Ke Huy Quan has been announced in his first lead role since his Oscar win.
The actor has been slated to star in a new film called With Love. The action film will be made for Universal Pictures, and is set to be directed by Jonathan Eusebio and produced by David Leitch and Kelly McCormick via 87North (Bullet Train and The Fall Guy).
No plot has been given about the film, but Deadline reports it will be an original script written by Josh Stoddard and Matthew Murray.
It will be Quan’s first feature lead since his appearance in the critically-acclaimed Everything Everywhere All At Once. Starring alongside Michelle Yeoh, Quan became the first Vietnam-born actor to win an Oscar, as Best Supporting Actor.
Quan first worked as a child actor in movies such as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies. However, he struggled to gain roles after these appearances, quitting acting at the age of 23.
“I was raised in a very traditional Chinese-value family, to never blame anybody but yourself,” he says. “So, I thought I wasn’t tall enough, I wasn’t good-looking enough, I was not a good enough actor. I didn’t have the maturity to think they were just not writing roles for Asian actors.
“I thought if I were six-feet tall, I would be a working actor. If I had the traditional training… All these insecurities started flooding my head and I thought I was the problem. It was a painful period, and I was so lost. I was confused, I was miserable, I was very dispirited.”
However, after seeing the success of Crazy Rich Asians, Quan decided to resume acting, where he auditioned for his role as Waymond Wang in Everything Everywhere.
Since starring in the film, he has gone on to act in Finding ‘Ohana and reunited with Yeoh for the Disney+ series American Born Chinese. He is also set to appear in the upcoming Kung Fu Panda 4 sequel.