Ke Huy Quan Discusses His Journey From His Childhood in Vietnam To Winning an Oscar

Ke Huy Quan has had a pretty incredible life journey, and he recently sat down with Variety to talk about that journey from his childhood in Vietnam to winning an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. In between those events, he had to suddenly leave his homeland and travel to the United States where he got his first big break in acting. Steven Spielberg cast him in the role of Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom when he was 12 years old. You can actually watch an interview with him as a kid talking about that here.

He also opened up about taking the 20-year break that he took from acting when he went to film school, saying:

“I had to make this shift to to do something else. So I went to film school. I graduated and you know when I walked on set it was a different feeling you know. I’m behind the camera now but I was still very happy to be there. I was still happy that I am able to contribute to making movies but because of that experience, now when I walk on a movie set I see everybody. …I hope that because of that experience it made me a better person. It made me a better actor.”

Quan also talked about how he was honored to win an Oscar and was proud of how well Everything Everywhere All At Once did at the ceremony, saying:

“We have a seat at the table now. Our voices are being heard. Our faces are being seen. It feels amazing. this is what we wanted for the longest longest time and that’s why I’m so grateful to all those people that came before me. All those struggles that they that they face. I can see them just laying one brick at a time. Paving the road for for all of us to be here and us making history again and again.”

You can watch the full video below! It’s an interesting conversation!