Ke Huy Quan Says Hearing His Birth Name Announced During Oscars 2023 Win Was 'Really Special'

Arturo Holmes/Getty Images Ke Huy Quan

For Ke Huy Quan, hearing his name spoken out loud by Ariana DeBose as she presented him with the award for Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars 2023 was important in more ways than one.

As the Everything Everywhere All at Once star celebrated his Academy Award win in the press room on Sunday, Quan, 51, recalled being advised to use "an American sounding" stage name in the late 1980s and early 1990s and said he was "so emotional" when he heard DeBose, 32, speak his name on stage.

"When I started as a kid, it was my birth name, Ke Huy Quan. And I remembered when it got really tough, my manager told me that 'maybe, you know, it would be easier if you were to have an American sounding name,' and I was so desperate for a job that I would do anything," the actor told reporters backstage Sunday.

"And it's insane that I at one point that I would, you know, try a different name, not the name that was given to me," Quan added. "But it can only show you how desperate I was to try to try to make things different."

Quan, who used the names Jonathan Ke Quan and Jonathan Quan at different points earlier in his career, told reporters that when he resolved to return to acting in 2020, "the very first thing that I wanted to do was to go back to my birth given name."

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"Tonight to see Ariana open that envelope and say 'Ke Huy Quan,' that was a really, really special moment for me," he added. "And then immediately I was so emotional."

Elsewhere during Quan's press room interview, the Vietnamese-American star said that several of his Goonies costars had reached out to support him ahead of the event.

"Corey Feldman, one of my Goonies brothers, called," said Quan, 51, shouting out the actor who played Mouth to his Data in the 1985 cult film. "I was talking to Kerri Green, and of course Jeff Cohen, who is my entertainment lawyer, is here tonight with me. He was in the audience."

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Quan previously opened up about how actor-turned-attorney Cohen, who played Chunk in The Goonies, helped him secure his contract for Everything Everywhere. He even gave Cohen, 48, a shout-out in his acceptance speech Sunday following his big win, and shared a video to his Instagram Story ahead of the ceremony that showed Cohen giving Quan a hug and telling him, "I'm so proud of you!"

RELATED VIDEO: Ke Huy Quan Cries Praises Goonies Costars After 2023 Oscar Win: 'Goonies Never Say Die'

"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," Quan continued in the press room. "Sean [Astin] reached out, Josh [Brolin], Martha [Plimpton]. We are always bonded, you know, we're family together," he said.

"Goonies never say die," he added, quoting the film's famous line.