*Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom* was released in 1984. It was a massive commercial success and became one of the defining adventure films of the decade. Ke Huy Quan, as Short Round, was in nearly every scene — trading barbs with Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones, driving a car, fighting, surviving. He was twelve and a half years old and appeared opposite one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood history in one of the highest-grossing films of the year.
The following year, 1985, he played Data in *The Goonies* — the gadget-loving kid in Richard Donner’s ensemble adventure about a group of misfit children hunting for pirate treasure. *The Goonies* became a cultural institution, the kind of film that entire generations watched repeatedly on VHS and then introduced to their own children. Data — with his inventions, his physical comedy, his tendency to deploy the wrong gadget at the critical moment — was one of the film’s most beloved characters.
By 1985, Ke Huy Quan was fourteen years old and had two iconic roles in two beloved films. He was recognizable to millions of American children. He was, in the specific sense of that word, a star.
The question was what came next.
## The Gap Between Recognition and Opportunity
The years that followed were the years that Quan has spent the most time trying to explain to interviewers, because they are the hardest part of the story to make legible in an era that has moved, at least partially, toward greater inclusion in Hollywood casting.