Ke Huy Quan

Ke Huy Quan ( ; ;

Born in South Vietnam, Quan and his family were admitted to the United States as part of the Refugee Admissions Program. As a child actor, he rose to fame playing Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Richard "Data" Wang in The Goonies (1985). Following a few roles as a young adult in the 1990s, including as Jasper Kwong in the fourth and fifth seasons of ABC sitcom Head of the Class, Quan took a 19-year acting hiatus, during which he worked as a stunt choreographer and assistant director.

Quan returned to acting with the Netflix film Finding ʻOhana (2021), followed by the critically acclaimed Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), a performance that won him various accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He is the first Vietnam-born actor to win an Academy Award and one of only two actors of Asian descent to win Best Supporting Actor, following Haing S. Ngor. Quan has since starred in the second season of the Disney+ series Loki and in the animated films Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024) and Zootopia 2 (2025).

Early life Quan was born in 1970 into a family of ethnic Chinese in Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam. The family emigrated three years after the Vietnam War ended in 1975. Quan, along with his father and five siblings, went to Hong Kong, while his mother and three other siblings went to Malaysia. After staying at a refugee camp in Hong Kong, the entire family was admitted to the United States as part of the Refugee Admissions Program in 1979. Quan grew up in California and attended the Mount Gleason Junior High School in Sunland-Tujunga, Los Angeles, and Alhambra High School in Alhambra.

Career 1984–1999: Early career Quan became a child actor at age 13, starring as Harrison Ford's 12-year-old sidekick Short Round in the Steven Spielberg film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in 1984. The casting director auditioned a number of children at Castelar Elementary School, including Quan's younger brother. He described the role as "one of the happiest times of my life". In 1985, Quan co-starred in The Goonies as a member of the eponymous group of children, the inventor Richard "Data" Wang. He played a pickpocket orphan in the 1986 Taiwanese movie It Takes a Thief. In 1987, he appeared in the Japanese movie Passengers with the Japanese idol singer Minako Honda. He played Sam on the short-lived TV series Together We Stand (1986–1987) and played Jasper Kwong in the sitcom Head of the Class from 1990 to 1991. In 1991, he starred in the movie Breathing Fire, and had a small role in Encino Man the following year. He played the starring role in the 1993 Mandarin-language Taiwan TV show Eunuch & Carpenter, which ran for forty episodes.

2000–2020: Acting sabbatical and other work As an adult, Quan found it difficult to find acting work in the United States. He eventually quit acting and enrolled in the film program at University of Southern California. During his time there, he edited a comedy horror short film titled Voodoo alongside his friend and fellow student Gregg Bishop, who directed the film. After graduating from USC, Quan was asked by Corey Yuen to go to Toronto, Ontario, to help choreograph fighting sequences in X-Men (2000). Quan worked as assistant director on Wong Kar-wai's 2046 (2004). In 2019, he was cast in a supporting role in the Netflix film Finding ʻOhana, released in 2021. Quan approached director Jude Weng after overhearing her describing the film as The Goonies meets Indiana Jones, in both of which Quan had appeared. The film was released in March 2022 to overwhelming acclaim, becoming the most-awarded film of all time, with Quan's performance receiving near unanimous praise and media attention, eventually leading to him winning a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award and an Academy Award for his role. The Screen Actors Guild Award win made him the first Asian man to win any individual category at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, with his win of the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role. He was the first Vietnamese-American actor to be nominated in that category. Quan is one of two actors of Asian descent to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, the other being Haing S. Ngor in 1985, and is the first Vietnamese-born actor to win an Academy Award.

In February 2022, it was announced that he had joined the cast of the TV adaptation of American Born Chinese for Disney+, which was subsequently released in May 2023. In September 2022, Quan was announced to have joined the cast for the second season of the Marvel Cinematic Universe series Loki for Disney+, which premiered on October 6, 2023. For his performance he received a Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series nomination. In June 2023, it was announced that he had been invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as an actor. He had a voice role in Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024). Quan has later then starred in a leading role in Love Hurts (2025), and starred in The Electric State, alongside Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt. He voiced Gary De'Snake in Zootopia 2 (2025), and will voice the character again in Zootopia 3.

Personal life Quan is of Han Chinese ancestry from the Hoa ethnic minority group of Vietnam. He is a Buddhist. He speaks English, Cantonese, and Mandarin. Quan is married to Echo Quan, who served as the on-set interpreter for Everything Everywhere All at Once, and resides in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles.

Marvin Gable

Dr. Clark Amherst / P.C. (voice)

Gary De'Snake (voice)

2026

Avatar Xian (voice)

Other credits Television Year Title Role Notes 1986–1987 Together We Stand Sam Randall 19 episodes 1990–1991 Head of the Class Jasper Kwong Main cast (seasons 4–5) 1991 Tales from the Crypt Josh Episode: "Undertaking Palor" 1993 Eunuch & Carpenter Ba Dajia Main role; 40 episodes 2023 American Born Chinese Jamie Yao / Freddy Wong Main role Loki Ouroboros "OB" / A.D. Doug Season 2; Main role 2025 The White Lotus Kenneth "Kenny" Nguyen Episode: "Special Treatments"; voice only, uncredited

Accolades

In 2023, Quan won a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award, for Best Supporting Actor, for his role in Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022). He was the first Asian man to win any individual category at the Screen Actors Guild Awards for the same role, as well as the first Vietnamese-American actor to be nominated in the supporting category.

In 2023, Quan was an honoree of the Carnegie Corporation of New York's Great Immigrant Award.