Ke Huy Quan Is ‘Still Getting Used to’ Life After Oscar Win: ‘Maybe I Belong Here’ (Exclusive)

Before making his Oscar-winning comeback, Ke Huy Quan had an “internal narrative” that he wasn’t “good enough,” he says

‘s life changed when he made his -winning comeback. Now he’s everywhere — and it happened all at once.

“Everything that has happened in the last two years, I’m still getting used to it,” Quan, 54, tells PEOPLE, reflecting on his time since starring in. “For a long time my internal narrative was very different,” he admits. “My internal narrative for a long time was that I always felt like I wasn’t doing good enough.”

Before the 2022 hit from swept awards season (also winning Oscars for and ), Quan had been on a — not for lack of trying. After initially working as a child star in the 1980s, breaking out in 1984’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and 1985’s The Goonies, the Vietnamese-American star struggled to land roles as an adult and instead worked behind the camera as an action choreographer.

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Now, he says, things are different. “Ever since I won the Oscar, that narrative is slowly changing. I feel like maybe I belong here, maybe I can do this and it’s heading that direction.”

With roles in, and now his (in theaters Feb. 7, 2025), Quan is putting his days of wishing for such work behind him. “I always fantasized about being the number one on the call sheet or putting myself in the shoes of the leading man,” he says.

Leading director Jonathan Eusebio’s action-comedy, he adds, “is an incredible feeling. This was always what I wanted and I can’t believe this is happening to me. And Love Hurts is the perfect movie for me to do this.”

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At the same time, Quan says, he feels pressure to keep that career momentum going. “There has been so much love and support ever since I became an actor again. And I feel like I carry this responsibility on my shoulder hoping that I don’t disappoint my fans and the people who have supported me and everything that I do. I hope I can make them proud.”

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Love Hurts, costarring , Daniel Wu and Marshawn Lynch, is in theaters Feb. 7, 2025. Quan also stars in Joe and Anthony Russo’s (on Netflix March 14, 2025) and will voice a character in Zootopia 2 (in theaters Nov. 26, 2025).