- Ke Huy Quan said he was auditioning constantly after filming "Everything Everywhere All At Once."
- He explained that he couldn't win a role with any of his self-taped auditions.
The meteoric success of "Everything Everywhere All At Once" is hugely impressive as the A24 film has raked in over $100 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo) on a $25 million budget, and its cast has been nominated for a variety of Oscars, Golden Globes, and BAFTAs.
"Everything Everywhere All At Once" follows Evelyn Quan Wang (Michelle Yeoh), who is pulled into an adventure through the multiverse as she's being audited by the IRS, while her husband Waymond Wang (Ke Huy Quan) tries to serve her divorce papers.
But while the film's popularity has pushed Ke Huy Quan back into the spotlight 38 years after he appeared in "The Goonies" and "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," he explained on Tuesday's "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" that he couldn't get another job after filming it.
Production on "Everything Everywhere All At Once" finished in March 2020, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic caused havoc worldwide, but Quan explained that all of his auditions throughout the lockdown were unsuccessful.
He said: "I was at home like everybody else trying to stay safe, and I was auditioning left and right, sending self-tapes. What was interesting was I couldn't get a single job. Not one callback. Nobody wanted me."
"Everything Everywhere" didn't arrive in theaters until 2022, so Quan had to wait for the world to see his performance. The success of the movie has led to him winning a Golden Globe for best supporting actor, and he is also nominated in the same category at this year's Oscars.
But the actor said not getting any auditions still brought back the feelings of failure he experienced after "The Goonies" and "Indiana Jones."
Quan recalled: "I was so worried because I was experiencing everything I experienced as a kid when I was auditioning and I couldn't get a job. That's why I stepped away."
He added: "When you work with Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford and George Lucas, you can't go anywhere but down from there… And that's exactly what happened."
Quan is going to be busy in the near future, as he'll also join the Marvel Cinematic Universe in "Loki" season two, and he explained that he's grateful for how his career has panned out.
Quan said: "Honestly, things are so different for me now than they were back then. I am really blessed and I feel very, very grateful. Honestly, ever since I got back into acting this has been such an emotional journey I have cried so much, my wife is so sick of me crying."
He added: "I thought everybody had forgotten me, but since the movie came out, there's been so much positivity and so much kindness, so thank you so much."