Ke Huy Quan ‘Cried Every Single Time’ He Watched Crazy Rich Asians

“I wanted to be up there with them,” said Ke Huy Quan.

Ke Huy Quan, who has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Everything Everywhere All At Once, believed his career was dead. But then, he saw Crazy Rich Asians.

After getting his start in acting at 12 in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and appearing in movies like The Goonies, Quan left the industry due to a lack of opportunities. However, when he saw Crazy Rich Asians in theaters in 2018, he knew that his dream of working in front of the camera was a possibility again.

Quan told CBS News in a recent interview, “I saw it three times in the theater; I cried every single time. But one of the reasons why I cried was because I wanted to be up there with them.”

Related: Ke Huy Quan Shares Post Everything Everywhere All at Once Worries: ‘Nobody Wanted Me’

Ke Huy Quan Stopped Getting Phone Calls After The Goonies

Quan, born in Vietnam and raised in Los Angeles’ Chinatown, rose to fame after a day in 1983 when a Hollywood casting agent unexpectedly showed up at his school looking to cast a young Asian boy to star in Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Funnily enough, Quan, who was 12 at the time, only went to the audition to support his brother: “And as he was auditioning, I was behind the camera giving him directions, coaching him what to do! And the casting director saw me and says, ‘Ke, would you want to give this a try?’ And I didn’t think much of it. And I said, ‘Yeah, sure, why not?'” And so, beating out six thousand other young hopefuls, the young actor got his first role, playing Short Round in the Indiana Jones franchise.

A few months later, in 1985, he was cast in The Goonies, and a young Quan thought he made it in Hollywood. But as is the story with many child stars, the phone stopped ringing. Today, the actor has a good hearted take on that period of his career, saying, “I started at the very top, so there was no way to go but downhill from there!”

“It was frustrating,” Quan continued, “especially when I walked into the room to audition for the casting director and she recognizes me and she says, ‘Oh my gosh, you know, we love your work in Indiana Jones, we love you in The Goonies.”