Ke Huy Quan Lends His Oscar-Winning Voice to The White Lotus Season 3 as Kenny

The following story contains light spoilers for The White Lotus season 3, episode 2, “Special Treatments.”

THROUGH JUST TWO episodes of The White Lotus season 3, we’re getting just enough of a taste of our Thailand-set staff and vacationing guests to start getting a feel for what they’re all about. The three friends (played by Carrie Coon, Leslie Bibb, and Michelle Monaghan), for instance, are all about seeming to be great—but going full passive-aggressive shark as soon as one of the others leaves. Our main couple, which consists of the older Rick (Walton Goggins) and his younger girlfriend Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood), clearly don’t have a ton in common—and Rick has something lurking beneath his surface that we’ll find out about soon enough.

But, perhaps once again, perhaps due to sheer size, we have the most to talk about with regards to the Ratliff family. While last week we spent quite a bit of time thinking about the strange, strange dynamic between the family’s three adult children (played by Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sarah Catherine Hook, and Sam Nivola), this week we’re going to pivot to the parents.

Can we address Victoria, played by the absolutely incredible Parker Posey, for a moment? The show needed someone who is incredibly funny in every moment, no matter what they’re doing, to step up without Jennifer Coolidge, and Posey has already proven to be more than up to the task. Her aloof interaction (or, really, lack thereof) with Kate (Bibb) was exactly the kind of social awkwardness we come to this show for. Now, that must be building toward something—perhaps involving what we’re about to talk about with husband Timothy (Jason Isaacs). But for now, all we can do is reflect in awe at what creator Mike White wrote, and how Posey and Bibb played it.

But let’s talk about Timothy, shall we? Despite him playing cool (or so he thinks) around his family, Timothy is clearly in some deep, deep shit. In episode 1, he got a call from a Wall Street Journal reporter about a fund that someone named Kenny started in 2018; Timothy said he helped Kenny set it up, but hadn’t talked to him in four years. As soon as Timothy hung up, he called Kenny and left a message, revealing that (obviously) he was not telling the truth.

In episode 2, Timothy takes another call—when it’s Kenny calling him back. And things seem really bad!

“I don’t care about the fucking story,” we hear Kenny yelling frantically into the phone. “Because 20 agents just raided my office. I’m done. I can’t go to fucking prison!”

Timothy goes back and forth with a totally overwhelmed Kenny, who sounds totally despondent. Not only is he worried about himself, but he warns Timothy that whatever he’s involved in, Timothy is going to be implicated as well. He needs a good lawyer “yesterday.” Things are bad.

But you may not have even noticed any of this conversation, because it was so distracting recognizing the voice on the other end of the phone. After all, it was that of an Oscar winner, Marvel star, and one of Hollywood’s very best recent comeback stories.

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Ke Huy Quan voices Kenny Nguyen in The White Lotus season 3

If you thought you were hearing a familiar voice as Kenny, on the other end of Timothy Ratliff’s phone, you’re not mistaken—that was the one and only Ke Huy Quan.

The White Lotus voice cameo marks the latest chapter of what has been an utterly remarkable comeback story for Quan, who shot to fame as a child star in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies. The actor, who didn’t work for decades, returned for his first major role in years with 2022’s Everything Everywhere All At Once, eventually winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. After winning the Oscar, Quan booked a role on season 2 of Loki and just earlier this month led the film Love Hurts, alongside fellow Oscar-winner Ariana DeBose and former NFL star Marshawn Lynch.

Quan became a sensation during his Awards run, taking selfies with celebrities everywhere he went and generally charming everyone as much as humanly possible with his incredibly positive attitude and personality. This, partially, is what makes even his brief White Lotus voice cameo so fun and exciting; Quan has become well-known as such a positive, warm-hearted individual. His character in Everything Everywhere All At Once was all about exuding kindness. So, to hear him swearing up a storm and almost certainly being guilty of many financial crimes is both jarring and a lot of un.

We don’t know for sure whether or not we’ll hear from Quan again as The White Lotus continues with season 3, but we wouldn’t count on it. Back in season 2, another Oscar winner—Laura Dern!—made a voice-only cameo as the wife of Michael Imerioli’s character, Dominic Di Grasso.

She didn’t appear (or call again) for the rest of the season. But that’s OK—any Laura Dern (and any Ke Huy Quan) is good enough for us.