After USC, he put that knowledge to work. The martial arts background he had built through years of taekwondo study opened a specific door: assistant fight choreography, the work of designing and executing the physical action sequences that action films require. He joined Cory Yuen, a Hong Kong action choreographer who had worked on dozens of films in both the Hong Kong and Hollywood industries, in Toronto for work on *X-Men* (2000). He performed stunt rigging and assistant fight choreography on one of the biggest superhero films of that year.
He also worked on *The One* (2001), the Jet Li action film, in a choreography capacity. And in 2004, he worked as second unit director and assistant director for Wong Kar-wai on *2046*, the Hong Kong director’s elliptical, gorgeous film about memory and longing. Wong Kar-wai’s work is among the most critically celebrated in world cinema; to serve as an assistant director on one of his films required real professional standing and real trust. Quan earned both.
He also worked on *The Other Side* (2006) in an editorial capacity, serving as an additional editor and as the film’s main Foley artist — the person who creates and records the practical sound effects that give films their texture. Each of these credits represents a specific and substantial skill set. He was not idling behind the camera; he was working.
But he was not acting. And the gap between what he was doing and what he had done as a child — had wanted, he would eventually admit, to keep doing — grew wider with each passing year.