It was the night’s first award and the real moment that started the show on the right note. When Ke Huy Quan accepted his Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for Everything Everywhere All at Once, he realized he had come full circle.
“I was raised never to forget where I came from and who gave me my first opportunity,” he said in his acceptance speech, looking at Steven Spielberg who was sitting at a table right in his eye line. “Steven, thank you!”
It was Spielberg who discovered Quan, the then 11-year-old for the role of Short Round, the protagonist’s mouthy sidekick in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in 1984, almost 40 years ago. “Ke just knocked it out of the park in that movie. I was so impressed with him, I cast him in The Goonies,” Spielberg said. “For Indiana Jones, Ke didn’t even read for the part, his cousin read for the part! And we saw Ke in the waiting room and said, can we bring this younger kid in to meet me?” Some things in life are clearly meant to be.
The actor was not the only one who was in tears when he recalled the dry period that followed his early success. “For so many years I thought that was just luck, that I had nothing more to offer.” After he went on to star as Data Wang in The Goonies, he gave up on the idea of a real acting career in 2002, feeling there was no place for Asian Americans and particularly him in the film industry.
On Golden Globes night, Spielberg, who would later take home two Globes – for Best Director and Best Drama for The Fabelmans – gave Quan a standing ovation. “I couldn’t believe it,” exclaimed Quan. “Here is the most famous director of all time giving me a standing ovation.” Said the director, “I was so proud of Ke’s win tonight!”
The two had reunited at the AFI luncheon last Friday and hugged on the red carpet. And even though Quan was not cast in Indiana Jones 5, if their reunion is any indication, we would not be surprised to see the actor in an upcoming Spielberg project.