Quan, who nabbed a Best Supporting Actor trophy for his role in the indie breakout sensation “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” said the moment happened at the end of his speech, when he looked out into the audience and saw Steven Spielberg.
“After my speech, just as I was walking off stage, I looked at him,” he recalled. “He gave me a standing ovation. Steven Spielberg gave me a standing ovation. It was incredible!”
Spielberg gave Quan his first big break by casting him as Short Round in the 1984 flick “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.”
Quan called Spielberg “a sweet man,” adding that “he sends me a Christmas present every single year for the last 38 years.”
Quan is up for an Oscar for “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” and widely considered the favorite for the award ― but reaching this point wasn’t easy for him.
Even after shooting on the acclaimed film was completed, but before it was released, he was struggling to find work.
“I was auditioning, left and right,” he said. “What was interesting is I could not get a single job. Not one callback. Nobody wanted me.”
See his full conversation with Colbert below:
