There is something oddly satisfying about well-deserving actors making a grand comeback in their careers and Ke Huy Quan is a prime example of that. After doing two big films at the start of his career, Ke Huy Quan didn’t get the Hollywood life he had quite imagined which led him to quit acting for a long, long time. That is, until Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Ke Huy Quan decided to make his comeback with the Michelle Yeoh starrer and thus, making the comeback of a lifetime. After he played the character of Waymond Wang, Ke Huy Quan became a fan-favorite and since then the entertainment industry has been very kind to him. However, even after filming Everything Everywhere All at Once, it wasn’t a smooth road for the actor as he recalls losing his health insurance during the pandemic due to not getting more acting roles.
How Ke Huy Quan Lost his Health Insurance
Things didn’t magically change for Ke Huy Quan once he did his comeback role. It was a road full of obstacles thanks to the release of Everything Everywhere All at Once being held for about two years due to the pandemic. The pandemic proved to be difficult for Quan as he could not get hired for a role despite sending in self-takes for auditions.
Quan recently appeared on The Late Late Show with James Corden alongside Sheryl Lee Ralph and while both of them were a joy to watch, Quan shared quite an emotional story about his life during the pandemic. Host James Corden asked him about the twelve months he was unemployed.
Corden asked, “Ke your life right now is the very definition of Everything Everywhere All at Once but you, when you wrapped the movie, you didn’t book a single job for twelve months. Is that right?” The actor replied that the film started shooting three years ago and then everything shut down due to the pandemic. During this time, he stayed at home and would send self-takes to the auditions that his agent got for him. However, none of that reaped any kind of fruit for Quan.
“We started shooting this movie three years ago, shot all the way up with the last day to go, got shut down for the pandemic. Then we regrouped eight months later, finished the movie, and during that entire time I was at home trying to stay safe like everybody and my agent was sending me all these auditions and I was you know, sending in self takes and I could not get a single job.”
As if this wasn’t enough of an ordeal in itself, Quan was on the verge of losing his health insurance due to lack of employment. This prompted him to call his agent to ask him to get him any kind of role, just so he could qualify for the minimum requirement. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen and Quan lost his health insurance in 2021.
“I was about to lose my health insurance. So, I called my agent and I said, ‘Can you please get me anything? It doesn’t matter, I just need one job to make the minimum requirement so I can qualify for health insurance the following year.’ And I could not get one single job. Sure enough, 2021 came and went [and I] lost my health insurance.”
We cannot imagine what could have been going on in Quan’s mind at that time. Things were already tough owing to the pandemic and losing out on health insurance during such a time couldn’t have been short of a punch to the gut!
Also Read: Everything Everywhere All at Once Star Ke Huy Quan’s Loki Season 2 Role Revealed
Ke Huy Quan Doubted his Role in the Comeback Movie
Because of not getting a job in the entertainment industry and eventually losing his health insurance, Quan was left wondering if Everything Everywhere All at Once was just going to be a one-time thing. He even called up producer Jonathan Wang, who had seen the film, to ask if he was even good at it. Wang replied stating that it was a stupid question and told him to “just wait” for the wonders to start happening.
“I was so nervous and I thought this movie was only a one time thing and I call my producer who has seen the movie. I haven’t seen a single footage at this point, and I ask him, I said, ‘You know, Jonathan Can you please tell me one thing? Am I good in the movie?’ And he says. ‘Ke why are you asking such a stupid question?’ And I go, ‘ Well, because nobody wants to hire me.’ And he says, ‘That’s crazy. Ke, Just be patient. You just wait. The movie came out in March of last year and my life has changed.”
Quan’s life has changed, alright! Keeping the downpour of love he has received from fans aside, the actor has won several awards for his role, including a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Golden Globe, a Critics Choice Award, and so on. He is also nominated for an Academy Award and if this isn’t a comeback for the History books, we don’t know what is. This makes him stand next to another actor whose comeback is receiving just as much praise – Brendan Fraser. He too has been receiving tons of awards for The Whale and is nominated for an Oscar.
Quan will soon be seen on the screen once again as he is all set to star in Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Loki season 2.
Everything Everywhere All at Once is available to stream on Parmaount+.
Source: The Late Late Show with James Corden
