TVA technician Ouroboros morphs into a charming scene-stealer in the very first new episode of “Loki” – thanks in no small part to the ideal casting of Ke Huy Quan, who continues his glorious comeback with the Marvel series.
It was a real casting coup when Marvel announced in September 2022 that Ke Huy Quan would join the illustrious cast of Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson in the second season of the acclaimed MCU series “Loki”. After all, at that point Quan was already poised to make perhaps the most touching Hollywood comeback in recent years, thanks largely to another multiverse adventure.
By now, many should be familiar with the story of the Vietnamese-born actor who emigrated to the US at the age of eight and can now be seen in “Loki” as the quirky TVA expert Ouroboros aka OB. To all the others, we would like to take this opportunity to give you a hint…
FROM CHILD STAR TO ACTING BREAK
At the very beginning of his acting career, Quan, who was only twelve years old at the time, landed leading roles in two productions that went down in film history. He first stood by the side of the world’s most famous archaeologist in his second screen adventure “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” (1984) as sidekick Short Round alias Shorty, before becoming an important member of the “Goonies” (1985) just one year later as James Bond fan and tinkerer Data.
Ke Huy Quan as Shorty
However, even though he proved himself to be a promising up-and-coming star with this absolute cult film one-two punch, the really big parts failed to materialise. He still appeared in a few productions in the 90s (for example in a small supporting role in the cult comedy “Stone Age Junior”), but at the beginning of the new millennium he turned his back on acting for a long time. He was frustrated by the fact that, as an actor of Asian origin, there were almost no roles for him in Hollywood, or only the same cliché roles.
Instead, the martial arts enthusiast worked primarily as an assistant director and stunt choreographer. After an almost 20-year break from acting, it was the surprising mega-success of the comedy “Crazy Rich” in 2018, cast exclusively with Asian actors*, that reignited his passion for acting.
COMEBACK WITH “EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE” – AND WHAT A ONE!
After stepping in front of the camera for the first time in years for the Netflix film “Adventure ‘Ohana”, released at the beginning of 2021, his actual comeback would then follow a year later. In the grandiose multiverse spectacle “Everything Everywhere All At Once”, Quan took many viewers’ hearts by storm as the good-natured Waywond – and was promptly rewarded with an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
And since then, at the latest, there seems to be no stopping the 52-year-old. After the Disney+ comedy series “American Born Chinese”, in which Quan basically played a fictionalised version of himself, he is now enriching the MCU in “Loki” (episode 2 of the second season will be released on Disney+ on 13 October 2023). Next up, he joins stars like Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, Stanley Tucci and Brian Cox in the big-name ensemble cast of the mammoth sci-fi project “The Electric State” from Netflix and “Avengers: Endgame” creators Joe and Anthony Russo.
