Ke Huy Quan is still proving he's good enough

Summary

Wild Card with Rachel Martin: Ke Huy Quan is Still Proving He's Good Enough

NPR's "Wild Card with Rachel Martin" delves deep into the life and career of acclaimed actor Ke Huy Quan in the episode titled "Ke Huy Quan is Still Proving He's Good Enough," released on February 6, 2025. Recognized as one of The New York Times' Top 10 Podcasts of 2024, this episode offers an intimate conversation that transcends the typical interview format, guided by a unique deck of conversation-controlling cards.

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Introduction and Background

Rachel Martin opens the episode by highlighting Ke Huy Quan's remarkable journey from a child actor in iconic films to his recent Oscar-winning performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once. She sets the stage by recounting Quan's early roles as Short Round in the Indiana Jones series and Data in The Goonies, roles that cemented his place in cinematic history but also posed significant challenges for his subsequent career.

Rachel Martin [01:09]: "He's a guy who came to America as a refugee from the Vietnam War. He lucked into an audition in Los Angeles at 13 years old and got super famous... but he stopped getting roles after that."

Childhood and Early Experiences

Ke Huy Quan reflects on his childhood, emphasizing the sense of freedom he found in playing hide and seek—a simple yet profound activity that offered him solace and a feeling of limitless possibility amidst the struggles his family faced as immigrants.

Ke Huy Quan [03:22]: "When I was hiding in that spot, it felt like I can do anything. I can be anywhere."

He shares poignant memories of his large family, consisting of nine siblings, and the strong bonds he formed with his siblings and neighbors, which served as his primary social circles during their early years in Los Angeles.

Career Challenges and Breakthroughs

Quan candidly discusses the persistent feeling of inadequacy that plagued him throughout his career, despite his early success. He acknowledges the rigorous process of auditioning and the internal battles he faced in proving his worth to filmmakers.

Ke Huy Quan [00:23]: "I always feel like I'm not good enough... But the internal narrative is slowly changing."

The conversation shifts to his latest project, Love Hurts, where he plays an assassin turned real estate agent. Quan expresses his excitement about taking on a role that defies traditional action star stereotypes, highlighting his journey from action choreography to leading roles.

Ke Huy Quan [15:04]: "I didn't think I was right for it... But then I realized they were trying to create a different type of action hero."

Quan draws parallels between his aspirations and the influence of Hong Kong action legends like Jackie Chan, expressing fulfillment in being compared to such icons.

Personal Life and Relationships

A significant portion of the episode delves into Quan's personal life, particularly his relationship with his wife, whom he met in Shanghai. He describes their complementary personalities—his fears balanced by her fearlessness—and how this dynamic has been instrumental in his personal growth.

Ke Huy Quan [18:34]: "My wife is the opposite of me. We are very different people. She has no fear. I have a lot of fear... she helps me take the fear out of the equation."

He also honors his parents' legacy, detailing how their relentless belief in his potential instilled a sense of self-worth and determination that has guided him through life's challenges.

Ke Huy Quan [06:08]: "My mom always says, believe in yourself. You are your worst enemy if you don't believe in yourself."

Insights and Beliefs

Through the Wild Card game, Rachel Martin navigates deeper into Quan's psyche, exploring his fears, beliefs, and the philosophies that sustain him. Quan openly discusses the role fear plays in his life, confessing his constant battle with self-doubt despite his achievements.

Ke Huy Quan [18:24]: "Fear of failure, fear of not making the best out of your life... I have a lot of fears in my life."

Quan shares his Buddhist belief in universal order and balance, reflecting on how his life's patterns and experiences affirm his faith that "everything happens for a reason."

Ke Huy Quan [27:22]: "I have to believe in order. There's got to be. I have to believe in that."

He also contemplates his legacy, expressing confidence that his loved ones and their memories will keep a part of him alive even after his passing.

Ke Huy Quan [29:25]: "It's the people that love you that are really sad and they keep you alive through their memories."

Memory Time Machine

In a heartfelt segment, Quan revisits a low point in his career—the moment he didn't secure a role amidst intense competition. This memory serves as a reminder of his humble beginnings and the resilience required to persevere in the face of rejection.

Ke Huy Quan [31:09]: "I don't ever want to forget and take things for granted... It makes you have empathy for other people who are going through the same thing that you went through."

Conclusion and Final Thoughts

As the episode concludes, Quan emphasizes the importance of kindness and empathy, hoping these values will resonate beyond his personal narrative.

Ke Huy Quan [33:52]: "If there's one thing that we can pass around, it would be kindness and empathy. I think it goes a long way when you are kind."

Rachel Martin wraps up the conversation by acknowledging Quan's profound journey and the inspiring messages he imparts, both through his roles and personal life.

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Notable Quotes:

• Ke Huy Quan [00:23]: "I always feel like I'm not good enough."
• Rachel Martin [01:09]: "You just beat a whole lot of odds to get where you are."
• Ke Huy Quan [03:22]: "When I was hiding in that spot, it felt like I can do anything."
• Ke Huy Quan [15:04]: "I didn't think I was right for it... But then I realized they were trying to create a different type of action hero."
• Ke Huy Quan [27:22]: "I have to believe in order. There's got to be. I have to believe in that."
• Ke Huy Quan [33:52]: "If there's one thing that we can pass around, it would be kindness and empathy."

Episode Highlights:

• Childhood Freedom: Playing hide and seek provided Quan with a sense of limitless possibility amidst his family's struggles as immigrants.

• Career Struggles: Despite early success, Quan grappled with feelings of inadequacy, a theme that persists even after winning an Oscar.

• Breaking Stereotypes: In Love Hurts, Quan challenges traditional action hero archetypes, aligning his role with his martial arts background and personal aspirations.

• Balancing Fears: His relationship with his fearless wife helps him navigate and mitigate his own fears, fostering personal growth.

• Philosophical Insights: Quan's Buddhist beliefs and his faith in the inherent order of the universe provide a framework for understanding his life's journey.

• Legacy and Memories: Quan believes that memories and the love of his family will preserve his essence beyond his lifetime.

• Emphasis on Kindness: He advocates for kindness and empathy as foundational values that can positively impact others.

Conclusion:

This episode of Wild Card with Rachel Martin offers a comprehensive and heartfelt exploration of Ke Huy Quan's life, blending personal anecdotes with profound insights. Through candid conversations and reflective questions, Quan unveils the layers of his identity, shedding light on the resilience, humility, and empathy that define his enduring legacy in Hollywood and beyond.

Transcript

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[Rachel Martin]

What is something you still feel you need to prove to the people you meet?

[KE Huy Kwan]

Oh, I always feel like I'm not good enough. You know, I spent so many years auditioning for stuff, trying to prove to filmmakers that I'm perfect for this role. But the internal narrative is slowly changing.

[Rachel Martin]

I'm Rachel Martin, and this is Wild Card, the game where cards control the conversation. Each week, my guest answers questions about their life pulled from a deck of cards. They're allowed to skip one or flip one back on me. My guest this week is KE Huy Kwan.

[KE Huy Kwan]

Now that I have the success, I worry, honestly, I worry that it will go away. I worry that it will be, oh, this is just a one time thing. I've been down this road before.

[Rachel Martin]

There's a moment in Ki Hui Kwan's new movie, Love Hurts, where his character, this assassin turned real estate agent named Marvin Marvin tells his assistant to find something she loves and then go after it. I couldn't help but see real parts of Kee's life reflected in this idea. Here's this guy who came to America as a refugee from the Vietnam War. He lucked into an audition in Los Angeles at 13 years old and got super famous as Harrison Ford's young sidekick in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Right after that, he played Data in Goonies, the kid with all the gadgets. These were huge movies with a massive cultural footprint, even today. But he stopped getting roles after that. No one would have blamed him if he just quit Hollywood altogether. But Key had found the thing that he loved, and he didn't let the fact that one path closed stop him from getting the life he wanted, including an Oscar for his role in Everything Everywhere all at Once. I am so very excited to welcome KE Huy Kwan to Wildcard.

[KE Huy Kwan]

Wow, Rachel, that's. You should. That's a great bile.

[Rachel Martin]

Oh, I'm just. Your story is so incredible. I mean, I know it's out there a lot because you won the Oscar and you've been in the culture in a big way since then, but it still just bears repeating that you just beat a whole lot of odds to get where you are. And I'm just so thrilled to have you.

[KE Huy Kwan]

It's pretty incredible. It's pretty incredible.

[Rachel Martin]

Yeah.

[KE Huy Kwan]

Thank you.

[Rachel Martin]

Well, we're gonna get a chance to talk about your new movie in a few minutes, but I'm just gonna get right into our game, if you're up for it.

[KE Huy Kwan]

Yes. And I know you have some really tough questions in that deck.

[Rachel Martin]

They're not tough key. They're just.

[KE Huy Kwan]

They require a little thought. They're deep questions. Yeah, they require a little thought. It's the good stuff. Yes. Let's go for it. I'm actually looking forward to it. Okay.

[Rachel Martin]

I think it's fun. It's fun. So the first round is about your memories. You ready to go?

[KE Huy Kwan]

Okay, let's do it. Yes.

[Rachel Martin]

First three cards. One, two, or three?

[KE Huy Kwan]

I'll pick the first one.

[Rachel Martin]

The first one. Number one.

[KE Huy Kwan]

Yes.

[Rachel Martin]

What activity gave you a sense of freedom as a child?

[KE Huy Kwan]

Oh, wow. Taking me back to my childhood. I love this hide and seek. I love playing hide and seek. When I was, you know, when we came to the United States as immigrants, my parents, you know, pretty much gave up everything they had to get the entire family here. So when we were living in Los Angeles, we didn't have money to buy toys, so. And we didn't have much friends. You know, it took us a little while to acclimate to this new life.

[Rachel Martin]

Yeah.

[KE Huy Kwan]

And my family was my friends. My neighbor were my friends. And we would just run around, and I would always, you know, find a spot that nobody can find me. And while I'm hiding in that spot, it felt like. Yeah, it felt like I can do anything. I can be anywhere.

[Rachel Martin]

You had a lot of siblings, right?

[KE Huy Kwan]

I have a lot. Yeah. Eight siblings, nine of us total. But the age gap between the oldest and the youngest is really big. So my friends were my little sister and my little brother.

[Rachel Martin]

What about that experience? The hiding felt free to you? Or just maybe it was the sense of play.

[KE Huy Kwan]

I think. You know, sometimes, I don't know. It's weird. Like, when I was a kid, a lot of times I'm just pensive, you know, I spend a lot of time sitting at the sofa and just looking out the window and daydreaming, dreaming of, you know, really, you know, anything and everything. I don't know why I was always like that when I was a kid. So me finding a spot and hiding and being alone, being by myself, and a lot of times in the darkness, too. It's weird. This is a very interesting conversation because I feel like I'm learning a lot about myself, about my childhood.

[Rachel Martin]

We're only a couple minutes in.

[KE Huy Kwan]

Yeah, I know. I know. This is going great, Rachel. Yeah, that's a great question. I don't know if I have an.

[Rachel Martin]

Answer for that, but the dark was somehow comforting, too. Yeah. Being alone. Yeah.

[KE Huy Kwan]

Yes. Yes. Okay.

[Rachel Martin]

Three new cards. One, two or three?

[KE Huy Kwan]

We'll go with the second one.

[Rachel Martin]

Number two. What's something your parents taught you to love.

[KE Huy Kwan]

Love? Myself. They were. They were great parents. My mom is still here. They. My mom always says, believe in yourself. You. You are your worst enemy if you don't believe in yourself. That's. That's what was taught growing up. They really made us believe that the impossible was possible, especially given, you know, our background, you know, how we started, how we came here. And it's pretty remarkable. I mean, I look at my entire family, all my siblings are very successful in business, and they all started with nothing. We all came here with nothing. In fact, my parents were heavily in debt when we came here. So me getting this incredible opportunity to be an actor at 12 years old, and what my first movie has done for me, when it came out, you know, I made some money.

[Rachel Martin]

This was the Indiana Jones.

[KE Huy Kwan]

Yeah. This was Temple of Doom. And, you know, the money that I made, I was able to help, you know, pay back some of the debts my parents owed that they. You know, the money that they borrowed to get all of us out here, because getting on that boat, it cost us, like, a lot of money. You know, we paid in gold sheets. That's how we got on the boat in Vietnam and then escaped to Hong Kong and spent a year in the refugee camp there. And then luckily, you know, the American government at that time was very generous, and, you know, they accepted us.

[Rachel Martin]

I mean, your parents were just incredible. It takes such fortitude and strength and courage on the part of your parents, and then to be able to instill that in you. They had to have believed it, that you love yourself, you can achieve anything. Because that was true for them. They saw this as their goal, and they made it happen.

[KE Huy Kwan]

Yeah, and we were very lucky. Had they not believed in that themselves, there was no way that all of us would be able to come here. You know, all of us are alive and well. I mean, you know, we know a lot of families that were not so lucky making that journey. A lot of people died. So to see how we got here, that entire journey, and also how much, you know, my entire family has accomplished, it's pretty remarkable.

[Rachel Martin]

Okay, thank you for that. I appreciate it. Three new cards.

[KE Huy Kwan]

Okay.

[Rachel Martin]

One, two or three?

[KE Huy Kwan]

I'll go with the third one.

[Rachel Martin]

The third one. What's an early memory of appreciating beauty.

[KE Huy Kwan]

Earliest memory of appreciating beauty. Okay, I'm going to take one of those. Oh, I'm flip it on you first. We're flipping it. Okay, I want to hear your answer.

[Rachel Martin]

I have. I have thought about what my answer would be to this. I just remember I was really young. I was probably like five or six. And my mom had gotten like a parking ticket or a speeding ticket or something. And. And I remember being on the floor of my bedroom and looking up at her, and she had gotten dressed to go to traffic court. And she was wearing this brown, sort of like silk fabric skirt with little black pattern on it. Little maybe sort of polka dots and a matching shirt. And her hair, she had this black hair and it was all out and beautiful. And she was wearing these wedge shoes. And I remember at a very young age, just looking at her and thinking that she was the most beautiful. It makes me a little bit emotional to think about because she's been gone a long time. But I remember looking at her and thinking that she was so beautiful, that my mom was such a beautiful person. So I have a lot of memories of appreciating beauty in nature, but that is the memory that comes to me when I think about an early moment of seeing something beautiful or recognizing what beauty is.

[KE Huy Kwan]

Yeah, that is a great answer, Rachel. I don't know if I have an answer as good as that.

[Rachel Martin]

It's not a competition. I promise. Promise.

[KE Huy Kwan]

I know. I know. Earliest memory of beauty.

[Rachel Martin]

It doesn't have to be the earliest. Just an early memory of seeing something beautiful. Appreciating it.

[KE Huy Kwan]

I would have to say my wife. I met her when she was 22 years old. We were in Shanghai, China, at that time. And I remember I just got off the plane and I got to the office. I walked in immediately. My eyes went straight to her. She had long hair at that time, and she was beautiful. It was almost like love at first sight, really. And the minute I saw her, I just wanted to. To get to know her. I just wanted to talk to her. And sure enough, that night, you know, the entire everybody from the office had dinner and we were sitting next to each other and all of a sudden it seems like everybody else disappeared. It was just like it was just me and her. It was very cinematic.

[Rachel Martin]

Kind of like one of those scenes.

[KE Huy Kwan]

Where it all goes black. Yeah. The camera pans around and all of a sudden everybody's gone. It's just me and her. And we ended up talking nonstop. We never ran out of things to say to each other even to this day, 22 years later, you know, whether we're driving or at night, we would just have endless conversation, endless subjects to talk about. And she was. And to me, she was just the most beautiful woman on the planet.

[Rachel Martin]

That is lovely.

[KE Huy Kwan]

Yeah.

[Rachel Martin]

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[Rachel Martin]

Okay, so we just did round one. I think it went really well. How do you feel?

[KE Huy Kwan]

Oh, yeah, it's all right.

[Rachel Martin]

Okay, I'm gonna prove to you that this is a good time. Before we get into round two, let's talk about your movie a little bit. Yes, it's called Love Hurts. It is a very good time. You are at the top of the call sheet for this one. Key. This is your movie.

[KE Huy Kwan]

Can you believe it's number one on the call sheets? Come on.

[Rachel Martin]

How does it feel? You've been at this a long time. You've been in Hollywood. You've been working away for four decades or so.

[KE Huy Kwan]

Yeah, four decades. I remember when it was first offered to me. It was during the whole awards season leading up to the Oscar nominations. The script was sent to me and I read it and I thought it was incredible. But there was one thing that kept me back was as much As I love the script, I didn't think it was. I didn't think I was right for it. I just couldn't see myself as Marvin Gable. I've been conditioned for decades to think that an action star needs to look a certain way. They need to look like Schwarzenegger or Stallone or Jason Statham or, you know, Steven Seagal, anybody. All those types but me. And of course, then I realized very quickly that they were trying to create a different type of action hero. They were trying to change the style, status quo. And I just love the idea.

[Rachel Martin]

And it's powerful key because you had to reframe your brain about who could be an action star. Then you change. For all those people watching what it means to be a hero and a martial arts hero like you do some major butt kicking in this movie.

[KE Huy Kwan]

Yes, yes. You know, I studied martial arts, taekwondo for many years. I have a black belt. And when I was younger, you know, I was a big fan of the action genre, especially the movies that came out of Hong Kong in the 80s with Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuan Bell. I was a big fan of those. And when I got my black belt, I was so eager to go out and show the world what I can do. But of course, Hollywood was not hiring actors like me to be an action star at that time. And sadly, I thought I would have to put away those skills forever. But when I went to film school and started working behind the camera, those skills really came in handy.

[Rachel Martin]

Because you were like a stunt choreographer, right?

[KE Huy Kwan]

I was an action choreographer, yeah. And flash forward two decades later, I didn't know that one day I would be offered as a lead in a major studio picture. What a exciting idea it is to make someone like me an action star.

[Rachel Martin]

That's so full circle for you to be able to do a role that is akin to something that Jackie Chan would have done, like movies that you watch when you were growing up.

[KE Huy Kwan]

You know what? When I was younger, I really wanted to work with him. I really wanted to be in a movie with Jackie Chan and play his younger brother. That never came to pass. And since our trailer came out, so many people in the comments says he looks like Jackie Chan or he fights like Jackie Chan. And I think, to me, that's one of the greatest compliments because I've been a fan of his for a long time and he is an incredible martial artist, so. And, you know, to be able to do love hurts, you know, all my dreams, you know, the dreams that I had when I was younger came true. Again, it's incredible.

[Rachel Martin]

Well, congratulations on the film. It's such a fun ride. Okay, we are in round two. Round two is like insights.

[KE Huy Kwan]

Okay, we'll start with the middle one.

[Rachel Martin]

One, two, or three? You're going number two?

[KE Huy Kwan]

Yeah, two.

[Rachel Martin]

Oh, okay. How big of a role does fear have in your life?

[KE Huy Kwan]

I love these questions. I'm glad it takes up. It does take up space. In my life, I have fears. And every thing that I do, I always look at it from different angles. And a lot of angles, you know, gives me fear. You know, fear of failure, fear of not, you know, making the best out of your life. I have a lot of fears in my life. But what's incredible is that my wife is the opposite of me. We are very different people. She has no fear. I have a lot of fear. So we kind of balance each other out. And every time my fear shapes my decision, she's there to say, what if you take that out?

[Rachel Martin]

Can you do that? Are you capable of removing it from the equation?

[KE Huy Kwan]

Yes. And then the answer becomes very clear. It becomes very clear after that. Once we take the fear out of the equation, then you'd be surprised of how many things that you're capable of.

[Rachel Martin]

Do you play that role for her, too? Is it reciprocal in some way? Can you take away her fear when it pops up?

[KE Huy Kwan]

You know, it's interesting. I talked about what my parents has instilled in me. She's kind of the extension of my parents. She truly, truly believes that anything is possible. So she never needs advice from me. You know, she's a very determined person. Let me give you an example. We always joke about this. Like, if I walk into a store to buy a pair of jeans, it would take me 20, 30 minutes. I would try them out. She goes in there in less than a minute. She knows what she wants, and then she's at the counter ready to pay.

[Rachel Martin]

She is a woman after my own heart. I cannot stand to belabor the choice of a new pair of jeans. And you are exactly like my husband, who will spend hours and hours debating whether the boot cut or the skinny jean is the better idea.

[KE Huy Kwan]

But I'm slowly. I'm slowly. You know, I know what I'm really bad at, and I'm trying to learn from that.

[Rachel Martin]

There's a lid for every pot, as they say. Okay, three more cards. One, two or three.

[KE Huy Kwan]

We will start with the. The third one.

[Rachel Martin]

The third one. Number three. Let's do that.

[KE Huy Kwan]

Yes.

[Rachel Martin]

What is something you still feel you need to prove to the people you meet?

[KE Huy Kwan]

Oh. What is something that I feel like I still need to prove? I always feel like I'm not good enough. You know, I spent so many years auditioning for stuff, waiting in the audition room, trying to prove to filmmakers that I'm perfect for this role. And the majority of time, this is. You know, this is a story of many actors, not just me. You know, I wouldn't get him. And then, of course, when I go watch a movie, when it comes out, the role that I auditioned for, I would say, oh, yeah, I understand why I didn't get that role, because that actor's great in it. He's so much better than me. So I think it stemmed from that. So even to this day, I still feel like I'm never good enough. But again, you know, the internal narrative is slowly changing.

[Rachel Martin]

Yeah, I would hope that little gold statue in your house somewhere does some work and remedying that false narrative, you.

[KE Huy Kwan]

Know, right after I won the Oscar the next day, I woke up literally thinking, was that all a dream? And, you know, we woke up, and I was staring. I was staring at my wife, and I asked her, I said, wait, was yesterday a dream? And she said, no, you won an Oscar.

[Rachel Martin]

Okay, last one in this round. One, two, or three?

[KE Huy Kwan]

Okay, I'll pick the first one.

[Rachel Martin]

First one. What have you learned to take less seriously?

[KE Huy Kwan]

What do I learn? What did I. What have I learned to take less seriously? Oh, all right. I'm gonna do a flip on you. I want to hear your answer.

[Rachel Martin]

You can't flip it. You only got to flip once. But I like your personal appearance. But you could skip it. You can skip it, and I can.

[KE Huy Kwan]

Pick a different one. Okay, I know my mind is just drawing a blank right now, but I know I have a good answer for this. What do I take less seriously? You know, everything I do, I take seriously everything, whether it's big or small. And sometimes, you know, if I do a bad job, whether it's a bad take on a movie or if it's just a task, a simple task that I do, I get mad at myself because in a lot of ways, I'm a perfectionist or I strive to be as perfect as I can. And I think over the years, I've learned that imperfection is perfection.

[Rachel Martin]

Yeah.

[KE Huy Kwan]

We're human beings. We're flawed, you know, and it's okay to mess up. It's okay to. Yeah. To make mistakes and also to be not good at something, and because when you're not good at something, it gives you an opportunity to learn. And I Love learning. I love learning. I think I heard it somewhere. I forgot who said it. The day you stop learning is the day that you are truly old. If you want to feel young, you know, you still, you know, you're still very determined to learn.

[Rachel Martin]

Is that a struggle for you to remind yourself, like, just chill, Kee, just chill?

[KE Huy Kwan]

Yeah. Like, for example, like. Cause how hard it is for me to be here now that I have the success. You know, I worried, honestly, I worried that it would go away. I worried that it would be, oh, this is just a one time thing. I've been down this road before.

[Rachel Martin]

Right.

[KE Huy Kwan]

You know, as a kid. So you feel like you have to.

[Rachel Martin]

Keep your foot on the gas pedal, so to speak.

[KE Huy Kwan]

Yeah, yeah, I get it. Yes.

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[Rachel Martin]

We're going into the last round. This is the beliefs round. So beliefs 1, 2 or 3?

[KE Huy Kwan]

I'm going to start with the third one.

[Rachel Martin]

This one over here?

[KE Huy Kwan]

Yeah.

[Rachel Martin]

Do you think there's order in the universe or is it all chaos?

[KE Huy Kwan]

I have to believe in order. There is order in the universe. You know, I'm a Buddhist and Buddhism is all about, you know, maintain a balance. You Know you have good, you have bad, you have up and you have down. Everything is balanced out. I do believe there's order. There's got to be. I have to believe in that.

[Rachel Martin]

Have you seen that play out in your life? Are you able to examine it, look back and say there is a pattern to these things? There is order?

[KE Huy Kwan]

I. I don't know if there's a. There's a. I don't know if there's. I would say a pattern, but. But what I do believe is that everything happens for a reason.

[Rachel Martin]

You do?

[KE Huy Kwan]

Yeah. Especially given looking at my own life story, where it started, you know, the entire journey. I learned so much along the way, and somehow I ended up where I really wanted to be. But then if you told me four years ago, I would not, you know, I would not believe it. But when the opportunity of everything, everywhere, all at once came to me, I don't think I could have played that role, play the different. The multiple versions of that role in that movie had I not had that journey.

[Rachel Martin]

I see that. That feels like order.

[KE Huy Kwan]

Okay.

[Rachel Martin]

One, two or three.

[KE Huy Kwan]

I'll pick the second one.

[Rachel Martin]

The second one. Do you think there's any part of us that will live on after we die?

[KE Huy Kwan]

Yes. Through your loved ones, memories of us. You know when I always say, you know, it's when you talk about death and all of that, you know, when you die, it's the people that love you that are really sad and they keep you alive through their memories. That's what I think.

[Rachel Martin]

Have you. Your mom's still around. Your dad died how long ago?

[KE Huy Kwan]

My mom is still here. My dad passed away 20, 24 years ago. And my mom, you know, she's quite a woman. She's 87 years old and she's still as active as ever. She loves going out. She loves the slot machines. She does, yeah. She loves the slot machines. And she still believes that she's going to hit the jackpot one day.

[Rachel Martin]

I love that. See, that's where you get your optimism from, is your mom. Yeah, for sure. Okay. We end the show the same way every time.

[KE Huy Kwan]

Okay.

[Rachel Martin]

With a trip in our memory time machine. Okay. So here we are in the memory time machine. You get to go back to one moment from your past. It is not a moment that you would change anything about. It's just a moment you would like to linger in a little longer. What moment do you choose?

[KE Huy Kwan]

Um. The year is 1993. I've spoken about this, so I can. I can get through this without getting emotional, but it's you know, it's. It's when I auditioned for a role, a really tiny role that has no name, it's only two lines, and I was competing with 30 other Asian actors, and I was by the phone for an entire week waiting for my agent to call. You know, it didn't ring, so I had to call my agent to find out whether I got that part. And when I didn't, I was devastated. I was despondent. And the reason why I want to revisit that moment is because I don't ever want to forget and take things for granted, given everything that I get to enjoy now. It's very easy if you don't balance it out. You know, your high points in life with your low points in life. It's very easy to forget who you are. It's very easy to take things for granted. It's very easy to have a big head, but never forget where you came from, because it humbles you. It. You know, it makes you have empathy for other people who are going through the same thing that you went through. So, yeah, that would be, you know, that would be one moment that I would visit and hopefully tell my younger self, kee, don't worry. Kee, don't worry. Everything's gonna be okay. But you just have to wait 30 years. That's all. Yeah. And then I would say, my youngest. I would say, get the F out of here.

[Rachel Martin]

KE Huy Kwan's new movie is Love Hurts. Keith, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It has been so much fun.

[KE Huy Kwan]

Thank you for having me.

[Rachel Martin]

If you like this conversation, go back and check out my episode with Gael Garcia Bernal. He also got started in show business at a really young age, and he's got a similar appreciation for all the success he's had. If you want more from KE Huy Kwan on Wildcard this week, he shares something intangible he hopes to pass on.

[KE Huy Kwan]

If there's one thing that we can pass around, it would be kindness and empathy. I think it goes a long way when you are kind.

[Rachel Martin]

You can hear that answer by signing up for Wildcard, which is a fantastic way to support our show and public radio. And you get to listen sponsor free. Find out [e-mail] Wildgard this episode was produced by Rommel Wood with help from Summer Tamod and edited by Dave Blanchard. It was mastered by Patrick Murray. Wildcard's executive producer is Beth Donovan. Our theme music is by Ramtin Arablouei. You can reach out to [e-mail] we'll shuffle the deck and be back with more next week. Talk to you then.

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