How the child actor who played Short Round quit the business, then came back

SINGAPORE - He made his name as a child actor by playing Short Round, the plucky kid companion to the title character in the adventure movie, Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom (1984).

Back then, for viewers in Singapore and across the region, Ke Huy Quan was a rare sight: an Asian character in a major Hollywood picture who was not a faceless henchman or dragon lady.

Quan made one more major appearance - in cult classic comedy-adventure The Goonies (1986) - then vanished from Hollywood.

He went abroad and took roles in Taiwanese, Japanese and Hong Kong productions. Opportunities at home in America had dried up overnight for the child of ethnic Chinese immigrant parents from Vietnam.

"I was lucky to get a couple of really memorable roles as a kid," Quan, 50, tells The Straits Times in an online interview.

"But if I'm being honest, as I got older, into my late teens and early 20s, there were not a lot of opportunities for Asian-American actors. That's why I stepped away from acting for 20 years - not because I didn't want to act. It's one of the greatest professions in the world," he says at a press event for the action comedy Everything Everywhere All At Once.

The film is now showing in cinemas.

"I was faced with a difficult choice of whether to keep waiting for opportunities or to try something new."

He quit acting and went to film school. He also worked as a stunt and fight choreographer, and was assistant director on Hong Kong film-maker Wong Kar Wai's romantic drama 2046 (2004).

Then he saw the romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians (2018), filmed largely in Singapore and Malaysia, and featuring a cast of mostly Asian and Asian-American actors. That movie, and the television sitcom Fresh Off The Boat (2015 to 2020), told him that Hollywood was ready to bankroll productions with good roles for Asian actors.

He got in touch with casting directors and landed a co-starring role in Everything, playing Waymond, husband of Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh). They are immigrants from Hong Kong who run a coin laundry until Evelyn becomes involved in a war against an evil being who can travel between alternate realities.

"That's why I'm back - and that's why it's so important to have representation for all groups in entertainment, not just Asians," he says.

Quan will be seen in the coming Disney+ comedy series American Born Chinese.

Seated next to Quan was actress Stephanie Hsu, 31, who plays the couple's daughter Joy, and James Hong, 93, a veteran seen in countless films and television shows since the 1950s. He plays Evelyn's father.

Hsu says that these days, Asian-American actors tend to be more "woke" and some might even judge those from Hong's generation, who often took on roles that were denigrating stereotypes.

But the critics forget that, back then, Asian actors had to play stereotypes or not work at all. "You had no choice," she says, looking at Hong.

Hong co-founded East West Players in 1965 with the aim of increasing positive representations of Asians and Asian Americans.

"I feel really humbled that the reason we now in Hollywood can even challenge the terrible stereotypes is because of people like James, who really kept chipping away at the rock and I feel really grateful for that," she says.

Everything Everywhere All At Once is showing in cinemas.