The actor Ke Huy Quan has traveled an often-changing path on his way to America’s most important movie honors, the Academy Awards. The 51-year-old was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in the 2022 film, Everything Everywhere All at Once. Few Oscar nominees this year have gone as far to reach the Academy Awards as Quan. Born in Vietnam, he and his family fled that country in 1978. They settled in California. As a child, he starred in two of the most popular films of the 1980s. Quan played the characters Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Data in The Goonies. But after this early success, Quan struggled to find work as an adult. The film industry had few parts for Asian-American actors. The actor went to film school, and later began working behind the camera. He left his dreams of acting in the past, mostly. But Everything Everywhere All at Once changed it all for Quan. The movie leads the 2023 Academy Awards race with 11 Oscar nominations. That includes the award for best picture. Quan is now living the dream he thought he had surrendered.
