Was a refugee, became a star: The twists of Ke Huy Kwan – the first Vietnamese-born actor with an Oscar

The biography of the actor is quite worthy of a film adaptation!

Ke Huy Kwan was born on August 20, 1971 in Saigon, southern Vietnam. However, when he was still a child, his family (and the actor has eight siblings) were forced to leave the country after the defeat of the Republic of Vietnam army in 1975. In 1978, they able to leave – he, his father and five siblings arrived in a refugee camp in Hong Kong, while his mother and three other siblings fled to Malaysia. As a result, they all managed to obtain political asylum in the United States in 1979.

Kwan began acting as a child, and even at the age of 12 got a role in the film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, on the set of which he also learned taekwondo. But when he became an adult, it became increasingly difficult for him to find acting work – so Asian actors were not particularly in demand.

He eventually dropped out of acting and enrolled in the University of Southern California’s film program. After graduating, he was asked to help direct the action scenes in X-Men (2000). Over the next decade, he worked as a stunt coordinator and assistant on various films in Asia and the United States. He also worked as assistant director on 2046 (2004) by Wong Kar-Wai.

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The success of Crazy Rich Asians in 2018 inspired Kwan to return to acting. In the same year, the casting began for his film “Everything Everywhere, At Once”, which will be released in 2022 and will bring Kwan not only success, but also many awards, including an Oscar.

Curiously, the acting assistant found Kwan on Twitter (Twitter is blocked in Russia). He was approved for the role in 2020, but after reviews came out, they fell out to praise the actor. The attention of the press and the public was not in vain – Kwan received the Golden Globe, the Screen Actors Guild Award and the Oscar for his role. In the film, Kwan’s character travels between realities to convince his wife to save the world.

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Kwan’s acting career was not easy and he was already looking forward to success as an adult. No wonder he was overwhelmed with emotion when he received the coveted Best Supporting Actor statuette. Kwan even burst into tears on stage and gave a touching speech.

“My journey started on a boat. I spent a year in a refugee camp and found myself here on the biggest stage in Hollywood. They say stories like this only happen in movies, I can’t believe it happens to me. It’s the American dream,” he said enthusiastically.

Kwan also reached out to his 84-year-old mother, who was watching the ceremony at home, and thanked his wife, Echo, who has told him for years that “one day his time will come”.

“All of you, please don’t let your dreams die,” Kwan concluded in his speech.

Kwan became the second Asian actor and the first Vietnamese actor to win in his category. Haing Ngor, a Chinese refugee from Cambodia, received a similar award for his role in the 1984 drama The Killing Fields.

Kwan beat out Brendan Gleeson, Barry Keoghan, Brian Tyree Henry and Judd Hirsh in his nomination.

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