Ke Huy Quan Emotionally Thanks Steven Spielberg While Accepting Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe

Ke Huy Quan is a Golden Globe winner! At Tuesday's 2023 ceremony, the 51-year-old actor won his first statuette for his performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once.

While accepting the Best Supporting Actor award, an emotional Quan thanked Steven Spielberg for giving him his big break when he cast him in 1984's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom when he was 13 years old.

"I was raised to never forget where I came from and to always remember who gave me my first opportunity," he said. "I am so happy to see Steven Spielberg here tonight. Steven, thank you."

Quan continued his speech by telling the audience that, as a child actor, he "felt so very lucky to be chosen."

"As I grew older, I started to wonder if that was it. If that was just luck. For so many years, I was afraid I had nothing more to offer. No matter what I did I would never surpass what I achieved as a kid," he said. "Thankfully, more than 30 years later, you guys thought of me. They remembered that kid and they gave me an opportunity to try again... Everything that has happened since has been unbelievable."

Quan beat out fellow nominees Brendan Gleeson, Barry Keoghan, Brad Pitt, and Eddie Redmayne to win the honor.

When nominations were announced in December, Quan reacted to his first-ever nod on Instagram.

"I am ecstatic to see our film recognized. I am extremely humbled to be nominated alongside my @everythingeverywheremovie family including Michelle, Jamie, Jonathan, and the Daniels," he wrote. "Thank you so much to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for recognizing the tireless work of our entire cast and crew. This is truly incredible."

Quan's awards season got off to a good start when he won big at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards, a welcome development after his childhood success.

"As I was walking down the red carpet, a reporter asked me, 'How does it feel?'" he said during that acceptance speech, per USA Today. "I couldn't quite articulate how I was feeling, aside from saying, 'It feels incredible.' And I realized I couldn't explain because it was a feeling I hadn't had for a long, long time. In fact, it was more than 30 years. And it was the same feeling that I had when I was a kid, when I was a working actor. So I just wanted to give a huge shoutout to [writer/directors] Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert and our producer, Jonathan Wang, for making me feel like a kid again."

The 2023 Golden Globes airs live on Tuesday, Jan. 10 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on NBC and Peacock. Stay tuned to ETonline.com for complete Golden Globes coverage, including this year's winners.

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