Watching Ke Huy Quan accept dozens of awards (including a Best Supporting Actor Oscar) for 2022’s Everything, Everywhere All At Once, you feel his infectious energy, emotion, and enthusiasm for life. It filtered through the air and into our living rooms. We shared in that joy, an inescapable joy of a man being recognized at the peak of his craft after he believed his career to be over.
I just never imagined that he would offer up the same infectious joy for a quick 15-minute interview in support of Disney+’s Loki.
But he absolutely did.
I remember first seeing Ke Huy Quan in 1985’s The Goonies. I missed out on the Temple of Doom train until several years later, but The Goonies was absolutely my thing back in the day. I would never miss it when it finally landed on cable either. His inventive Data was always one of my favorite characters.
And then Quan largely disappeared from my radar until Everything, Everywhere.
Now, he co-stars in Loki season two as the brilliant Ouroboros, the chief engineer supporting the Time Variance Authority (TVA). It is pitch-perfect casting. Quan channels his bright inquisitiveness into Ouroboros. He’s the kind of character who obviously knows more than other characters, but he doesn’t lord it over them. Instead, he’s 100 percent will to help with any problem.
It is a role tailor-made for Ke Huy Quan.
Here, in an interview with Awards Daily, Quan talks about his excitement working on a Marvel Studios project. He shares his shock and awe at the gorgeous, full-scale set that was Ouroboros’s research facility. He also talks about interpreting the character and working with the talented ensemble.
Finally, he reveals how Ouroboros may actually be a variant of The Goonies’ Data.
Loki streams exclusively in its entirety on Disney+.
Ke Huy Quan: Clarence, let me tell you something. I am so happy to be talking Loki with you because when I finished the show, I was so happy and proud of it. I couldn’t wait to talk about it with the world. Of course, when it first came out, the strike happened, and I couldn’t say anything. So now that we get to do this, it makes me really happy.
Awards Daily: Well, I’m super excited to talk to you. I’ve been a longtime fan of yours since Goonies.
Ke Huy Quan: Thank you. Wow. Thank you. You probably watched it on home video.
Awards Daily: No, I saw it in the theater.
Ke Huy Quan: Really? So, we’re roughly the same age?
Awards Daily: Yes, we are. So with Loki, you obviously have this infectious joy and enthusiasm about it. What excited you so much about playing Ouroboros?
Ke Huy Quan: Well, one is I’ve been a huge MCU fan for the longest time. So when I decided to get back to acting, joining the MCU, I kid you not, was at the very top of my wish list. Because to me as an actor, when you get to do something, and it is watched and enjoyed by millions of people, that is a real gift.
My first movie was Indiana Jones. George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Harrison Ford, they were the biggest back in the 80s, you know. So to be able to be a part of that and, when the movie came out and we went all over the world and get to celebrate it and tell people about it, was amazing. That’s what the MCU is. Everything that comes out of it is huge.
So I wanted one as a fan myself. I wanted to do something like that. To get to be invited by Kevin Feige himself was one of the happiest days of my life.
Awards Daily: That’s fantastic. I saw you on Jimmy Kimmel last night, and I loved how you explained that Loki was such a success because it was your family that watched it. I loved that. It was perfect.
Ke Huy Quan: I do. I do. They’re very supportive. As you know, from that interview yesterday, I have more than 20 nieces and nephews and more than 20 grandnieces and nephews. Every single one of them are huge MCU fans. When we did the show in London, I couldn’t tell them about it. They are very secretive about it, and I understand why. It’s all about the fans. We want them to watch the show knowing as little as possible so that they can really enjoy it. That’s why I also didn’t tell my family because, knowing what fans they are, I wanted it to be a really big surprise. Sure enough, when it came out, they were so thrilled. When I saw them, I got big hugs because now I’m a cool uncle.
Awards Daily: You’re basically Thor. So, within the set of the TVA, OB has this fantastic, huge research facility. Being around that set created by Kasra [Farahani, production designer] must have been incredibly helpful to ground you in the character and in the science of it all.
Ke Huy Quan: First of all, Kasra is incredible. So talented, as you can see, with all of the amazing sets that we have on Loki. When I walked on that set for the very first time, immediately it brought me back to the very first time I walked on an Indiana Jones set. It was big scale. It was very detailed. As an actor, it’s wonderful to be able to see and feel and smell and touch everything. That was a big help. I didn’t think that they would do that for Loki.
I watched a lot of behind the scenes on MCU movies, and many times these are huge visual effects movies. So I was expecting to walk on a set with a lot of blue screen, but no. For this one, it was really cool to have something tangible to work with. It didn’t take much imagination because I get to see everything.
Awards Daily: That’s exciting. There are two phases that I’ve seen with OB. One phase is “I’m joyously explaining a concept to you, and you may not get it, but that’s OK because I do.” What do you think drives that joy within OB when he’s explaining these scientific concepts?
Ke Huy Quan: Well, I think first it stemmed from the fact that he’s worked at the basement of the TVA maintenance and repairs department for 400 years by himself, working 24 x 7. So he’s never had any inaction with anybody except that one time when Mobius accidentally walked in there and then left immediately. So I think it stemmed from the fact that he’s seen another human being for the first time in a long, long time.
Second is, I think he is so smart. He has so much knowledge, and I think he’s very eager to share that knowledge with people. He just loves being part of the team. It’s incredible how he single handedly keeping the TVA’s technology going by repairing everything. His passion and enthusiasm for his job really resonated with me. That’s what I love about this character.
Awards Daily: There are a few moments that are of the opposite side, where something goes wrong and he doesn’t understand it. How did you play those moments? Is it confusion? Is it sadness?
Ke Huy Quan: Well, I think he’s frustrated with himself. He loves his job. He loves the TVA. So when he finds something that he can’t solve himself, it’s very frustrating for him because he has so much knowledge. But at the same time, I think he really enjoys those moments because that’s when the entire teamwork comes into play. It’s very relatable. It’s very humanistic as well, too. It’s something that we all face when we come upon something that we have no control over or we don’t know what the outcome is.
Awards Daily: Toward the end of the season, OB meets Victor Timely. It this meeting of these two incredibly intelligent, brilliant, ahead-of-their-time minds. How did you play those scenes with Jonathan Majors?
Ke Huy Quan: I had a great time. It’s really interesting how OB’s work is inspired by Victor Timely. It goes into this concept of how I am when I meet somebody that I’ve loved and enjoyed their work for the longest time. That’s how it’s very relatable to me, especially for the last two years. I could not believe that I get to be in a room with all these actors that I enjoy up on the screen for many years and all these wonderful filmmakers.
For OB, meeting Victor Timely was what he always wanted because his work stemmed from Timely’s previous work. It’s kind of confusing because whose work inspires whose thanks to all of the time slipping, you know.
Awards Daily: Right, exactly. I’ve read that you consider OB to be a variant of Data from The Goonies. Can you elaborate on that?
Ke Huy Quan: When I read the script, I fell in love with OB instantly, but I didn’t know how to play him at first. I would think about it, but something wouldn’t feel right. Well, we shot this show at Pinewood Studios, and one day I went in for a costume fitting. I was asked if I wanted to see the Ouroboros set, and I said sure, of course. So as I was walking to that stage, I looked up, and I saw the name Roger Moore. The stage that they were building for the Ouroboros set was named Roger Moore. As you know, Roger Moore played James Bond.
Data from The Goonies loved James Bond. Immediately, it dawned on me that Ouroboros could be a variant of Data. Data loves engineering and loves building gadgets. So does Ouroboros. I knew immediately how I wanted to play him. The only thing that I needed to do was time slip back into 1985 and try to remember how I approached Data and that energy and all those wonderful memories that I had.
It was, honestly, a real gift to play him. I really love Ouroboros. When it came out and I read and heard all these wonderful comments from fans and how positively they responded to him, it made me really happy.
Awards Daily: Absolutely. Last question for you. What was your favorite scene to film?
Ke Huy Quan: Honestly, I enjoyed the entire experience. That set was incredible. I was so eager to play the role when I was offered to play Ouroboros, particularly being a big fan of the MCU and being a big fan of Loki season one. That very first scene that I shot with Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson when they came into the repairs and maintenance department and Ouroboros descends from the ceiling — that was a really special day for me, playing that character for the very first time.
Awards Daily: I can’t even imagine. Well, thank you so much. I loved this interview. I loved speaking to you. I’m a huge fan of yours. You’re such an inspiration and best of luck to you.
Ke Huy Quan: Thank you, Clarence.
