Oscar nominee Ke Huy Quan, who played Waymond Wang in “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” has revealed his struggles in Hollywood despite the movie’s success.
The 51-year-old actor was seen alongside Michelle Yeoh, who played Evelyn Quan Wang’ in the flick, which was released in March last year.
“I was at home [during the pandemic] like everybody else, trying to stay safe, and I was auditioning left and right, sending in self-tapes,” Quan said on Wednesday’s episode of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.” “What was interesting was, I could not get a single job.”
Quan went on to share that he didn’t receive a single call back, adding “nobody wanted me.” This got him “so worried” that it reminded him of his childhood when he used to give auditions and couldn’t get any work.
“I was experiencing everything I experienced as a kid when I was auditioning and I couldn’t get a job. That’s why I stepped away,” he said. “When you work with Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford and George Lucas, you can’t go anywhere but downhill from there, and that’s exactly what happened.”
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” received 10 Academy Awards nominations in nine different categories, including best picture, best actress, best supporting actress, best director, best supporting actor, best original score, best original screenplay, best costume design and film editing.
Quan was nominated in the supporting role category, which also includes actors Brian Tyree Henry (Causeway), Judd Hirsch (The Fabelmans) and Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin).
Quan began his career as a child actor when he was just 12. He worked in the Harrison Ford movie “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” which was directed by Steven Spielberg. He played Short Round in the 1984 movie.
He played Richard Data Wang in “The Goonies” the next year. The flick was helmed by Richard Donner and the story was by Spielberg. He also worked with director George Lucas on a short film, titled “Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB.”
The actor will be next seen in the Disney+ series “Loki” Season 2. The series will start streaming this summer but the exact date is yet to be announced.
The actor will reunite with his “Everything Everywhere All at Once” co-star Yeoh for an action-comedy series, “American Born Chinese,” which will stream on Disney+.
