Over the past couple weeks, I’ve been listening to any podcast featuring any person involved in making Everything Everywhere All At Once, meaning I’ve heard Ke Huy Quan tell his story several times and man… it feels all too familiar.
This guy was Data in The Goonies and Short Round in Indiana Jones, but after he grew out of the cute-Asian-kid role in the 80’s? Nothing. Roles for Asian actors in the time I grew up in were so few and far between. The moment he realized how much he loved acting and how much he wanted to keep being in stuff was about the moment his phone stopped ringing. He started working more behind the camera where he’d stay until very recently.
It reminded a bit of how my own path to storytelling took a very indirect route, and thinking about what opportunities I could and couldn’t get set that path into motion.
After seeing Crazy Rich Asians, Ke Huy Quan felt that odd combo of FOMO-plus-inspiration to get back in the game. Love the way he put it: he paved the way for a new generation of Asian-American actors so they could pave the way for him to come back.
Glad that his big comeback was a role that let him cover so much ground and play several characters across different genres, because we’ve got decades to make up. Think of the possible roles we missed out on!
Ke Huy Quan