Ke Huy Quan

Yeah.

It's pretty insane. I was just being a kid going to school and one day this group of people came to my elementary school and they had an open call.

In fact, I wasn't even the one that was auditioning. It was my little brother. His teacher thought he was perfect. Sometimes even to this day, I wonder why I was chosen and not him because I think he's so much more talented.

than me and he's funny he makes me laugh all the time so he was more of a ham than i was and so he was auditioning for the casting director and i was just behind the camera coaching him what to do was telling him like david do this do that and telling him what kind of expression he should be doing and i was just like shouting out directions you're directing him they should have hired you to direct them

And the casting director saw me. And I was speaking to my brother in Chinese and Cantonese. He saw something in me. And many years later, I reunited with our casting director. And he told me that they had a hard time finding the perfect kid to play short round. In fact, they went to London, to Hong Kong, Singapore. Everywhere where there was a bigger Chinese community.

Because back then, Chinatown, Los Angeles was really small. And they didn't think they would find who they were looking for there. So they went everywhere except Chinatown, Los Angeles. And they were about to give up. And they said, why don't we just give it one last try?

Exactly. That's not the normal casting. Yeah, exactly.

Yes.

Then I auditioned. They gave me the sites and I could barely speak English at all. Just very little. And then my reading comprehension was even worse. Of course. So I was saying the lines and really messing it up, saying like, in the, like trying to even understand what I was saying. I'm not even saying the lines. I'm reading the lines. Right.

Exactly. And he saw something in that. He says, Key, why don't you put that away and let's just talk. Who's he? Mike Fenton. He cast E.T., The Goonies.

Yeah, so big casting director. In fact, he told me years later when we reunited again, he said that after I left that room, he called Steven Spielberg. He says, we don't have to look any further. We found your kid. Oh. And this was before I auditioned for Spielberg or Lucas. Oh my God. What are your parents thinking right now? They had no clue what was going on.

And they could barely speak in English when they answered that phone. The first Indiana Jones had come out. We haven't seen it. But you knew about it, right? No, we didn't know. I mean, don't forget, we're living in Chinatown. We're very insulated by this small Chinese community. So we've never seen Star Wars. We've never seen Raiders of the Lost Ark.

No. Back then, we had a really small 13-inch black and white television. We couldn't afford to go to the movies. We didn't even have a car. That's why when they call and they say, we want you to come to Burbank and audition, my mom said, we don't have any means to get there. We're out. Yeah. Then we'll send you a driver.

We didn't think much of it. They didn't think I would land the role. It was like, oh, they want to see him? Well, sure, we'll take him. We didn't know it was going to be a sequel to one of the biggest movies of all time.

It's great you didn't know.

Yeah, that's why when I walked into the room, it was this bunch of guys with a mustache and a beard. I didn't know their names. I didn't know any of the work at that time. I didn't know that I was meeting and talking to three of the most successful people. Of all time.

It was filmed in Sri Lanka. So after my audition for Stephen and George and Harrison, a few weeks later, I was on a flight. Again, my second time being on a flight. To Sri Lanka. The first time I was on a flight was from Hong Kong to LA. I was in economy. And all of a sudden, I'm flying first class with my mom to Sri Lanka. And you're 12? And I was 12, yeah.

I think she was just really happy for me and proud. My parents gave up so much. In fact, when we got to the U.S., my parents were heavily in debt because they just didn't have enough money to get all of us out. So they were borrowing money from their friends. So when we got here, they were working really hard to try to pay off that debt.

And that's why they put their 12-year-old kid to work, you know?

Here's what's so great about Lucas and Spielberg. I was 12 years old. We didn't have an agent or a manager. We didn't have anybody to look after us. No lawyer. So whatever contract they gave us to sign at that time, we just signed it. Yes. Yeah, of course. But little did we know, not only did they give me a really generous salary, but they also made me a profit participant. No!

They gave you a point of the movie? Yeah, I was able to share in the success of the movie. That's why when the movie came out and became one of the biggest movies in 1984, not long after that, I got a check in the mail. And that check was so... nice that I was able to help my parents pay off the debt.

We were renting a little house in Chinatown and I was able to use that money to buy a house in Monterey Park where my parents and all my siblings can live a bit more comfortable.

And I think that's what makes it a great life. And not only that, when the movie came out, our world premiere was in London, attended by Princess Diana and Prince Charles at that time, who is King Charles now. But going from a refugee camp, and I'm standing in line with Spielberg and Lucas and shaking hands with Princess Diana.

That is so rare. You have to fight for it and be a profit participant.

It was like on their own accord.

Yes.

No, he was not. He was so friendly.

And playful and humble and kind. I would always play with him.

And he would make me laugh. All of us were staying in a hotel in Sri Lanka. Every day after we wrapped, I would see Harrison swim in the hotel swimming pool. And I would always be on the side watching him go back and forth doing laps. And one day he asked me, he says, Key, come on in and join me. And I go, I can't. I don't know how to swim. And he says, what? Come here. And he taught me.

He taught me how to swim. Key, this is bonkers.

As a kid, you don't really know how special that is. Of course. And so to me, I thought this is how movie making is. Yes. You know, like from now on, every movie that I make is going to be like this.

Yeah. And you would walk on these big scale, beautiful sets. You get treated really well.

Yeah. So I thought every movie was like, and then very quickly I realized, oh, wow, it doesn't always work like that.

I really think it's because of Stephen's direction. He's so good with kids. He would tell me specifically how to say my lines and he would give me directions where if I just follow that, then I can do what he wants. He was just the kindest. There was never any screaming on set. There was always laughter. We can always goof around.

Even though we were shooting on film, it was expensive to shoot on film. You have to process all of that. We were constantly making jokes, doing take after take after take. And I would hear his laughter behind the monitor. And that's what it was like. So it was fun. You liked acting. Because of that experience, that's the reason why I fell in love with acting.

I remember we were shooting in London, L Street Studios, and that's where we built all those stages. I didn't even know this because I hadn't seen Star Wars, but I knew later on, one day Carrie Fisher came to visit. I remember goofing around with her on set, Mark Hamill.

I think they were all there for Harrison Ford.

Thank you. Wow. Wow. Thank you. Before we start, I want to say I know Ronnie Chan is in the building. I've been looking for him everywhere and I can't find him. So can you please do my favor? When you see him, remind him that he promised to buy out all the tickets in New York for my movie this weekend. So yeah, yeah. No, no, no, no, I'm just joking.

Yeah, no, I know he's mad at me because we made a movie with Asians and he's not in it.

Ronnie, do not unfollow me! Do not unfollow me!

Yeah, I mean, it's good. I always wanted my own action movie. And over the years, you know, Valentine's Day is a very special day out of the year because I get to show my wife how much I love her. And it's always romantic comedies out there. So it's kind of cool that we get to have an action movie on Valentine's Day.

Yes. Yes, Desi.

Be careful what you say here. I knew it. No, no, no, no. I mean, that's what I love about him is that, you know, that element of surprise. Over the years, you know, action heroes look a certain way.

certain way and and and that's why when I read the script love hurts I initially I turned it down because I just couldn't see myself in it but once when I found out that you know they were trying to create a new kind of action hero someone who doesn't look lethal until he's pushed to the limits and then you realize wow he is freakin badass and I really love that yeah it's very true

Yeah.

Thank you. Yeah, I studied martial arts for a long time and got a black belt. And that's why when we were doing this movie, one thing that I know for sure was I wanted to do all the fights myself. I wasn't going to let my stunt double have all the fun. But it was so hard and so challenging. I got so many bruises, aches, and pains.

I feel like every night I would go soak myself, soak my body in salt bath. I feel like I should get an endorsement from Epsom salt bath.

I used so many bags during the shooting of this movie.

Sean Lynch, Daniel Wu. We have an incredible cast.

now did you tell him to go full beast mode or did you say please don't go full beast mode on me go maybe uh calm mode or actually it was quite the opposite uh you know i i i didn't know how fast he was until there was one shot where the camera was about 20 feet away i get a head start i supposed to run towards camera and he catches up to me and puts his arm on my shoulder and pulls me back

And I said, guys, you know, he's not going to catch up to me. I'm going to get to the camera way before he does. And he was off to the side, and he was just like, Key, you just run for your life, and I'll... And sure enough, I mean, he's beast mode. And at the premiere after party, my family got to hang out with him, the big fans.

I don't know whether he knows it or not, but he has this incredible ability to get everybody to say yes. He was doing shots with them and got them all drunk that night. He did?

My entire family got back and go, oh my gosh, that was cool.

No, I mean, anytime you get to hang out with Sean Lynch, that's a good night. And I love him so much. And he's so good in this movie. He really is. And of course, Ariana, Daniel, the entire cast, we had so much fun making this.

My Goonie brother.

Yeah.

That's great, Desi.

Yeah, no, when we were shooting that scene, another Goonie came to visit, Jeff Cohen, my attorney, a.k.a. Chunk. And the crew was like freaking out. There was like three Goonies and we had a good time. And also to be able to share the screen with Sean again after so many years, it meant so much to me.

And those tears that you see in the movie, they're real because all of a sudden I was a kid again. It made me go back to that incredible adventure that we all had.

Yeah, I always want to play a villain. I think it's so fun. I think it's so fun.

I think so, too.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay, to all the filmmakers out there, come on. Actually, I'm going to do a horror movie next, but this will give me a nice practice.

I'm going to take off my glasses because this makes me look affable. Do you need a prop?

Prepare to die, Mr. Bean. Okay, this one. Oh, this one I like. Let me see. If you ever want to see your family again, you'll hand me that artifact. Are we okey-dokey, Dr. Jones?

Oh, this is great. OK. This one, let me see. Let me see. How should I do this? All right. OK. Turn to camera. OK.

You. You go to your closet and you select that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. What you don't know is that that sweater is not blue. It's not turquoise. It's not lapis. It's actually cerulean. Cerulean.

We got a bit of a scare with the Kenneth fire in West Hills. My wife and I were glued to the television, and all of a sudden my phone was buzzing, and it was a warning. That warning. And then I went out. All my neighbors were out on the streets, and we look, and literally like two, three miles away, we see this smoke billowing in the sky, and I go, oh, shit.

And we frantically ran inside and packed.

And it's insane because in that frantic moment, you don't know what to pack. What do you pack? It's like your house is full of stuff. It's like what do you want to make sure that it survives? And that confusion, I just got clothes in my wallet, and that's it. Birth certificate? No, no. I couldn't even find it. I didn't even know. But then what's interesting is I walked out.

My wife had a suitcase full of picture frames. And it was nothing but picture frames.

Yeah, with pictures in them. You know, those pictures that's been sitting in the living room. Right. And I told her and I said, some of them are digital. We can reprint them. Yeah. But she didn't want it. Yeah. She wanted that physical one that's been in the house, you know, for the last 15, 20 years.

And we put the suitcase in the car. Yeah. Came back, watched the TV. Yeah. And thank God, those firefighters, those aerial. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, especially this time around, you know, I lived in L.A. for the last 45 years. Has been that long, huh? And over the years, you know, we've had like earthquakes and wildfires all the time. Yeah. But this one was different. Yeah, because it was close.

It was close. And when they said everybody in Los Angeles knows someone who lost a home, that could not be more true. And I know multiple people who lost homes. And it affects you in ways that, you know, it hits you hard.

Yeah. But, you know, it made me appreciate our firefighters, our first responders. Oh, yeah. More than, you know. Yeah. They were the true heroes of Los Angeles.

No, no. Not really? No. I mean, when something like this happened, you're so in the moment. I know. You can't think of anything else. You know, it's only when the fires are out and you have time to reflect. Yeah. That's when you go, wow, I kind of remember what that was like. Yeah. And I'll never forget it.

Yeah, I sat down and I, you know, and kind of like... The panic. The panic and just the, you know, the prospect of losing everything.

Not only of value, monetary value, but all the history, all the memories. Yeah. It was kind of like when we, you know, escaped Vietnam in 1978.

Yeah, yeah. Oh, my God. I don't think you really recover from it.

You may heal from it.

But the memory is there. Really? Yeah. And how old were you? I was seven. We tried multiple times.

I was too young. And I have like, you know, bit flashes of different memories. Bits and pieces. Bits and pieces, you know, images here and there. Of what? You know, of my life in Vietnam.

Yeah, but mostly family related. Okay, yeah. Because that's what made me comfortable. Yeah. That's what gives me comfort. Yeah. You know, just just, you know, for example, like, you know, at night, my dad would take me on his, you know, scooter to go out for dessert. Yeah. Or just, you know, playing with my neighbors. Yeah. You know, just stuff like that. Yeah. Just very normal.

And then all of a sudden, you know, this this, you know, this war happened and and my parents were very protective of us. I think, you know, we were so young, I think they shielded a lot of that from us. How many kids? Nine total. That's insane. Yeah, nine.

I'm the seventh.

I'm the seventh. I think for me and my younger sister and brother, it... They don't remember as much, but for my older sister, the age gap is big. How old is she? I think she was, you know, 18, 19 at that time. Oh, my God. So even like to this day when I ask her to talk about it, I mean, she's very, you know, she remembers it vividly.

Yeah, the North was fighting the South, and America was helping, you know, the South. And then they felt, you know, the war... We should have never gone into the war in the first place. And they left. Yeah, and they left. And there was no real help there. And once when they left, the war was over. Yeah. And, you know, we live in Saigon at the time. Oh, my God, yeah.

There's a big Chinese community. Yeah. Ethnically Chinese. And I think that population was targeted the most. Yeah.

Yeah. Or, you know, have everything taken away from you. And I think, you know, my parents at that time, they were very successful, you know, business-wise. Yeah. And they just didn't see a future for them. Not for them, but for us.

You know, they had nine kids and all of us were coming, you know, my older siblings were coming into age. And they felt that, you know, this is not a place that they want their children, their future. And they decided to give up everything they had. And were they both born in China? Yes. My mom was born in Hong Kong. My dad was China.

And, you know, before the Vietnam War, I mean, Vietnam was wonderful. Yeah. It was great. And a lot of people go there and prosper from a lot of, you know, the opportunities at that time. And that's what happened to my parents. I think people go there again now. Yeah, even now. It's beautiful, by the way. I mean, disclaimer, this is, you know, this is in the 1970s, just right after the war.

Have you been back? I've been back. And how does that feel? It feels very different. But I didn't go back. It's not recently. I did a movie in 95. Yeah. It was a Chinese movie, a very low-budget Chinese movie that we shot there, and it was very different. But even then, that was like 20 years ago, 30 years ago. So now it's very different.

Yeah, I was an actor. It was an action movie.

Yeah, at that time, that was my last job as an actor before I decided to step away.

No, I was excited. Yeah. I wanted to see what my home used to be. Yeah. And it was really interesting being there. It was an emotional journey in ways that, you know, when I look at... Everyone around us at the time, we were shooting in Saigon.

And I just kept thinking, oh, my gosh, if my parents didn't make that sacrifice, I could have been that person. I could have been this person. I could have been that waiter. Yeah. Or I could have been just this delivery boy. Yeah. And here I am, an actor.

Oh, they're very successful in business. Oh, yeah? Yeah. The majority of them are in Houston, Texas.

Yeah. And it's amazing. It's really, it's grown so much since my sisters, my siblings came to. I mean, they were the very early group to go there in the late 80s. And was there a big Chinese community? No, no. Back then it was very small. But now there's a big Asian community, a big Vietnamese community, a big Chinese community. Yeah. The food, the restaurants are great.

No. It's too big of a family to escape. So it was a real escape. Yeah. It was escape in the middle of the night. It wasn't like, oh, we go buy a plane ticket and get on a plane and leave. It was nothing like that. Oh, my God. You know, we tried multiple times, got caught. And what happened when you got caught? Put in jail. The whole family? Yeah. Or half the family.

I was in jail a couple of times with my father. The last time, my mom took three kids and escaped to Malaysia. And then they immigrated to Los Angeles. My dad took six of his kids, myself included. And then we went to Hong Kong. We escaped to Hong Kong.

The first time was three weeks. The second time was three months. You were in jail for three months as a kid? As a kid, yeah. With other kids? No, with my dad. So it's just the two of you? Yeah, it was just the two of us, yeah.

Yeah, I have. I have. Yeah, I have images of that, like my dad being handcuffed, me not knowing what's going on. And it was just it's just a tiny cell. Yeah, it's just me and him. And it was like it was tough to watch because. Every dad is every kid's hero, right?

Strong man. You look up to him. You look to him to protect you. Yeah. So to see him in such a vulnerable state, you know, that wasn't... It's hard.

Yeah, you don't know. But eventually they let us out, and then we didn't give up. My dad was very persistent. He wanted to make sure that we would have a bright future, and we tried again. But the last attempt was, it was more of, it wasn't a secret as much. Yeah. It cost us a lot. It cost the entire fortune of my parents. In fact, they didn't even have enough.

They had to borrow money from their friends. And who are you paying off? At that time, probably, you know, government officials.

Right. You know, whoever that was, you know, was orchestrating this escape. Yeah. Because it wasn't a secret as much because we got on a boat that had more than 3,000 people.

Leaving.

Well, they'll probably think, again, this is just me second guessing. They're probably thinking, you know, whether we want it or not, people were leaving. So might as well profit from it.

And where did you end up? Hong Kong? Yeah, we ended up in Hong Kong. I spent a year in a refugee camp. With your family. With my family. You know, there were like pictures and books, you know, that was written about it. Yeah. And, you know, UNHCR, which I got involved with recently, a year ago. I didn't even know this. I went to their archive.

And I saw. What is that? You know, they do wonderful work for displaced people around the world. UNHCR? Yeah, UNHCR. UNHCR.

Yeah. Okay, yeah. And, you know, they were talking to the Hong Kong government at that time to get all of us on board. I mean, on shore.

We stay there and they will help working around with all the different countries. To try to get you guys relocated. Yeah, relocated. Yeah. And, you know, I'm really grateful to the American government at that time. I think Trump shut that down. Yes, unfortunately. Yeah, yeah. But, I mean, you know, it's – we were just very lucky. And this was, you know, 45 years ago.

And I just hope – you know, we have a lot of displaced people now, which is shocking. I mean, back then I think it was like, what, maybe a million. Now it's over 110 million displaced people. And I just hope that people can really – You know, it's a very divided subject. Yeah. But I just hope that people can look at it through the lens of empathy and compassion.

That's a very good point, Mike. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Absolutely.

Well, yeah, they were asking us where we wanted to be. And then because my mom got out early before we did, she went to Malaysia. To Malaysia, yeah. And then she immigrated to Los Angeles. So when they were asking us where we wanted to be, of course we wanted to be reunited with my mom and my other siblings. Yeah. So Los Angeles was the place we chose. Yeah.

And in 1979, I got on the plane for the very first time and landed in Los Angeles. How old were you? I was eight.

Yeah.

No, no, it was just a regular commercial plane.

Yeah, yeah. I remember my dad holding a bunch of folders, a stack of documents, and then just coming here and reuniting with my brother, who's my best friend, and my mom, who I hadn't seen in a long time. It was such a wonderful memory. Even now I can recall what that was like. Yeah. And, of course, back then, you know, when you get off the plane, your family meets you right at the gate.

Yeah, they're there. It's not like now where you have to meet them baggage claim outside the terminal. Sure. But, yeah, the minute we walked out, it was incredible. And you remember it? Yeah, I remember it.

Oh, yes. Yes, yes.

Yeah, yeah. You know, we were living in Chinatown, Los Angeles at that time.

It was a really small community. We rented a house. Yeah. Down there? Yeah, in Chinatown, Los Angeles. And it was crowded, I remember. It was just three bedrooms. And there was 11 of you? 11 of us. Yeah. Yeah. And we also had to rent half of the room out just to help cover the rent because when we got here, I mean, we had nothing.

And not only nothing, like we were, my parents were in debt. Yeah. But it didn't matter.

We were here. We were all together.

Oh, immediately. The older siblings, you know, they all love to work and they're very ambitious.

So in Chinatown, you know, they went and we didn't even have a car.

But it was such a small community that you can walk anywhere and everywhere.

It's a variety. But then this is what I'm talking about, like in the 1970s. The majority of them were Vietnamese Chinese refugees.

But then you also have the Chinese people. who lived here for a long time already. They didn't come in the 70s. They probably came way earlier than we did.

No, no. Not really? No.

No, I don't. But my older siblings do. We all spoke the same language. We spoke Chinese. And everybody there spoke, you know, Chinese.

Cantonese specifically.

There's so many different, you know, provinces and different dialects. But yeah, we do have a big Asian diaspora, which is great. And have you been back to China? Yes. My wife is from China. Okay. She's first generation here? No, no. She's born and raised in China. Oh, really? Yeah, we met in Shanghai. She's born and raised in Shenzhen, which is a city right next to Hong Kong.

Yeah, and we've been together for 22 years.

Yeah, she's got family there, yeah.

Yeah. Well, back then, a lot of bicycles, now a lot of cars.

You know, when my wife and I dated, which was in the early 2000s, China was a very different country. One, it's like she couldn't even get a visa to come here. And it wasn't as wealthy or as developed as it is now today. You go now, I mean, it's just incredible.

Incredible. One skyscraper bigger than the other. It's just, you know, there's a lot of wealth.

A lot of new buildings. Yeah. Residential buildings. Yeah. It's very, very, yeah, it's very different.

No, no trouble getting in and out. People can come here. People can come here on a visa. Yeah. And they have a lot of tourists over there too.

I did not look, I did not want to be an actor or even, you know, this profession was not even on, you know, on my radar. Sure. I was just being a kid. I was just like, you know, I was 11 and I was just busy trying to learn English. Right. Acclimating.

Yeah, public school.

It was great. I loved it. You know, it's largely a Chinese community, so all my friends, all my classmates were Asian. Yeah, yeah. So it was not hard to, you know— Integrate. To integrate, exactly. Yeah, yeah. So I was just busy being a kid, and one day this casting director showed up.

At my school with a camera and with his associates. And all of a sudden I see all these kids lining up to audition for this movie that I know nothing about. Yeah. My brother was one of them. And I kind of, you know, I was with him. Yeah. We were just chatting and I was just looking over as he's like studying the sides. Yeah. I had no idea what it was for. How old are you, 10? No, I was 11.

Yeah, script pages. I can barely read them. My reading comprehension wasn't that great at the time. Yeah. And when it was his turn to go into the room to audition for the casting director, I was with him.

I was with him, and I genuinely loved the process, and I thought he could do better, so I was giving him direction, like as if I was the director.

Yeah, and I was just telling him to be scary or to have bigger energy. I was just like throwing these directions at him. Yeah, yeah. And the casting director saw that. He looked over, and he says, who is this kid, you know? And he says, hey— What's your name? I said, Key. And he says, do you want to go and audition for me? Yeah. And I said, yeah. I didn't think much of it.

I didn't think it was hard or anything. But then, of course, once when I was in the seat, it was hard. You got nervous? Yeah. I stumbled on my lines. I didn't know how to say the lines properly. Right. But luckily, he saw past that. He says, Key, just put it down. I just want to talk to you. Yeah. And we had a nice chat.

It was just like, you know, like, you know, how many siblings you have? Just, you know, just very common questions. What's your favorite subject in school? Yeah. How many siblings do you have? How long have you been here? Right. You know, just common questions. And after it was done, I didn't know. I was told years later when I walked out.

He called Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, who were looking for an Asian kid for a long time. And they said, we don't have to look any further. I think I found him. And from that day forward, my life has been changed.

We got a call the following day. Yeah. And their assistant says, we would like you to come in. Yeah. I didn't even speak English. So it was my brother, my older brother, who was on the phone talking to the assistant. Right. And so she was saying, we want him to come in. And my brother nonchalantly says, he can't. We don't have a car. Right. We can't get to Hollywood.

And it was literally only 12 miles away. Right. It was only 12 miles away. So would they send a car? So that's exactly what they did. They said, don't worry. We'll send a car. We'll send a driver over. And yeah.

They took me to Burbank. They took me to Burbank Studios. Yeah. It was the first time I've seen a studios. We went past the security. And all of a sudden, I'm there with my mom.

in the lobby and out walks this man with a beard and a mustache. And I had no idea who he is. And then he got down to my level. We had a nice chat. I was wearing this stupid three-piece suit that made me really uncomfortable. And, yeah, we had a little chat. And I was told to go back the next day and just wear something that I'm more comfortable in.

Yeah, just like regular clothes. Just clothes that I would normally wear to school.

And I did. Yeah. And I walked in the room and there was George Lucas, Harrison Ford, and Steven Spielberg.

Yeah, it was pretty insane. And to think that only four years prior to that, was when I came here as a refugee.

We had nothing.

I'd been in a refugee camp. And all of a sudden, I find myself on a set with basically the biggest filmmakers on the planet and the biggest movie star on the planet.

I didn't know I was in a big thing. I didn't know who... Because at that time, I've never seen Star Wars or Raiders. Right. So to me, they were just... Guys. Guys, yeah. And I think it's because of my... My lack of knowledge of who they are made me really comfortable because there was no stakes for me.

Yeah, we did. I did the famous card scene. From Temple of Doom. Yeah. That scene was not in the script. It was a scene that Stephen came up. It was improvised, but that exchange between Indy and short round came off so funny.

Stephen and George says, we got to have that in the movie.

Yeah. So he gave me the premise. He was just like, hey, you guys are playing cards and then you catch Indy cheating.

He's cheating and you're not happy. Yeah. And so that's the premise.

That was the first time. Yeah, with Harrison. And then also, you know, we did a couple of, you know, scenes from the script. Sure. And we spent, you know, in an afternoon together, a couple of hours.

He's trying to connect. To me, it was, oh, these guys are really friendly, really nice. Yeah. And a few weeks later, before I got on a plane to go to Sri Lanka, then all of a sudden I'm going in for wardrobe fitting, all of that. And I said, oh, this is, what's going on? I had no clue. Yeah. And I still didn't know at that time.

I still didn't know I was making a sequel to the biggest movie in 1982.

She loved it.

Yeah.

She didn't know who they were, but she knew, you know. What was at stake. What was at stake. Yeah. And she was just very proud. Yeah. She was very proud of me. Oh.

We shot in Sri Lanka for three weeks.

Yes, second time on a plane. I went from riding in the back of the plane to riding first class to Sri Lanka. And then we shot the majority of the movie in London.

Yeah.

It was like, yeah.

Yeah. I mean, honestly, I mean, I look at that movie now and I'm still surprised because I had no prior acting experience.

Never been on a movie set before. And I look at that performance. Yeah. And I say, yeah, it's pretty good. It's pretty good. But I would have to credit Spielberg. Sure. He's so good. Yeah. With kids.

Yeah.

Yeah. And his voice is very soothing. And he's just – because he's a kid himself.

And every time he talks to you, he's never looking down at you. He always gets to your level to give you directions and tell you exactly what he wants you to do. And every time – And what's incredible is, like, you know, when I do something, when I do a good take, you know, I would get a high five. You know, I would get, you know, wow, really good key. You know, that constant praise.

And as a kid, you love it.

It's the greatest feeling. How long did it take to shoot it? It was five months. Back then, five months. They don't do movies like that anymore. Everything was practical. I mean, you know, I didn't need to imagine anything. Sure. You walk in, you can touch, you can smell everything, you know.

Once when it was done, I went back to school. Yeah. And to be a regular kid again. Yeah.

And then when the movie came out, we premiered at the Man Chinese Theater. It was the first time I saw it all put together. Because I wasn't allowed to watch dailies. So I had no idea what we shot. They're all like bits and pieces. And for someone who has no knowledge of filmmaking... You don't know how it's going to put together. Yeah, of course not.

So the very first time I watched myself up on the screen was at the premiere.

Yeah.

I thought it was incredible. I could not believe it was me up there on the screen. And you can understand why. I fell in love with acting immediately. Yeah, of course. And I followed that path. With the Goonies.

Yeah.

He came to visit us on the set of The Goonies. Oh, yeah? I remember after we finished shooting, he came over, again, because we didn't have a car at that time. He came, picked me up, took me to his house, and I had a wonderful day with him and his kids. Yeah. That's sweet. Yeah. And then he took me back home.

Yeah, I was never trained as an actor. Somehow it just come naturally to me.

And they're a little older than you or the same age? We're about the same age, but one thing was very different when we did Encino Man. You understand, I was one of the stars in Temple of Doom. I was one of the stars in The Goonies.

And all of a sudden, you know, I'm struggling. Now I'm struggling as an actor.

By Encino. By Encino, man. Yeah. I just had a very small role in that. Yeah. But I was grateful that I was working. I was happy that I was, you know, I get to be in this movie with Sean. Yeah.

Yeah. And also it was at the time where, you know, I was going through puberty. Yeah. Now I'm like 15, 16. Yeah. I was coming into age. Yeah. And, yeah, I spent more and more time in school. Yeah. Then, you know, afterwards I graduated, and now, you know, I'm deciding what I want to do. Should I go to college or should I, you know, pursue acting full time?

Yeah, and I chose the latter. I wanted to be an actor.

First of all, when you audition and you don't get anything. And this is like after you've been in two big movies. Sure, yeah. So first you audition.

You don't get it. Yeah. And then even the opportunity to audition.

Goes away.

It's not like, come on, if you're an agent, you have so many clients, and all your other clients are making money for you, and here is this actor that's not making money for you. Of course. And he's calling you to see if there's any opportunities out there. Yeah, it was like just getting my agent on the phone was hard.

Yeah, yeah.

You know, my Goonies brother, Jeff Cohen, also went through the same thing. You know, he was this cute, chubby kid in the Goonies and hit puberty. All of a sudden, you know, he lost all the weight. He also had a really difficult time getting a job as an actor. And Dick Donner, the director of the Goonies— really mentored him and says, kid, it's not just acting to be in this business.

There are other stuff that you can do too. And kind of guided him down this path to be an entertainment lawyer. Paid for his tuition. Oh, he did? He did. Oh, that's sweet. And came out and now Jeff Cohen is one of the most successful entertainment attorneys in Hollywood. He has his own law firm. He's my entertainment lawyer. He's been, by the way,

He's been my attorney for 25 years, ever since he started his own law firm. I was one of his first clients. I signed with him right away. But what's incredible is this. I never made him any money.

We were friends. From uni. But I never, yeah. I would tell people that he's my lawyer all the time. But then secretly, I'm just thinking, gosh, did I even say that? Because he's never made a dime off of me. But what's incredible is that. Every time I call him or need legal advice, he's always there. He's always there, picks my phone, returns my call the very same day all the time.

So I'm really happy that I'm making him some money now.

You know, it was not an easy, it was not like, oh, one day I wake up and go, wow, okay, I know what I want to do. I need another plan. Yeah, yeah. But it was like slowly, gradually, and, you know, and I think the, you know, the seed was planted when you spend so much time alone.

And waiting. And then especially like when you're in your, like, what, 21, 22?

Yeah, because there's nothing you can do. If nobody hires you as an actor, there's practically nothing you can do. And that's what happened to me. And I said, you know, I didn't want to live my prime years like that.

One day I decided to go to college. I said, you know what? Let me try to enroll in film school. And if I get in, then it's meant to be.

I'm in my 20s, yeah.

So I said, I want to see in, you know, film schools are very hard to get into. So I applied, and I said, if I get in, then it's meant to be. It's meant that I need to continue my education.

To USC.

Yeah. Yeah. Did you? No, I didn't want to. People were saying at that time, oh, you should get, you know, you should call in the favor. Yeah, yeah. Cardano or especially, you know. Oh, Donner's from there too? No, no, but especially Lucas and Spielberg. Yeah, yeah. I didn't want to bother him. You didn't? Yeah, I just feel like, you know, they're so busy.

I'm one of those people where, ah, they're so busy, let's not bother them. Wow.

Yeah, my first movie out of college was X-Men. As an action choreographer.

The plan was, yeah, the plan was to direct. But then before I even got there, I got this call from this Hong Kong director who just got a job as an action choreographer on X-Men. Okay. So he says, would you want to come work for me? And I said, of course. Hell yes. Packed my bag and showed up. In Hong Kong? No, in Toronto. Toronto, Canada. Met a young Kevin Feige. Met a young Hugh Jackman.

And that was the first time That I stepped behind the camera. Yeah. I was being paid. I had a job. And all of a sudden, I knew what I wanted to do. Like the future didn't seem so bleak anymore.

Yeah.

Yes, we made films, made short films. Yeah. You know, and those were really fun. It was that time where all of us wanted to be the next Spielberg and the next Lucas. Yeah, yeah. We're all like full of aspirations. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, you know, we were, because that generation, my generation, we were all heavily influenced by those movies in the 70s and the 80s.

Yeah, and I... All of my friends, my USC friends and I, we graduated with really high hopes. We all think we're going to change the world and make record-breaking movies. Did any of them do it?

reality set and we realized that first there's no no one is going to be Steven Spielberg no one is going to be George Lucas but yeah some of my friends went on to be great writers some of them are great sound mixers film editors they covered it all at that school so this action choreography yeah

I had the background. I studied Taekwondo for many years. I have a black belt in Taekwondo. And I grew up watching and loving those Hong Kong 80s action movies.

From Jackie Chan, Samuel Hong. Yeah. And so my brother and I, we were enamored with that genre. Yeah, yeah. So we would go, we would study.

Come back, watch those movies, and then we would like walk out the fights ourselves.

And then I would even buy a sandbag and put it up in my backyard and practice my kicks. Yeah. And I did that for a long time. As a kid. As a kid. Yeah. And thinking that, oh, now that I have a black belt, Hollywood's going to put me in an action movie. Yeah, you're ready. Yeah, I'm ready. I'm ready to kick ass, you know. But then, unfortunately, the timing wasn't right.

Hollywood was not hiring an Asian actor to kick ass alongside, you know, Stallone or Schwarzenegger. So I put those skills away until then. I call upon them again, working behind the camera. Yeah. I mean, flash forward to now, all those skills that I acquired as a kid and also behind the camera, that's how I made Love Hurts.

Yes. Oh, yeah. The training is because I haven't done those moves in a long time. They exist in memories, you know. But they're there. But they're there. So before I did Love Hurts, I trained with our action team from 87 North for three months.

And so you have the memory. Now it's about getting your muscles working. To be able to do what you remember you can do.

Well, I worked with him for a long time.

Yeah, I worked with him and for him for a long time.

Yes. How you stage fights. How you stage fights, how you do fights that look good on camera. Yeah. And then also how to shoot it. Yeah. Because when you do fights, there are not places to put that camera.

In order to sell that punch or that kick. Yeah. There's only one or two good angles. Yeah. I learned that. And so doing Love Hurts and talking with JoJo, our director, and our action team, whatever they were saying, I understood it right away because it's the same language. Yeah, well, you did it for years, right? And then so now I can – not only am I an actor in this, but now I can contribute.

I go, you know what? This move looks great, but I think I can do more or can we do this? Yeah. And it's really about – A great fight sequence should have a story. Yeah. And that's the most challenging part. And that's what we try to do with this movie is every fight should have a story. Yeah. And it should also advance the plot or it should tell you what that character is.

Right. And also, like for Love Hurts, it's really an homage to those Hong Kong movies. Oh, yeah, totally. Yeah, yeah. The fights. Yeah. You know, it's very martial arts, very choreography driven.

Wait, Rambo? I thought Rambo killed a lot of people.

Yeah, yeah, the more comedic. Yes, yes.

It's all about the payoff. Yeah. It's a punchline. Yeah, it's a punchline.

I was making a decent living. I was making a lot of money. Yeah. I was making a paycheck.

But I was doing what I love. Yeah. Which was like, you know, I was still making movies, but just in a different capacity. Right. Yeah. And I was having a good time.

And I was okay.

Yes, yes. I was doing okay, but, you know, as the years went by and I started to watch, you know, more and more movies and seeing great performances up on the screen, I couldn't help but just not have that, you know, that feeling. Nostalgic. Nostalgic, yeah.

Yeah, I couldn't because I was already out. My job was behind the camera. I had – there was no – There was no way that I could see myself stepping in front of it.

And also, I'm working with all these great directors. Even they didn't say, do you want to play this? They didn't even do that.

That's the kid from Temple of Doom.

In fact, on X-Men, when we were walking out the fight sequence, we spent a few weeks choreographing the big finale, the fight between Wolverine and Mystique. They gathered the entire cast and crew together. And it was me and another stunt guy walking out the entire scene so everybody can see what's going on. And it was Kevin Feige standing to the side. He says,

Kid, that is the kid from Indiana Jones. But then, you know, and also, just because I was working with all these incredible filmmakers, and none of them ever asked, you know, Keith, would you want to play this role? So that kind of cemented my belief that my acting days are over.

It's pretty interesting how everything came together. One day when I was 49 years old, and I was like thinking, oh, my gosh, I'm going to be 50 very soon. Yeah. And I was just like, you know, my career wasn't going that well. I don't think I was happy. I wasn't making a lot of money.

No. Oh, okay. We don't have kids. But, you know, my wife and I have been together for, you know.

She sells, she does a lot of stuff, but she also sells jays she took after my mom. And then it was at a time where I was also doing Comic-Cons. Yeah. You know, I was doing. Signing pictures? Yeah, signing pictures, you know. Try to make a, you know, a decent income. I was doing that.

You know, in the beginning, when I started doing it, I was not comfortable with it. But then, honestly, the fans, it's all about the fans. They love it. They love seeing us. And I'm very grateful for those opportunities. But I was at that point where... ah, gosh, I don't know what to do with my life anymore. And it was then the idea of what if, you know, what if I try this again? Yeah.

You know, do you think people would want to see me? So you did try. You did try. I thought about it for a long time before I finally said, okay, I'm going to do this. What did you do? I called up my friend who was an agent. Yeah. And I said, hey, crazy idea. Yeah. do you think I can be an actor again? Yeah. And he said, yeah, maybe. And I wasn't even asking for much.

I said, it would be incredible if I can just get like a series regular. Yeah. A series regular on a television show. Yeah. Doesn't have to be number two or forget about number one on the whole show. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe number five, six, seven. You know, something where I'm working as an actor. Get my insurance back. Yeah. Do you think that's possible? He says, I don't know.

There was so many uncertainties. Sure. Of course, always, yeah. Yeah, and also it's not like, oh, I stepped away for a year. Yeah. It's not like that. I stepped away for more than 20 years, you know? And then it was one of those things where everything just aligned.

When I said, when I decided to be an actor again, it was at the very same time that the Daniels were casting Daniels. they were looking for an actor to play Wayman in Everything Everywhere All at Once. And literally, when I got myself an agent, it was two weeks later. that they asked to see me. Wow. Think about it. Think about it. Had I procrastinated, I'd go, wow, you know, I don't know, man.

If I sat on my ass and continued to debate whether I should be an actor again, that opportunity would pass me by. You would have missed it. And none of this, that ship would have sailed, and none of this would be happening. Yeah. So you went in for an audition? Went in for an audition. No, before I did that, because I haven't, I was insecure.

So I told my agent, I said, who's the best acting coach in Los Angeles? I want to get ready.

So met with him. He was just coaching people for audition. And I met with him, had a couple of sessions.

Even in the beginning, you know, he says, Keith, you're acting. Stop acting. And I was like, oh, my God, I suck. This is such a horrible decision. But then after a couple of sessions, he says, yeah, I think you're ready.

I had the acting lesson. It was only specifically just to go in to try to nail the job.

No, not confident. Scared as shit. Sweating. But I was like over prepared. I was very well prepared. Yeah. Memorized all my lines. Yeah. But still, you know, being in a room with strangers is very hard.

Especially when you have a camera facing you, you have a reader. Yeah. And you don't know, the scariest part is you don't know that if your interpretation of the character is what you're looking for. The Daniels were so sweet because when I entered the room, they said, we love you. We've been a big fan of yours for a long time. We've seen all your movies. Since we were kids.

Which is something that I've heard a lot. Sure. But even in my younger days, every time I walk into a room, I always hear the same thing.

But then I didn't get the job. Yeah.

So it was like, OK, well, that means nothing because I've been down this path many times.

I want to meet her. You might.

So, yes, I went in, was really happy. I was in the room for a long time, which is a good thing if you're auditioning.

So they were, you know, yeah, they were throwing out directions at me. Good guys. Oh, great guys.

I'm so grateful to them because, you know, they took a chance on me.

And then I left.

Called my agent and I said, hey, I think I might have a chance. Yeah. I feel really good about that audition. Yeah. And then I didn't hear from them for two months. Two months. Yeah. As weeks went by, I'm like thinking, I'll call my agent. I said, any news? Yeah. Again, this is something like, it's very traumatic for me because I've been down this road before. Sure, of course.

Have you heard? No, no. Have they cast anybody yet? No, no. Too much. Too... painful much. Yeah. Then that phone call came and said, we want to see you again. So it's not like you got the job. We want to see you again. So I went in the second time. And before I did that, I got more acting sessions. Yeah. Coaching sessions.

No, it was just me. But then also they wanted to see me cry on cue. Oh. They also, which is very hard to do. Yeah, I know. And they also wanted to see me do martial arts. So, I was like, they wanted to see some kicks. So, you were in good shape then, right? I was in okay shape, not great shape. Yeah. And it's not something that I was, you know, doing, keeping up with anymore.

So, I was a little nervous. I go, oh, shit. I... So then, you know, again, memory, muscle memory. Yeah. I did it. And I was, like, sweating. And they were so sweet. They, you know, they wanted to give me a hug afterwards. And I go, no, no, no, no, don't hug me. I'm sweating. I was, like, literally, like, doing punches and kicks, you know. Yeah. And I was really embarrassed. And I left.

And it was not long after that they called me.

And you know what?

I'm sure every actor knows this. Yeah. When you get that phone call from your agent. Right. It's an incredible, incredible feeling, especially for a role that you just want so bad.

And what's really even more crazy is you, and when our movie came out, this was on my mind. The last time the audience saw me on the screen was I was 12 years old. And all of a sudden, here was this middle-aged man up on the screen. Yeah. But, you know, but luckily, you know, they embraced my, you know.

I didn't look like shit, right?

What happened to that guy? Yeah. I think also my voice. Yeah. Everybody said, that guy, he sounds exactly the same. I don't know if that's a compliment or what, but how can a guy sound exactly when he's 12 and now I'm 50-something? Yeah.

I saw him. I was doing Loki at that time. This is like after the movie came out. I did Loki.

So I attended an event called D23 for Disney. Yeah. And it was at that event that I saw him again after, you know, 38 years. Oh, my God. And we took that photo and that photo went viral. Yeah. It was really incredible. It was, you know, seeing him again. And, of course, you know, on Oscar night, I didn't know he was going to be presenting for Best Picture. One, we didn't know we were going to win.

Second, we didn't know who the presenter is.

And when he walked out, I said, could it be? Do you think he's going to say everything everywhere? Yeah. And sure enough, you know. It's such a… It's such a beautiful… Like, we could not have asked… For a better night. Like, if you were a writer, I don't think you would go, oh, let's do this. Let's write. No one would believe it.

This would be a nice ending to the, again, not ending, but a full circle moment. Sure. And then also it's like with Spielberg in the audience, John Williams, you know, it was just, yeah.

To have my first, very first movie family, and then, you know, and that night I was with my brand new family, everything, everywhere family, to have both of them together, this, you know, where I started and where I am now. Yeah. What a wonderful circle.

Yeah, yeah.

It feels amazing, Mark. It really is. Very different this time. Yeah. Yeah, very different.

You know, I love, I grew up in loving, you know those movies in the 80s? They're like an hour and a half, an hour and 40 minutes. Yeah. And they're not trying to do anything but just to entertain you.

Yeah, an hour and a half. And it's like it's meant to be where you just go and you escape reality. Yeah. For 90 minutes. Yeah. And come out feeling a little bit more refreshed.

Forget about all your troubles. Yeah. Whatever problems you have. Yeah. Goes away for a little while. Yeah. And it's just kind of for you to recharge. I love, you know, I love those movies in the 80s and I really miss them.

Yeah.

Thank you, Mark.

Yeah. Nice talking to you. Thank you for having me.