Ke Huy Quan of “Everything Everywhere All at Once” reflected on his early years as a refugee leaving Vietnam after his significant Oscar win on Sunday. This odyssey ultimately led him to a route toward Hollywood history.
Quan, who won the prize for best-supporting actor, described how his family escaped following the Vietnam War in an interview with Variety the day after the presentation. Quan admitted that he didn’t comprehend his parents’ decision to depart at the time. Quan, who was 7 years old when his family left said:
“I was a normal kid in Vietnam and all of a sudden, my parents decided to flee. … It was in the middle of the night. My dad and five of my other siblings escaped on a boat. We got to Hong Kong and all of a sudden I was in a refugee camp surrounded with guards and police officers.”
See the video below:
Quan, who is only the second Asian to win an Oscar in his category, said that his family spent a year living in a refugee camp before requesting political asylum and traveling to the United States.
He added in his Variety interview that he had been meaning to express his gratitude to his family for their decision to leave for some time. The Oscars ceremony was the ideal venue for his acceptance speech. He said (as reported by Yahoo News) –
“I grew up in a family where we just don’t share our emotions with each other. Last night, I wanted to do that publicly. I wanted the world to know how much my parents meant to me. To do that on the biggest stage — that felt amazing.”
Quan explained that not long after his family moved to the U.S., he found early stardom as Short Round in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” kicking off his career in the entertainment industry.
Quan said (as reported by CNN) –
“As fate would have it, four years later, I landed a job at ‘Indiana Jones’ that changed my life.”
During his acceptance speech, he told the crowd –
“My journey started on a boat. I spent a year in a refugee camp, and somehow, I ended up here, on Hollywood’s biggest stage. They say stories like this only happen in the movies. I cannot believe it’s happening to me. This is the American dream!”
The Oscars marked the end of an incredibly fruitful awards season for Quan because of his much-praised depiction of Waymond Wang, a devoted husband who works to save the multiverse while still struggling to save his failing marriage and family.
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He was the first Asian to win the category for outstanding performance by a male actor in a supporting role at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Earlier this year, he won the best supporting actor prize at numerous events, including the Golden Globes, the Critics’ Choice Awards, and the Gotham Awards.
