Backstage at the Oscars, while speaking to the press after winning the Best Supporting Actor for Everything, Everywhere All at Once, Ke Huy Quan took his name from the Americanized name his manager suggested long ago.
Deadline writes the actor’s expressions: “You know, when I started as a kid, it was my birth name Ke Huy Quan,” he said. “And then I remember, when it got really tough, my manager told me, ‘Maybe it would be easier if you were to have an American-sounding name.’ And I was so desperate for a job that I would do anything. And it’s insane that I, at one point, would try a different name, not the name that was given to me, but it can only show you how desperate I was to try to make things different.”
However, when Kuan returned to acting after a long hiatus in which he could not find work three years ago, he was determined to use his real name. The actor felt that he had to respect his mother for the many sacrifices she had made for him.
“The very first thing that I wanted to do was to go back to my birth-given name,” he said. “Tonight to see Ariana [DeBose] open that envelope and say, ‘Ke Huy Quan,’ that was a really, really special moment for me. And then immediately I was so emotional, but the first image that I had in my mind was my mom — who is the reason why I am in America, who is the reason why I have a better life, I have all these opportunities. Like I said in my acceptance speech, she sacrificed so much. She had a great life where we came from, and she gave all that up so that all her children — there are nine of us — and every single one of them are so grateful to my parents.”
The actor also said his Goonies co-stars particularly supported his career revival. In the popular 1985 film, he starred as a crazy geek inventor named Data. He asked what he thought of where he was when he was younger, where deadline wrote.
“My younger self would not know all the struggles that I went through to be here. He was just having the time of his life being a kid, being on a set, being on a pirate ship, going on a water slide. But right before this night started, Corey Feldman, one of my Goonies brothers, called. I was talking to Kerri Green, and of course tonight Jeff Cohen, who is my entertainment lawyer [and played Chunk in the film], is here with me. He was in the audience. I owe all of them so much. Every single one of them is so happy. Sean [Astin] reached out, Josh [Brolin], Martha [Plimpton], and we are always bonded. We’re family forever. Goonies never say die.”
Watch Kuan’s backstage interview after winning his first Oscar below.
Leave a Comment