Newly minted Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan is fond of saying that he never forgets where he comes from. On Sunday night, when the 51-year-old actor accepted the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his thoughtful, touching performance in “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” he mentioned his family, his collaborators, and also “my Goonies brother for life, Jeff Cohen.”
Cohen, who played Lawrence a.k.a. Chunk in the 1985 adventure classic, is now an entertainment lawyer. Three years ago, he helped negotiate the contract for Quan’s comeback role in “EEAAO.” Cohen was at the Oscars ceremony when Quan won.
Backstage, after his Oscar win, a high-spirited Quan revealed in the media room (see video above) that he had been in touch with several of his “Goonies” castmates, as you can see in the video.
“Right before this night started, Corey Feldman, one of my ‘Goonies’ brothers, called,” Quan said. “I was talking to Kerri Green and, of course, tonight, Jeff Cohen, who is my entertainment lawyer, is here with me. He was in the audience. And that’s why I wanted to thank him, because I love all of them so much, and every single one of them is so happy. Sean (Astin) reached out, Josh (Brolin), Martha (Plimpton), and, you know, we are always bonded. We’re family together.”
Quan then paused and shouted out to the cheers from the press: “Goonies never say die!” It’s a famous line from the Richard Donner film, which was based on a story by executive producer Steven Spielberg.
Spielberg, nominated this year for “The Fabelmans,” directed Quan in his first film, “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.” Spielberg, of course, was sitting with his wife, Kate Capshaw, Quan’s costar in that film. And Indiana Jones himself, Harrison Ford, reunited with Quan when the legendary actor presented Best Picture.
“During one of the commercial breaks, I ran up to Steven Spielberg and he gave he a big hug,” Quan said. “He put his arms around me and he said, ‘Ke, you are now an Oscar-winning actor.’ And hearing him say that meant the world to me, and I still cannot believe it. Yeah, I mean, wow, wow.”
Quan, who only has an handful of movie credits, still has the rare Oscar distinction of sharing the screen with every performer who won an Oscar on Sunday night: Michelle Yeoh and Jamie Lee Curtis were his costars in “EEAAO,” and he also appeared alongside Best Actor winner Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”) in 1992’s “Encino Man.”
Quan’s IMDb page will surely be filling up with projects soon. He’s already has completed filming a six-episode role on the second season of “Loki” (premiering later this year), and the actor explained to media that he planned to give his agent a call on Monday morning. With some gold hardware in tow.
“I remember when I was struggling,” he said. “I would call my agent. I try not to bother him too much. But I would call him once every three months, once every six months, and I would say, ‘Hey, is there anything out there for me?’ And the answer would always be the same: ‘Oh, I’m so sorry. There’s nothing out there, but I’ll continue to look.’”
Quan smiled as he held his Oscar statuette. “So hopefully when I call my agent tomorrow, he will give me a different answer!”