Ke Huy Quan Says His First $100,000 Residual Check From INDIANA JONES Was "Life-Changing"

Ke Huy Quan was a child actor who struck gold twice with two back to back films that became instant fan-favorites, classics that are still watched, screened, and quoted today.

First was Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and the next was The Goonies (1985). His role in Indiana Jones was his first role- even his first audition, ever! So he didn’t know exactly how the business worked, but he was delighted by the process, and he received an unexpected surprise after the movie was finished.

Quan shared in his new memoir, Never Say Die, that he booked the role of Short Round in Indiana Jones when he was just 12 years old, and he didn’t realize he would receive residuals in addition to his base pay. Quan wrote in his memoir (via Entertainment Weekly):

“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.”

“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 noted that the “small share was life-changing for my family.” The actor went on to appear in a handful of film and TV roles, but after a 19 year hiatus, he returned to the spotlight in 2023 for Everything Everywhere All at Once, winning the Oscar for best supporting actor.

His memoir, now available where books are sold, details his early life fleeing Vietnam with his father, time in refugee camps, his life as a child actor and his triumphant return to the screen.

via: Variety