acting for a while. He went to the film program at the University of Southern California.

After college, he started working behind the scenes in movies. He helped choreograph fight scenes for films like X-Men (2000) and The One (2001). He also worked as an assistant director for the movie 2046 (2004).

Sean Astin, Quan, and Corey Feldman at a The Goonies event in 2019.

Returning to the Screen (2021–Present)

In 2018, the movie Crazy Rich Asians became very popular. This inspired Ke Huy Quan to think about acting again. Around the same time, directors known as Daniels were looking for an actor for their new movie. They needed someone to play Waymond Wang in Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Just two weeks after getting a new agent, Quan got a call to audition for the movie. In March 2022, Everything Everywhere All at Once was released. It became a huge success and won many awards. Quan's acting in the movie received a lot of praise. He won a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and an Academy Award for his role. He was the first Asian man to win an individual Screen Actors Guild Award. He was also the first actor born in Vietnam to win an Academy Award.

Quan at the White House in 2023.

In 2019, he also joined the cast of the Netflix movie Finding ʻOhana, which came out in 2021. He heard the director describe the film as a mix of The Goonies and Indiana Jones, which were his famous childhood movies. In 2023, he starred in the TV show American Born Chinese on Disney+. He also joined the second season of the Marvel Cinematic Universe series Loki on Disney+. For his role in Loki, he was nominated for a Critics' Choice Television Award. In 2023, he was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He also had a voice role in Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024).

Personal Life

Ke Huy Quan is from the Hoa ethnic group of Vietnam, who are of Chinese descent. He can speak several languages fluently. These include English, Vietnamese, Cantonese, and Mandarin.

Quan is married to Echo Quan. She even helped as a translator on the set of Everything Everywhere All at Once. They live in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles.

He has a second-degree black belt in taekwondo. He started learning taekwondo while filming Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. He is still very good friends with his Goonies co-star Jeff Cohen. Jeff Cohen is now a lawyer and helped Quan with his contract for Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Filmography

Film

Other credits

Television

Awards and Recognitions

In 2023, Ke Huy Quan won a Golden Globe Award. He also won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Both were for his role in Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022).

He was the first Asian man to win any individual award at the Screen Actors Guild Awards for the same role. He was also the first Vietnamese-American actor to be nominated in that supporting actor category. In 2023, Quan was honored with the Carnegie Corporation of New York's Great Immigrants Award.

See also

In Spanish: Ke Huy Quan para niños

• Asian Americans in arts and entertainment
• List of Academy Award winners and nominees of Asian descent