Ke Huy Quan says Hollywood snubbed him after Everything Everywhere All at Once: 'Nobody wanted me'

Everything Everywhere All at Once star Ke Huy Quan says he felt like his acting prospects were going nowhere after he completed filming his first major American movie in nearly 40 years.

The Goonies and Indiana Jones franchise star said Hollywood essentially snubbed him after he finished production on the breakout A24 hit, which he says he had no idea would become a Best Picture–nominated, $106 million box-office smash that would land him his first Oscar nod after a four-decade break from acting.

"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," the 51-year-old actor told Stephen Colbert on Tuesday's episode of The Late Show. "What was interesting was, I could not get a single job. Not one callback. Nobody wanted me."

The former child star — best known for portraying Short Round opposite Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones — said the period of uncertainty after playing such an important role (as Waymond, the husband of Michelle Yeoh's laundromat owner, Evelyn) in the genre-hopping multiverse epic, triggered the same anxieties that made him walk away from the American movie industry after co-starring with fellow 2023 Oscar nominee Brendan Fraser in 1992's Encino Man.

"In fact, I was so worried, because 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 continued. "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."

Luckily, Quan has rebounded and dominated the current awards trail, where he has so far earned a Golden Globe and a Critics Choice Award for Everything Everywhere All at Once. He will next reunite with Yeoh in the Disney+ series American Born Chinese and will also appear in the Russo brothers' new movie, The Electric State.

Quan hasn't just courted golden hardware this awards season — he's also made headlines for regularly taking selfies with major stars like Tom Cruise and James Cameron at various award events. He's also given several well-received acceptance speeches in recent weeks, particularly at the 2023 Golden Globes, where he thanked his Indiana Jones director Steven Spielberg for supporting him over the years — including, as he revealed to Colbert, by sending him a Christmas gift every year for the past 38.

Watch Quan discuss his struggle to re-enter Hollywood in the Late Show clip above.

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