Loki: Where You’ve Seen Ke Huy Quan Before

Academy Award winner Ke Huy Quan joined the cast of Loki in season 2 as Ouroboros, a.k.a. OB. OB is the chief (and only) engineer of the TVA’s Repairs and Advancement department, where he’s spent 400 years alone keeping the TVA and its tech up and running. The season premiere, named “Ouroboros,” introduces the quirky character and gives Quan ample opportunity to build a rapport with series leads Owen Wilson and Tom Hiddleston. OB may be a new character, but thanks to Quan, we already can’t wait to see more of him. 

Quan’s career has recently had a long overdue resurgence since he captured hearts and garnered critical acclaim as Waymond Wang in Everything Everywhere All At Once, but he’s been acting since the 1980s. Whether you’re familiar with his career or a new fan that wants to know where else to watch him, here are some of Ke Huy Quan’s best roles.

Everything Everywhere All At Once

As mentioned previously, Ke Huy Quan’s role in Everything Everywhere All At Once has given the actor a well-deserved resurgence in his career. Even though he got his start in the ’80s, this was Quan’s first major film role in nearly 20 years. Quan has talked often about nearly giving up on acting before EEAAO, and thanked his wife in his Oscar acceptance speech for continuing to support his dream after all this time. In EEAAO, Quan plays Waymond Wang, the husband of Michelle Yeoh’s Evelyn. Waymond’s love for his wife, no matter what universe they find themselves in, is one of the best parts of the movie. The kindness of both Waymond and Quan have made it incredibly easy for audiences to fall in love with the actor and prove that he should have been a leading man a long time ago.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Ke Huy Quan’s first role ever was playing Harrison Ford’s young sidekick Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Imagine how nerve-wracking it must have been to act alongside Harrison Ford in your first role ever as a child! Even though there are many things about this movie that have not aged well, Quan’s performance isn’t one of them. He’s a talented performer and holds his own well against Ford’s Indy – it’s such a shame that this role didn’t catapult him into even bigger and better roles like it should have.

The Goonies

The year after Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was released, a young Ke Huy Quan starred alongside Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Jeff Cohen, and Corey Feldman in The Goonies – another popular ’80s movie. Quan plays Richard “Data” Wang, a member of the Goonies who loves James Bond and has a knack for creating gadgets.

American Born Chinese

After his success in Everything Everywhere All At Once, Ke Huy Quan reunited with his co-stars Michelle Yeoh and Stephanie Hsu in the Disney+ original series American Born Chinese, which is based off of the graphic novel of the same name. In the series, Quan plays Jamie Yao, a character with a career path similar to his own. Jamie Yao is a former actor known for playing Freddy Wong, an accident-prone character from the fictional sitcom Beyond Repair. Freddy Wong and Beyond Repair go viral in the series after a sound bite of the character’s catchphrase becomes popular on social media, but the catch is that it’s mostly being used by racist bullies to make fun of Asian Americans, like the young main character of the series Jin Wang (Ben Wang). Jamie Yao, who, like Quan, never saw his career take off after Beyond Repair, struggles with his newfound popularity and continuing to be the punchline of other people’s stories. It’s a really great interrogation of how the industry treats actors like Quan, and once again proves that he deserves all of the roles he wants.

The first episode of Loki season 2 is available to stream on Disney+ now. New episodes premiere Thursday nights at 9 p.m. ET.