ENTERTAINMENTKe Huy Quan Reveals $100K 'Indiana Jones' Residual Check Was 'Life-Changing'
Ke Huy Quan opened up about 'Indiana Jones' residuals.
Sept. 21 2026, Published 1:16 p.m. ET
Ke Huy Quan opened up about a "life-changing" $100,000 check he received after filming Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom at just 13 years old.
The award-winning actor shared the anecdote in his new memoir Never Say Die.
How Ke Huy Quan Found Out About the Check
Ke Huy Quan received a 'life-changing' check from the movie.
Quan received his first residual check two years after he accepted the role of Short Round in the adventure film.
"One afternoon, I walked into the kitchen and found my parents standing together at the table," he recalled in his book (via Entertainment Weekly). "Mom was holding an envelope with my name printed across it. Dad had the papers that had been inside."
He continued, "They were both smiling, the kind of smile that comes from surprise and disbelief mixed together. They handed everything to me. It was a check from Lucasfilm. It was for almost $100,000, an amount that didn’t make any sense to me."
Residuals Were Far From a Given
The residual checks were particularly generous.
Quan had already been paid for the movie, so he was pleasantly surprised to continue receiving money afterward — something he hadn’t expected at all.
He called the checks "a quiet gesture from Steven [Spielberg] and George [Lucas]."
He wrote, "Back then, almost no actors got a piece of a movie’s profits. Even today, only the biggest stars do. That a kid like me, making his first film, would be included in something like that was unheard of. And Temple of Doom wasn’t some small movie no one was expected to see. It was the sequel to a massive hit, a movie everyone knew would make a lot of money. That made their gesture even more generous."
Receiving that amount of money "was life-changing for my family," Quan revealed.
Ke Huy Quan's Career as a Child Actor
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Quan stopped acting for 20 years.
1984's Temple of Doom was Quan's first role in the industry. He went on to star in The Goonies (1985), Breathing Fire (1991) and California Man (1992).
However, he stopped acting between 2002 and 2021, mostly due to lack of opportunities, especially for Asian actors. "It was tough," he told People in 2022. "I was waiting for the phone to ring, and it rarely did."
Instead, he turned to film work as an assistant director and stunt coordinator.
Ke Huy Quan's Revived Acting Career
Ke Huy Quan won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 2023.
But in 2018, Quan watched Crazy Rich Asians and felt encouraged to try acting again.
"I was happy working behind the camera but I had serious FOMO," he told People. "I wanted to be up there with my fellow Asian actors!"
He ended up landing a role in 2022's Everything Everywhere All at Once — and winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor!
