Jonathan Ke Quan, also known as Ke Huy Quan, was born on August 20, 1971, in Saigon, South Vietnam, making him 51 years old as of March 2023.
Quan was born into a Chinese-American family with eight other children. Quan and his family left Vietnam three years later, after the "Fall of Saigon" in 1975, when North Vietnam conquered the South. Quan's mother and three additional siblings fled to Malaysia, while he fled to Hong Kong with his father and five siblings.
Quan's entire family entered the United States of America in 1979 as part of the Refugee Admissions Program after spending time in a camp for refugees in Hong Kong. Quan was raised in the United States, where he finished his education at Sunland-Tujunga, Los Angeles's Mount Gleason Junior High School, and Alhambra High School.
Why did Ke Huy Quan take a hiatus from acting?
Steven Spielberg first came across Ke Huy Quan when he was 12 years old, launching his acting career. He played "Short Round" opposite Harrison Ford in Spielberg's “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.”
Ke Huy Quan was one of the most promising young actors of the time thanks to his performance in the film, which received high praise. He then went on to play the role of Data, a gadget-obsessed inventor, in the classic action comedy “The Goonies.” Ke Huy Quan's role in “The Goonies” solidified his position as one of Hollywood's most promising young actors. After a few appearances in the 1990s, Quan took a nearly 20-year break from acting, due to the lack of acting opportunities for Asian actors. During this time he worked as a stunt choreographer, assistant director, and producer.
In 1984, he produced the Roger Wilson and Diane Franklin film “Second Time Lucky.” Later, in 1986, he produced the comedy “Together We Stand,” starring Dee Wallace and Richard Lawson as an interethnic couple. One of the first American television shows to feature an interracial family was “Together We Stand.”
What is the net worth of Ke Huy Quan?
The net worth of Ke Huy Quan is estimated to be $800,000 as of March 2023. Ke Huy Quan is well-known in Hollywood for his endearing performances and his deft transition between comedy and action roles. The films he starred in during the 1980s and 1990s are what made Ke Huy Quan most famous.
Quan has appeared in a number of big-budget films, including “X-Men,” “The Goonies,” and “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.” Ke Huy was the star of the 2022 film “Everything, Everywhere, All at Once.”
He won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for the role in March 2023. Ke Huy Quan and his wife bought a house in Woodland Hills, California, for just over $500,000 in 2011. Currently, this house is worth about $1 million.
How did Ke Quan find “Everything, Everywhere, All At Once”?
Twenty years later, Quan watched the 2018 film “Crazy Rich Asians” and decided it might be time to go back to acting, which was his first love. "I was happy working behind the camera, but I had serious FOMO," he says while laughing. "I wanted to be up there with my fellow Asian actors!". Similar to how he got started in the industry, Quan landed the first role he tried out for in Michelle Yeoh's critically acclaimed fantasy film "Everything, Everywhere, All at Once,” in which he plays three variations of the same character.
"When I read the script, I thought it was written for me because they are me.” “I understood every single one of them," he says. Quan further describes Waymond Wang as a devoted husband who travels to various universes in an effort to support his wife (Yeoh) in her efforts to save the world. Despite his acting hiatus, Quan feels that this is a role that he should be playing at this particular moment.
Quan's martial arts prowess is also on display in the movie, during a particularly intense and original "fanny pack fight scene," which he trained for in the L.A. home he shares with Echo, his longtime wife.
"I kept swinging it in my house and everywhere I went, and I was constantly breaking things," he says, chuckling. "She wasn't too happy about it." Quan quickly grew close to his co-star Yeoh and learned a special style of fight choreography for the part.
FAQs
