Ke Huy Quan reveals he wear his refugee label ‘proudly’

Ke Huy Quan is no “longer ashamed” of his refugee past.

The Vietnamese-American actor and former child star first left South Vietnam by boat three years after Vietnam War, in 1978 along with his family, they stayed in a refugee camp in Hong Kong before ultimately settling in Los Angeles, at the time the actor was just 8-years-old.

Now, the Oscar winning actor has written a memoir Never Say Die, which tells his own life story and it was published on September 15, 2016 by Grand Central Publishing.

Speaking with People Magazine, the actor said, “Writing this book really made me confront my identity as a refugee.”

He added, “what the label refugee really meant all these years, the stigma and the shame that I had to carry for so long.”

Quan revealed to the outlet the prejudice he faced in America as a refugee, stating, “I always felt different.”

Noting, “And back then, being different was not a good thing. We were constantly reminded of our place and our journey in a very negative fashion. For example, the term ‘fresh off the boat’ was coined to describe people like me and my family.”

He went on to say, “Looking back, it really shaped who I am… Now I realize that if I didn’t have that, erasing that part of my history would be erasing all the sacrifices that my parents made to get us over here, to give us an opportunity at life.”

“So many people stepped in to help us when we needed them to.”

“It just really made me look at those early days, the trauma that I was experiencing through a different lens,” Quan further added.

But now he embraces the identity proudly, saying, “I’m no longer ashamed of that label. In fact, I wear it proudly.”

Quan also shared that writing about his childhood trauma in the memoir was “one of the most difficult things that I’ve ever had to do.”

“Those happy chapters, when I went in to audition, the Indiana Jones and the Goonies adventures, those were easy to write,” the actor added lightheartedly.