Ke Huy Quan details how unexpected check he received as a child actor in Indiana Jones impacted his life
Ke Huy Quan has lifted the lid on how an unexpected payday as a child actor after appearing in Indiana Jones impacted his life and family.
Quan, now 55, made a name for himself in Hollywood after featuring as Short Round in 1984's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
The actor was just 12 when he starred as Indy's sidekick, so he was unaware hefty residuals would be paid alongside the base pay of featuring in the film.
As a result, Quan was delighted to receive a big payday, a fee that made a huge difference to his life.
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Via Entertainment Weekly, Quan said in his recent memoir, Never Say Die: "One afternoon, I walked into the kitchen and found my parents standing together at the table.
"Mom was holding an envelope with my name printed across it. Dad had the papers that had been inside.
"They were both smiling, the kind of smile that comes from surprise and disbelief mixed together. They handed everything to me. It was a check from Lucasfilm. It was for almost $100,000, an amount that didn’t make any sense to me."
Quan continued: "Back then, almost no actors got a piece of a movie’s profits. Even today, only the biggest stars do. That a kid like me, making his first film, would be included in something like that was unheard of.
"And Temple of Doom wasn’t some small movie no one was expected to see. It was the sequel to a massive hit, a movie everyone knew would make a lot of money. That made their gesture even more generous."
Quan went on to say the 'small share was life-changing for my family'.
Elsewhere in his new memoir, Quan spoke about a lukewarm remark directed at him by a celebrity at the 2023 SAG Awards, who allegedly told him he had a 'stupid face'.
“I spotted a well-known actor I’d respected for years standing right behind me,” he wrote in the book, "without thinking too much about it, I asked if we could take a picture together.
"I held the phone out between us, angled it back toward our faces, and leaned in.”
Quan said that he 'made one of my silly faces', but the star, who he did not name, was left unimpressed.
He continued: "He looked at me for a beat, then said sharply, ‘Why did you make that stupid face?’ I laughed, a little surprised and not quite sure what to make of it.
"He shook his head and added, ‘You’re not going to win tonight with that stupid face.'
"No one else seemed to notice. We went our separate ways."
Topics: Indiana Jones, Film and TV, Hollywood, Celebrity
Callum Jones