Ke Huy Quan Didn’t Recognize Harrison Ford or Steven Spielberg When Cast in Temple of Doom
OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
When Ke Huy Quan landed his breakout role in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom at age 12, he had no idea he’d just stepped into Hollywood history alongside Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg. In fact, as he recently revealed, he didn’t even know who they were.
“They were just guys,” Quan, now 53, said with a laugh during a 2025 appearance on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast. “Really friendly, really nice guys.”
The comment might sound impossible today, but in 1984, Quan was a recent immigrant with little exposure to American blockbusters. Born in Saigon in 1971 to a family of Chinese descent, Quan fled Vietnam with his parents and eight siblings after the fall of Saigon. The family spent time in a Hong Kong refugee camp before resettling in Los Angeles in 1979 under the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. Between navigating a new country, learning English, and attending school in California, he’d never seen Star Wars or Raiders of the Lost Ark.
A Role Born of Serendipity
Quan’s path to Temple of Doom was pure chance. He wasn’t even at the audition for himself—he had accompanied his younger brother to an open casting call at Castelar Elementary School in Los Angeles. Casting director Mike Fenton had been tasked with finding a Chinese child actor to play Short Round, Indiana Jones’s quick-witted sidekick.
Spielberg and George Lucas had already scoured New York, London, Singapore, Hong Kong, and San Francisco, but the search turned to L.A. when Fenton suggested the city’s large Asian community. After reading lines to help his brother, Quan caught the casting team’s attention. Three weeks later, he was on a plane to Sri Lanka to film.
Life on the Temple of Doom Set
For Quan, working on Temple of Doom was “one of the happiest times of my life.” Spielberg and Lucas fostered a playful, supportive environment. Quan learned Taekwondo on set under Philip Tan and later trained under Tao-liang Tan, skills that made Short Round a convincingly resourceful partner to Ford’s Indiana Jones.
The character, Quan has said, broke new ground for Asian representation in a major Hollywood film: “Funny, courageous, [and] sav[ing] Indy’s ass,” Short Round stood out in a genre where Asian characters had often been relegated to stereotypes.
The Impact on His Life and Family
Landing the role changed everything. Coming from a family that had endured the hardships of displacement and starting over in a new country, Quan took pride in making them proud: “I felt good that I could give back to my family after everything they had sacrificed for me.”
A Bond That Endured
Quan’s relationships with Spielberg and Ford have lasted decades. At the Golden Globes in 2023, he reunited with Spielberg, who had just won Best Director for The Fabelmans. Spielberg embraced him, saying, “Ke, you made me proud when you were just 12 years old.”
That same year, Quan completed a remarkable Hollywood comeback with his Oscar-winning turn in Everything Everywhere All at Once—a career resurgence that underscored just how far the once-starstruck boy from a refugee camp had come.
From not recognizing the most famous filmmaker and leading man of the era to standing alongside them as an equal, Ke Huy Quan’s story is not just about chance—it’s about seizing the moment when it arrives, even if you don’t yet know exactly how big it is.
