LOS ANGELES — This year's acting prizes were marked by a recognition of veteran performers, some in what can only be called comebacks. Others may have never gone away, but they have never before received the acclaim and prestige of an Academy Award.
Ke Huy Quan, Jamie Lee Curtis, Brendan Fraser and Michelle Yeoh all received recognition this year that was a long time coming. For all of them it was their first Oscar nomination and first win. This year even saw industry figures such as super producer Jerry Bruckheimer receive his first-ever Oscar nomination for "Top Gun: Maverick," where Tom Cruise's nomination as a producer on the film was his first in more than 20 years, since a supporting actor nod for "Magnolia."
Quan was 12 years old when he was cast as the streetwise sidekick Short Round in "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom." The next year he had a role in "The Goonies." But as he grew up, roles became fewer and further between. Eventually he moved to a variety of jobs behind the camera, including assistant director and fight coordinator, a skill set particularly useful for some of the work on "Everything Everywhere All at Once." Within that film's topsy-turvy multiverse, Quan was by turns a laundromat owner on the verge of divorcing his wife, a dashing romantic lead and an action hero.
