Ke Huy Quan wins Best Supporting Actor Oscar

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ke Huy Quan virtually disappeared from Hollywood for more than two decades, discouraged by the lack of on-camera work for Asian Americans. But on Sunday, he returned in style and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Quan accepted the trophy for his role in “Everything Everywhere All at Once”, becoming the second Asian winner in the supporting actor category, after Haing S. Ngor, who won the Oscar for “The Killing Fields” (” Cries of Silence”) in 1984.

When her name was announced, Quan stood up and hugged her co-stars Michelle Yeoh and Jamie Lee Curtis, the latter of whom won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress moments later.

“My mom is 84 and she’s at home watching,” Quan said. “Mom, I just won an Oscar!”

Touched, Quan repeatedly kissed his statuette and sobbed into the microphone on stage after receiving a standing ovation. Puerto Rican-born actress Ariana DeBose, who presented Quan with the award, was crying next to him on stage.

“My journey started on a boat. I spent a year in a refugee camp and ended up here on the biggest stage in Hollywood,” he said. “They say stories like this only happen in movies. I can’t believe this is happening,” Quan said. “It’s the American dream.”

Quan came to the Oscars with huge momentum, winning every major award except the BAFTA from the British Academy of Films. Quan won praise for her acceptance speeches and winning performance. He used his position to encourage other struggling actors that one day they too will find success.

The Vietnam-born actor, whose family immigrated to California in the late 1970s, first came to prominence as a preteen in the wildly popular 1980s films “Temple of Doom.” cursed”) and “The Goonies”. He continued with roles in the TV show “Head of the Class” and the movie “Encino Man” (with fellow Oscar nominee Brendan Fraser) in the early 1990s before moving on. entering his long break from acting.