Celebrity Nooz: Ke Huy Quan

Ke Huy Quan (Actor) The Goonies

Updated: 3/13/23

Name: Ke Huy Quan

Birth Name: Ke Huy Quan/Jonathan Luke Ke Huy Quan

Born: August 20, 1971 in Saigon, Vietnam

Claim To Fame: Ke Huy Quan is a Vietnamese actor and stunt choreographer, best known for his film appearances in the 1980s, portraying Data in The Goonies and Indiana Jones' sidekick Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. And he recently won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the film Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022).

Family Life: Quan never married and has no children.

Info: Parents of Chinese descent.

His family was forced to leave Vietnam when the Army of the Republic of Vietnam was defeated during the Fall of Saigon. Quan and his family were selected for political asylum and emigrated to the United States as refugees.

He attended Mount Gleason Jr. High in Tujunga, California, and Alhambra High School in Alhambra, California.

Graduated from the University of Southern California School of Cinema Television.

He later attended the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom.

Quan has eight siblings.

He is fluent in Vietnamese, Cantonese, Mandarin, and English.

Trivia: Quan became a child actor at age 12, starring as Harrison Ford's sidekick Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). His brother was the one actually auditioning for the role, he was just followed his brother along, but the casting people decided to pick him instead. After being cast, his family changed his name to Ke Huy, the name by which he is credited in the film.

When phoning his mother during the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) movie shoot, he referred to George Lucas and Steven Spielberg as bearded man 1 and bearded man 2.

Studied Tae Kwon Do under Philip Tan in 1983 on the set of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), and has also trained in the art under Tao-Liang Tan.

In 1985, Ke Quan co-starred in The Goonies as a member of the eponymous group of children, the inventor Richard "Data" Wang.

In the scene in The Goonies (1985), where rocks are falling from the cave ceiling, he screams "Holy S-H-I-T", spelling the expletive rather than saying it. He did this because his mother made him promise not to use any bad language in the movie.

He played the starring role in the 1993 Mandarin language TV show The Big Eunuch and the Little Carpenter which ran for forty episodes.

He worked as a stunt choreographer for X-Men (2000) and The One (2002) as the assistant of renowned Hong Kong fight choreographer Corey Yuen.

Where Are They Now: Last year, Ke Huy Quan returned to acting as Waymond Wang in the film Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022). The sci-fi, action, fantasy comedy has received critical acclaim, along with numerous awards.

His performance won him many accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. Quan is one of two actors of Asian descent to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Quan also became the first Vietnam-born actor in history to win an Oscar. With his win at the 2023 Screen Actors' Guild Awards, he became the first Asian man to win in the category of supporting actor for film.

Later on in 2023, Quan will appear is the TV adaptation of American Born Chinese and the second season of the Marvel Cinematic Universe series Loki for Disney+. He's also lending his voice to the action-adventure drama The Electric State, which is currently in post-production.

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