Ke Huy Quan is the first Asian actor to receive a SAG award

Ke Huy Quan is the first Asian actor in history to receive a SAG Award in “the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor” category for a Supporting Role in “Everything Everywhere All At Once.”

KE HUY QUAN! The Actor® is in great hands 🙌 pic.twitter.com/ipPyN7GqU0

— SAG Awards® (@SAGawards) February 27, 2023

As advised by James Cameron, Ke Huy Quan is soaking it all in at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2023.

Director James Cameron gave Quan some advice regarding the awards season before the SAG Awards on Sunday. Quan is up for the award for best performance by a male actor in a supporting role.

Quan, 51, tells PEOPLE, “I met James Cameron during one of these events, and he gave me some wonderful advice.” “I’m following his advice to “relish myself,” “do not take something more serious,” and “take it all in.” It’s a wise counsel.”

“Honestly, I never thought I’d be here, and here I am with you and everyone,” he adds.

Ke Huy Quan, visibly moved as he accepted his trophy on stage, said he had just learned he would be the first Asian male film winner. He remarked, “This moment is no longer just about me; it’s about everyone who has begged for change.” “I stopped performing because there were so few opportunities,” the actor said.

The SAG winner called out the current nominees, mentioning co-stars Michelle Yeoh and Stephanie Hsu.

Since the guild ceremony’s inception in 1994, Quan is the first Asian man to have won an acting film award.

One year after Lee Jung-Jae of “Squid Game” took home the title for best male actor in a drama series, he is only the second Asian actor to have won any particular SAG honor in television or film.

After winning numerous industry honors, including the Golden Globe and Critics Choice awards, Quan’s portrayal of Waywond Wang, the timid and silly husband who embarks on a quest with his wife Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) to safeguard the multiverse, is the overwhelming favorite for the Oscar.

ke huy quan deserves the WORLD pic.twitter.com/NqxcMrM5i3

— ☻☆ ben! ࿔ ceo of steddie 🙂 (@BIDERVERSE) February 27, 2023

After Haing S. Ngor for “The Killing Fields,” the 51-year-old Vietnamese actor would become just the second Asian to win supporting actor at the Oscars (1984). Only five actors of Asian heritage have won an Oscar in any of the four categories in the 95-year history of the Academy Awards:

• Ben Kingsley for “Gandhi”
• F. Murray Abraham for “Amadeus”
• Miyoshi Umeki for “Sayonara” & Yuh-Jung Youn for “Minari” (for Supporting actress)
• and Haing S. Ngor for “The Killing Fields.”

There are more Asian nominees from this year’s ceremony besides Quan. Michelle Yeoh & Stephanie Hsu, who both starred in “Everything Everywhere,” compete for awards in the lead and supporting actress categories.

Michelle Yeoh is the second Asian woman nominated for the lead role after Ziyi Zhang for 2005’s “Memoirs of a Geisha.”

For the first time in SAG history, two Asians get selected in the same category, along with Hsu and Hong Chau (“The Whale”).

There are 11 Oscar nominations for “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” including best picture. On March 2, the final Oscar voting will start.