Love Hurts is one of the big movies coming out around Valentine’s Day, which is most notable for starring recent Academy Award winner Ke Huy Quan as the lead character. The film was directed by stunt coordinator Jonathan Eusebio in his directorial debut, with David Leitch, co-director of John Wick and director of ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool 2 and Bullet Train, producing the film. Love Hurts tells the story of a former hitman turned realtor who is pulled back into his old life, and Quan’s involvement in the project makes it all the more exciting.

The rest of Love Hurts’ cast is also great, with Ariana DeBose, Daniel Wu, and Marshawn Lynch making up a handful of the supporting characters, though Quan is definitely the biggest draw in the film. While its initial trailers showed a lot of promise, Love Hurts‘ reviews were very mixed, mostly due to the storytelling and action, as opposed to anything against the actors in the film. Regardless, Quan’s leading role in the film is very exciting, and a well-deserved spotlight for the Academy Award-winning actor.

Love Hurts Is Ke Huy Quan’s First Ever Leading Movie Role

He Has Been A Supporting Actor Throughout His Career

While Ke Huy Quan has been in plenty of projects since Everything Everywhere All at Once, he hasn’t been the star of a project until now. He won his Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, so it makes sense that he has been mostly used as support for the main protagonist in his more recent projects, as he has proven himself to be excellent in those kinds of roles. While he is obviously a good actor, whether he is the main character or supporting, his status as a leading man is still seemingly up in the air.

Now that Quan is finally being given his starring role in Love Hurts, he has the opportunity to prove that he can be that leading man, taking on the biggest role of a film. Unfortunately, it also means that if the movie doesn’t succeed, studios may not want to bank on him for future тιтles, and Love Hurts‘ early reviews indicate that it isn’t going to be the most popular film in critical circles. However, Quan has enough star power now that he certainly isn’t going to just disappear from acting again, he may just not take on many starring roles.

Why Ke Huy Quan Didn’t Get More Work After Indiana Jones & The Goonies

Hollywood Wasn’t Willing To Cast Most Asian Actors

Quan’s past in the film industry has been something the actor has talked about many times, and it unfortunately paints a poor picture of the Hollywood of the past, that does extend up until now to an extent. Despite putting on a great performance in two absolutely classic movies from the 80s, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies, he was unable to find much work after them due to the fact that no one was really hiring Asian actors outside of small bit parts or as racist stereotypes.

He did have a handful of roles in the late ’80s and ’90s, with the only somewhat significant American property being a supporting role in the Brendan Frasier-led Encino Man in 1992, which was also his last American production before his recent career resurgence. After his acting days, he still worked in the film industry, mostly as a stunt coordinator and choreographer, working on movies like the first X-Men and Jet Li’s The One, in addition to smaller projects in Asia and the US.

Love Hurts Is Part Of Ke Huy Quan’s Revival After Everything Everywhere All At Once

The Actor Has Been On A Roll Since 2022

After his years of working behind the scenes, Quan has said that the biggest reason he felt comfortable trying to return to acting was because of the 2018 film Crazy Rich Asians. The film obviously featured a predominantly Asian cast, and was a sign for many Asian actors that Hollywood was finally becoming more inclusive, willing to tell stories featuring more Asian characters. After the release of that film, Quan’s first return to acting was in the Netflix movie Finding ‘Ohana, and soon after, was cast in Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Since Everything Everywhere All at Once and Quan’s Oscar win, he has been cast in plenty of roles in animated and live-action projects by a number of big studios. The first thing he did after EEAAO was the short-lived Disney+ series American Born Chinese, which featured his EEAAO costars Michelle Yeoh, James Hong, and Stephanie Hsu. He also had a pretty significant supporting role in the second season of the MCU show Loki, playing a cosmic technician for the TVA organization.

In the film world, Ke Huy Quan’s only major role since EEAAO was in Kung Fu Panda 4, playing a sunda pangolin who is the leader of a group of thieves in Juniper City. However, he does have a part in 2 big projects after Love Hurts, those being the Russo Brothers’ Electric State for Netflix, as well as returning to Disney for a role in Zootopia 2. He has been in a lot of projects since his reintroduction to acting, certainly trying to make up for the years of work he missed out on.

Ke Huy Quan Is Incredibly Deserving Of His Career Resurgence

The Actor Should’ve Had A Much Longer Career

Quan is not only a great actor, proven through his many projects, but based on the interviews he has given and the way he presents himself, he seems like an incredibly sweet and genuine person. His iconic Oscars’ speech is one of the best moments from the Academy Awards in recent years, and shows that he absolutely deserved not only the award but the career that he has had since then.

The lack of roles for actors like Ke Huy Quan when he was starting out is extremely devastating, as he has stated that he never wanted to retire from acting, he was just unable to make any sort of living from it. Now that he has shown what an incredible actor he is, even after nearly 40 years without being in front of the camera, it goes to show how many great performances were missed out on because no one gave him a chance.

Not only is Ke Huy Quan an immense talent, but he was also unfairly ejected out of the industry through no fault of his own, making his comeback all the more heartwarming to see. He clearly has a pᴀssion for the work that he does, evident in the way he puts everything he has into every role he takes on, and thankfully, it seems like he is continuing that trend in Love Hurts. Quan should’ve had a longer career at this point, but at least he is getting more opportunities at this point in his life.