While «Everything Everywhere» has catapulted him into the spotlight, Quan has previously been open about his struggles in Hollywood, particularly after he achieved early success as a child actor in the 1980s. His career began with the blockbuster from 1984’s «Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom», in which he played Indiana Jones’s boy sidekick, Short Round. The following year, he found himself in another iconic role as neighborhood scoundrel Data in «The Goonies.» However, the opportunities dried up, Quan said, and he decided to abandon his acting career to work behind the camera.

“Hollywood didn’t want me. There were no papers for me, so I spent most of my time in my teens and early 20s waiting for the phone to ring, and it rarely did,» Quan said in The Hollywood Reporter’s. «Round Table of Actors» on Tuesday. “The hard part was saying goodbye to the dream that I always wanted, but it was hard being an Asian actor at that time.”

Although Quan gained respect behind the scenes as a stunt coordinator and assistant director, working on projects like «X-Men,» he said the blockbuster «Crazy Rich Asians» changed his mind.

Quan told the «Round Table» that the expanding roles for Asian actors, partly symbolized, prompted him to return to the acting game.

“I realized that Hollywood has changed drastically. They are giving more opportunities to a broader group of people,” Quan said. «I said, ‘Maybe I should try acting again.'»

Although Quan was able to book «Everything Everywhere,» he still had a hard time finding work after production wrapped, he said on «The Late Show With Stephen Colbert» last month. And he feared that he was «experiencing everything I experienced as a child.» But since the film’s release, Quan said, his career has changed significantly. He will appear in the upcoming Disney series «American Born Chinese» as well as the second season of Marvel’s «Loki.»

Quan credited his wife, Echo, in his acceptance speech with giving him the encouragement he needed to give acting another shot.

«Dreams are something you have to believe in. I almost gave up on mine,» he said. «To all of you, please keep your dreams alive.»