Ke Huy Quan facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Ke Huy Quan
Quan at the White House in 2023
Born	1970 or 1971 (age 53–55) Saigon, South Vietnam
Other names	Jonathan Ke Quan Jonathan Quan
Citizenship	U.S.
Alma mater	University of Southern California
Occupation	Actor stunt coordinator assistant director
Years active	1984–2002; 2021–present
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 is an American actor. He was born in Vietnam in 1970 or 1971. You might also know him as Jonathan Ke Quan. He has won many important awards, like an Academy Award (also known as an Oscar), a Golden Globe Award, and a Saturn Award. He was also nominated for a BAFTA award.

When he was a child, Ke Huy Quan moved to the United States. He became famous as a child actor. He played Short Round in the movie Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). He also played Data in The Goonies (1985). After acting in a few roles as a young adult in the 1990s, he stopped acting for 19 years. During that time, he worked behind the scenes as a stunt choreographer and an assistant director.

Ke Huy Quan started acting again in 2021 with the movie Finding ʻOhana. Then, he starred in the very popular movie Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022). His acting in this movie won him many awards, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was the first actor born in Vietnam to win an Academy Award. Time magazine even named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2023. Since then, he has appeared in the Disney+ show Loki in 2023 and will be in the upcoming Disney movie Zootopia 2.

Early Life and Moving to the U.S.

Ke Huy Quan was born in Saigon, South Vietnam, in 1970 or 1971. He grew up in a family of Chinese background and has eight brothers and sisters. In 1975, the Vietnam War ended. Three years later, in 1978, Quan and his family had to leave Vietnam.

He, his father, and five of his 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 was allowed to come to the United States in 1979. In the U.S., Quan grew up in California. He went to Mount Gleason Junior High School and Alhambra High School.

Acting Career

Starting as a Child Actor (1984–1999)

Ke Huy Quan became an actor when he was 13 years old. His first big role was as Harrison Ford's sidekick, Short Round, in the Steven Spielberg movie Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in 1984. The casting director found him when they were auditioning children at his younger brother's school. Quan has said that this role was "one of the happiest times of my life." He was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor for his acting.

In 1985, Quan starred in another popular movie, The Goonies. He played Richard "Data" Wang, an inventor who was part of a group of kids. He also acted in a Taiwanese movie called It Takes a Thief (1986) and a Japanese movie called Passengers (1987). On TV, he played Sam in the show Together We Stand (1986–1987). He also played Jasper Kwong in the sitcom Head of the Class from 1990 to 1991. In 1991, he was in the movie Breathing Fire, and had a small part in Encino Man in 1992. He also starred in a 40-episode TV show in Taiwan called Eunuch & Carpenter in 1993. His last movie role before a break was in Red Pirate (1996).

While working on Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, he started learning Taekwondo. He continued to train in martial arts later on.

Working Behind the Scenes (2000–2020)

As Ke Huy Quan grew up, it became hard for him to find acting jobs in the United States. So, he decided to stop acting for a while. He went to the film program at the University of Southern California. While there, he helped edit a short horror-comedy film called Voodoo. This film won an award at the 2000 Slamdance Film Festival.

After college, a famous stunt choreographer named Corey Yuen asked Quan to help with fight scenes in the movie X-Men (2000). For the next ten years, Quan worked behind the scenes on many movies in Asia and the U.S. He helped with stunts again for The One (2001). He also worked as an assistant director for the movie 2046 (2004).

Returning to Acting (2021–Present)

Ke Huy Quan was inspired to act again after the movie Crazy Rich Asians became very successful in 2018. In 2019, he was cast in the Netflix movie Finding ʻOhana, which came out in 2021. He heard the director describe the movie as a mix of The Goonies and Indiana Jones, which were two of his most famous movies!

Later, the directors known as Daniels were looking for an actor for their movie Everything Everywhere All at Once. They needed someone to play Waymond Wang, a character who appears in three different versions. One of the directors found Quan on Twitter. Just two weeks after getting a new agent, Quan was asked to audition for the movie. In January 2020, it was announced that he would be in the film.

Everything Everywhere All at Once was released in March 2022 and was loved by critics. It won many awards, and Quan's acting 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 acting award at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. He was also the first actor born in Vietnam to win an Academy Award.

President Joe Biden and Quan at the White House in 2023

In February 2022, it was announced that he joined the cast of the TV show American Born Chinese for Disney+. This show came out in May 2023. In September 2022, Quan joined the cast for the second season of the Marvel Cinematic Universe series Loki on Disney+, which started on October 6, 2023. He was nominated for a Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his role. In June 2023, he was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which is the group that gives out the Oscars. He also had a voice role in Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024). He has starred in Love Hurts (2025) and The Electric State with Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt. He will also be the voice of a new character, Gary the Snake, in Zootopia 2.

Personal Life

Ke Huy Quan is of Chinese background, from the Hoa ethnic group in Vietnam. He can speak English, Cantonese, and Mandarin. He is married to Echo Quan, who helped as a translator on the set of Everything Everywhere All at Once. They live in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles.

Quan has a second-degree black belt in taekwondo. He started taking classes after learning from a taekwondo instructor for his role in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. He is still 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.

Film and TV Roles

Movies

TV Shows

Awards and Recognition

In 2023, Ke Huy Quan won a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award (Oscar) 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 acting award at the Screen Actors Guild Awards for this 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.

Images for kids

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  Sean Astin, Quan, and Corey Feldman at The Goonies panel, 2019 Fan Expo Toronto

See also

In Spanish: Ke Huy Quan para niños