Ke Huy Quan
Birthdate – August 20, 1971 (52 Years Old)
Birthplace – Saigon, Vietnam
A charming, amusing performer who has doubled as a stunt choreographer, Ke Huy Quan (birthname: Ke Huy Quan) made a name for himself in the 1980s in such roles as Indiana Jones’ teen sidekick in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), following that turn with an appearance as the nerdy character of Data in another Steven Spielberg production, The Goonies (1985).
After a lengthy hiatus from acting, Quan returned to the movies in 2019 and appeared opposite Michelle Yeoh in three roles in Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022). Four years after his family took asylum in Los Angeles after fleeing their war-torn country of Vietnam, Ke Huy Quan was selected for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom from a wide audition of school kids.
The role, Short Round, had the young Quan playing opposite Harrison Ford under Steven Spielberg’s direction. This led to a solid string of roles in Amblin Productions movies like The Goonies, as well as movies produced in Taiwan and Japan. After a brief run on the hit sitcom, Head of the Class (1990), Ke Huy Quan scored his only starring role in the martial arts action movie, Breathing Fire (1991).
A victim of Hollywood’s meager opportunities for Asian actors, Ke Huy Quan quit acting, studied film at USC, and met fight choreographer Corey Yuen. Quan worked as a stunt choreographer on such movies as James Wong’s The One (2001), in which he collaborated with Jet Li, and Bryan Singer’s X-Men (2000).
He worked with the great Hong Kong-based filmmaker Wong Kar-wai, serving as Wong’s assistant director in 2046 (2004). Quan returned to the U.S. and then to acting in 2019, under Jude Weng’s direction in Finding ‘Ohana (2021) and under the helming of Daniels (Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) in Everything Everywhere All at Once. Quan is set to reunite with his Everything co-star Yeoh for Destin Daniel Cretton’s Disney + series, American Born Chinese (2023).
Personal Details
Ke Huy Quan was born in the (then) South Vietnamese capital of Saigon in 1971. His family belongs to the Chinese Hoa minority in Vietnam. Born during the height of the U.S. war in Vietnam that led to U.S. withdrawal and defeat, Quan and his family fled their country in 1978 for Malaysia, where they were then selected for asylum in the U.S. in 1979. Ke Huy Quan’s family of eleven settled in Los Angeles, where he attended junior high school in the suburb of Tujunga.
A Chinese American, his Anglicized name is Jonathan Ke Huy Quan. He attended Alhambra High School in the Los Angeles suburb of Alhambra. Ke Huy Quan is a graduate of the University of Southern California, where he attended the School of Cinematic Arts. He then studied at the University of Manchester in England. Quan is married. His height is 5’ 5”.
Filmography
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Waymond Wang (2022)
Kung Fu Panda 4
Han (2024)
Data ()
Some Facts About Ke Huy Quan
Master: Ke Huy Quan is a certified master of the martial art practice of Taekwondo.
Range: Quan plays three roles in Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Fresh: When director Steven Spielberg and producer George Lucas cast him for the role of Short Round, Ke Huy Quan had never seen either Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) or Lucas’ Star Wars (1977).
