Seeing Ke Huy Quan earn an Academy Award for his performance in Everything Everywhere All At Once and make an astonishing comeback that few former child stars achieve has been so inspiring. Of course, the origins of his acting career can be traced back to his role as Short Round in the classic ‘80s movie, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom – an iconic cinematic breakthrough that nearly did not happen.
Now, I don’t mean that this is one of these stories in which the actor in question almost missed their audition due to some unforeseen circumstance, or that the Vietnam-born actor had to choose between the Indiana Jones movie and another potential role. I mean that the then 12-year-old initially had no intention of trying out for Short Round at all. So, how did Quan end up playing the young, iconic sidekick to Harrison Ford‘s globetrotting hero? There’s no need to hunt down the answer like an archaeologist. Just read on.
Ke Huy Quan Merely Accompanied His Brother To The Audition
Included in a DVD box set of the original Indiana Jones trilogy released in 2003 is a featurette that reveals all of the most intriguing behind-the-scenes facts about Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom you could dream of, including Ke Huy Quan’s memory of landing his iconic debut role in the 1984 sequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark. In the doc, producer Kathleen Kennedy provides one of the most interesting bits of trivia about that day in the following quote:
Ke was truly remarkable and quite unique. And when we did the open call, he actually didn’t show up to do the interview. He brought his brother. And, the entire time he was telling his brother what to do, we kept looking at him and finally said, ‘Who is this kid?’ and asked him to sit down and do the audition.
So, Quan was only present at the Short Round audition to provide moral support for his sibling, who was the actual candidate vying for the role. However, he ended up coaching his brother so effectively that the people in charge of casting noticed that he might have what it takes, winning him the chance to try out for the part and paving the way for him to join the Goonies cast as Data the following year.
Ke Huy Quan Returned For A Second Interview, Slightly Overdressed
Quan recalled the same story about accidentally outshining his own brother at the Temple of Doom casting call during his first appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2022 to promote the future Best Picture Oscar winner, Everything Everywhere All at Once. However, he also filled in the late-night TV host about what happened when he first met the one and only Steven Spielberg. His following memory about the encounter with the legendary filmmaker is quite hilarious:
The next day, I got a call from Steven Spielberg’s office. My mom… thought it was a really fancy meeting, so she put me in this three-piece suit with a little gold chain hanging out of the side pocket. So, Steven came out, saw how uncomfortable I was, gave me the biggest hug, the warmest smile, and says, ‘Ke, I want you to come back the next day, but wear something comfortable.’
Leave it to a filmmaker like Spielberg, the mastermind behind great kids movies like E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, to recognize when a young actor is a little out of his element. While Quan might have initially seen his mother’s choice of wardrobe for him that day as a mistake, it just might have been the happy accident he needed to ensure he and the director had a strong working relationship.
Now that Quan – who is lending his voice to the upcoming 2025 movie, Zootopia 2 – is back in Hollywood and bigger than ever, I wonder if we can ever expect to see him collaborate with the Temple of Doom director on another project. It looks like it will not be Steven Spielberg’s untitled sci-fi flick, but there’s always the next opportunity.
