‘Please keep your dreams alive’: Ke Huy Quan tears up during Oscar acceptance speech
Visibly stunned and weeping, Ke Huy Quan took the Dolby Theatre stage to accept the supporting actor award for his role in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
Quan, 51, is the second Asian actor to win in the category; the first was Cambodian American Haing S. Ngor, for “The Killing Fields,” in 1985. Brendan Gleeson (“The Banshees of Inisherin”), Brian Tyree Henry (“Causeway”), Judd Hirsch (“The Fablemans”) and Barry Keoghan (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) were also nominated for the award.
After the ceremony, Quan said that he went up to Steven Spielberg during one of the commercial breaks earlier in the night. “He gave me a big hug, and he put his arms around and said, ‘Ke, you are now an Oscar-winning actor,’” Quan recounted to onlookers in the press room. “And hearing him say that meant the world to me, and I still cannot believe it.”
The 2023 Oscar winners include “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Brendan Fraser, Michelle Yeoh and “All Quiet on the Western Front.”
Read Quan’s full speech below.
They say stories like this only happen in the movies. I cannot believe it’s happening to me. This is the American dream.
Thank you so much to the Academy for this honor of a lifetime. Thank you to my mom for the sacrifices she made to get me here. Thank you to my brother David, who calls me every day just to remind me to take good care of myself. I love you, brother ... I owe everything to the love of my life, my wife Echo, who month after month, year after year for 20 years, told me that one day my time will come.
Justice for Short Round: Ke Huy Quan wins the 2023 supporting actor Oscar for his work in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
Dreams are something you have to believe in. I almost gave up on mine. To all of you out there: please keep your dreams alive.
Christi Carras contributed to this report.
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