From Hugh Jackman to Harrison Ford to Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan has worked with some of the industry’s best A-listers
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Ke Huy Quan; Hugh Jackman
Ke Huy Quan learned plenty during his 20-year hiatus from acting. Among the skills acquired, he says, was working with A-list stars — and making them “look good.”
“When I was working as an action choreographer,” the Vietnamese-American star, 54, tells PEOPLE, “one of my responsibilities was to train actors how to throw a punch or do a kick and make them look good doing it on screen.”
That includes Hugh Jackman, who in 2000 worked with Quan on the Marvel Comics adaptation X-Men. When the two “reunited” at the July 25 Hollywood Walk of Fame star ceremony for producer Kevin Feige, he says, they reminisced about the film that would help launch superhero flicks into the mainstream.
“It was so lovely,” says the Oscar winner with a smile. “I love him so much.”
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(Left-right:) Shawn Levy, Louis D’Esposito, Chris Evans, Sebastian Stan, Kathryn Hahn, Ke Huy Quan, David Harbour, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin, Kevin Feige, Ryan Reynolds, Simu Liu, Chris Pratt and Brie Larson at the ceremony honoring Feige with a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on July 25
In the two decades before making a triumphant comeback in 2022’s hit Everything Everywhere All at Once, Quan — who initially broke out in 1984’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and 1985’s The Goonies — struggled to land roles as an adult, instead finding work behind the camera as an action choreographer and assistant director.
“Little did I know that all those years of working, doing action was actually preparing me,” he tells PEOPLE. “I learned from the best.”
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Now that he’s starred in American Born Chinese and Loki season 2 in addition to Everything Everywhere, Quan has an impressive list of costars. “I was secretly learning from Harrison Ford, Hugh Jackman, Tom Hiddleston, Jamie Lee Curtis and Michelle Yeoh,” he rattles off.
Filming the upcoming action-comedy Love Hurts (in theaters Feb. 7, 2025), Quan had the chance to use everything he learned from those industry legends. “I tried to bring on set what they brought to set when they were number one,” he says.
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Ke Huy Quan in ‘Indiana Jones and The Temple Of Doom’
“I’ve been so fortunate to work with wonderful actors and actors who are kind and humble and very giving. And so when I stepped on set being the lead in this movie, I wanted to make sure that everybody feels welcome and motivated to do the best work and to treat everybody like we’re just one big family,” he continues. “All that I learned from them, from Harrison, from Hugh, from Tom, from Michelle and Jamie.”
Another lesson Quan has taken with him throughout his still-expanding career came from a filmmaking legend not many can claim was their first director. “I remember the very first time I heard a filmmaker [say], ‘I always make a movie with an audience in mind.’ And that was Steven Spielberg.”
Love Hurts, costarring Ariana DeBose, Daniel Wu and Marshawn Lynch, is in theaters Feb. 7, 2025. Quan will also feature in Joe and Anthony Russo’s The Electric State (on Netflix March 14, 2025), voice a character in Zootopia 2 (in theaters Nov. 26, 2025) and star in action-thriller Fairytale in New York.
