Award-winning actor Ke Huy Quan, presently the toast of Hollywood, has stated that he’s scared his fresh popularity will be a ‘one-time event’ despite the fact he’s recently won an Oscar.
Quan won the award – and several others along the way – for his portrayal of the charming Waymond Wang in Everything, Everything, All at Once, which was the major winner on Sunday night, taking home seven Academy Awards in total, including best picture.
Nevertheless, the 51-year-old, who rose to fame as a child actor in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies, has acknowledged that he is concerned that ‘history will repeat itself’ and he would be unable to get work in the future.
He presently has no projects or roles in the works, although he has already filmed parts for the second season of Disney Plus’s Loki and American Born Chinese, in which he reunites with his (also) Oscar-winning Everything Everywhere All at Once co-star Michelle Yeoh.
The actor, who migrated to the United States from Vietnam in the 1970s when his family sought political asylum, abandoned performing as an adult after failing to find any possibilities for Asian performers, instead working on film sets as a stunt supervisor, including those for X-Men.
The success of the big office sensation Crazy Rich Asians motivated him to return to the game.
‘Everything is still so fresh in my mind, and that’s why moving ahead I’m still incredibly terrified, even though I just won an Oscar – I’m quite fearful of what tomorrow brings,’ he remarked the morning following his remarkable Oscar victory.
‘I had a conversation with my agent and I said, “I’m so worried that this is only a one-time thing. I’ve been down this road before and I’m so afraid that history’s going to repeat itself.”’
Quan added that he implored his agent to do ‘whatever you can to make sure that doesn’t happen’.
He also mentioned that he didn’t want to let down his followers and supporters who had helped him get this far, and that he had sought counsel from Cate Blanchett while they were sitting next to each other at an event.
Quan told the Tár actress that he didn’t sure what he was going to do next but felt he “had a duty to do something positive” and “didn’t want to disappoint all the people who had supported me.”
He recalled to Variety: ‘And she said, “Just go with your heart and be irresponsible: Don’t worry about what other people think. Choose something that you believe in, choose something that you love, and things will work out.”’
Despite his unhappiness at not having any performing jobs for over 20 years, the actor never searched for an explanation.
The Indiana Jones star stated that he was ‘raised never to blame anyone’ and determined that if he didn’t get a part because ‘I wasn’t tall enough, I wasn’t good-looking enough, or I wasn’t a good enough actor because I wasn’t classically educated,’ he was a failure.
He added: ‘We talk about Asian representation, but I don’t like to look at the past and say, “Oh, my God, how bad it was!” I’d rather focus on the present and moving forward. A lot has changed.’
Oscar winners 2023
Here are the winners for the 95th Oscar Awards:
Best motion picture of the year
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Performance by an actor in a leading role
Brendan Fraser in The Whale
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Ke Huy Quan in Everything Everywhere All at Once
Performance by an actress in a leading role
Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All at Once
Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Jamie Lee Curtis in Everything Everywhere All at Once
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
Naatu Naatu from RRR, Music by M.M. Keeravaani; Lyric by Chandrabose
Achievement in directing
Everything Everywhere All at Once – Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
Best animated feature film of the year
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Achievement in cinematography
All Quiet on the Western Front
Achievement in costume design
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Best documentary feature
Navalny
Best documentary short subject
The Elephant Whisperers
Achievement in film editing
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best international feature film of the year
All Quiet on the Western Front – Germany
Achievement in makeup and hairstyling
The Whale
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
All Quiet on the Western Front – Volker Bertelmann
Achievement in production design
All Quiet on the Western Front
Best animated short film
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
Best live action short film
An Irish Goodbye
Achievement in sound
Top Gun: Maverick
Achievement in visual effects
Avatar: The Way of Water
Adapted screenplay
Women Talking
Original screenplay
Everything Everywhere All at Once