From Refugee Camp To Oscar Winner: Here's Everything You Need To Know About Ke Huy Quan
"Dreams are something you have to believe in. I almost gave up on mine."
By Tamara Jayne — 14 Mar 2023, 06:10 PM
Ke Huy Quan left the world in tears with his touching speech after becoming the second Asian actor to win Best Supporting Actor at the recent Oscars
During his acceptance speech at the 95th Academy Awards, the actor dedicated his win to his 84-year-old mother who was watching from home.
"Mum, I just won an Oscar!" the 51-year-old belted from stage while sobbing.
"Dreams are something you have to believe in. I almost gave up on mine. To all of you out there, please keep your dreams alive," he added on, in reference to his comeback performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022).
The star beat tough competition such as Barry Keoghan, Judd Hirsch, Brian Tyree Henry, and Brendan Gleeson to nab the award.
However, the actor's humble journey has been nothing short of amazing.
Here are some facts to know about Ke Huy Quan:
1. He moved from Vietnam to Hong Kong as a refugee, while his mum and siblings went to Malaysia
During his speech, Quan revealed that he spent a year in a refugee camp. When he was seven, he travelled on a cramped boat with 3,000 people from Vietnam to Hong Kong, while his mum and three siblings moved to Malaysia.
The family reunited later when they emigrated to the US in 1979.
"That was a really traumatic experience for me... We were refugees. Nobody wanted us… They would call us 'fresh off the boat'. They would make fun of us when we were in school. You can imagine what that does to the mental state of a child," Quan said during an interview with The Guardian last year.
2. He started off as a child actor in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and The Goonies (1985), but his acting career suddenly came to a halt
Although Quan felt very lucky to have been chosen for those films, he eventually stopped acting during the early 2000s and ventured behind the scenes for years instead.
As an Asian actor in Hollywood, Quan explained that he faced constant rejection and was often offered stereotypical roles, such as "the marginalised character or the person who shows up and gets killed".
Speaking to The Guardian, he shared that there was a year where he couldn't get a single audition, but he continued to press on regardless: "When you are hungry, you eat anything".
He eventually signed up for film school and buried his acting dreams.
3. He has a background in martial arts
Quan worked as a stunt coordinator with Jet Li in The One (2001) and an assistant fight choreographer on X-Men (2000), during his years behind the scenes.
A video of him working with Hugh Jackman made its rounds on Twitter:
5. Crazy Rich Asians (2018) inspired him to get back into acting
"I noticed Asian actors were getting more opportunities, and I began to harbour this dream of getting back into acting, but it took a lot of courage to give voice to that dream. One day I decided: if I don't do this, I will regret it," he said, during the interview.
"I remember watching that movie in a theatre three times. I cried every single time," he said, according to a report by BBC, adding that it was not just because it was such a beautiful movie, but that he also had serious FOMO (fear of missing out).
"I wanted to be up there along with my fellow Asian actors."
