Ke Huy Quan Reveals “Life Changing” Gesture From Spielberg & Lucas When He Was A Kid — SkimNews
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- Ke Huy Quan was 12 years old when he filmed Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, a sequel that grossed more than $300 million worldwide.
- Lucasfilm sent Quan's family a check for almost $100,000 as a share of the film's profits, on top of his already-paid acting fee for the project.
- Quan, making his first film, was an unlikely recipient — the source notes almost no actors received a piece of a movie's profits in that era, and even today only the biggest stars do.
- Quan discovered the check only after filming had ended, when his parents handed him an envelope; he describes the sum as "life-changing" for his family.
- The revelation appears in Quan's memoir "Never Say Die," excerpted in Entertainment Weekly.
Why it matters: Profit participation was extremely rare for actors in that era and essentially unheard of for a child on his first film, so the Lucas-Spielberg gesture stands out as an exceptional act toward a 12-year-old's family. The nearly $100,000 payment — a small slice of Temple of Doom's $300M+ gross — materially changed Quan's family finances at a time when child actors were typically paid once and sent home.
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