Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan felt elated when his “nickname” was read in Dolby

Announcing his name at the 95th Academy Awards on Sunday was “a very special moment” for new Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan – who was advised to change his name early in his career.

After winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, a triumphant Quan stopped by the press room next to the Dolby Theater and recalled that his manager had once encouraged him to take on a stage name. The ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ star was credited as ‘Jonathan Quan’ or ‘Jonathan Ke Quan’ in some of his early movies like ‘Breathing Fire’ and ‘Encino Man’.

“When I started as a kid, it was my real name, Ke Huy Quan, and when I remember it got really hard, my manager said to me, ‘Maybe it’s easier if you have an American sound. Names,'” said Quan to reporters in the press room.

“I was so desperate for a job that I would do anything. And it’s crazy that… I’d try a different name – not the one I was given – but it just goes to show you how desperate I was to try and do things differently.

Quan won his first Oscar on Sunday night for his touching role as immigrant father and laundromat owner Waymond Wang in All At Once — taking home the coveted Best Picture award. During the 2023 awards season, Quan gushed about being shunned by Hollywood after breaking into the entertainment industry as a child actor.

“When I decided to go back to acting… the very first thing I wanted to do was go back to my birth name,” continued Quan.

“And tonight to see Ariana [DeBose] Open this envelope and say “Ke Huy Quan”… I was so emotional. The first image that came to my mind was my mother…who is the reason I am in America was the reason I have a better life. I have all these options. … She sacrificed so much.

Quan was ecstatic when he arrived in the press room – grinning from ear to ear, jumping up and down, holding up his Oscar trophy and blowing kisses to the crowd before leaving to celebrate.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” he exclaimed. “You are the most beautiful group of people I have ever seen. First off, can you believe I like any of these? … So that’s the famous room where all the winners go. Wow. Hello!”

The 51-year-old actor also sent a nostalgic salute to his “Goonies” co-stars, nearly four decades after playing Data in the ’80s cult classic.

“My younger self wouldn’t know all the struggles I went through to be here because he was just having the time of his life, as a kid, on a set… on a pirate ship, going down a waterslide,” said Quan and reminisced about his ‘Goonies’ days.

“I love them all so much and they were all so happy. sea [Astin] exhibited -Jos [Brolin]Martha [Plimpton] – and we are always bound. Family is forever. Fools say they never die.”