Kao Kan

Kao Kan


Kao Kan stands with his father Lao Che as one of the two villains who have survived Indiana Jones, the protagonist of the franchise. He is shown as a bloodthirsty Chinese gangster in the film, who overzealously attempted to steal an artifact from Jones off-screen. As opposed to his father, his behaviour is erratic and unbalanced, his patience limited.

When Lao Che turns the tables on Jones and attempts to poison him, the negotiations erupt into chaos. Jones barely escapes the melee that follows, in which Kao Kan tries to gun down the American archeologist with a submachine gun. Jones flees the club, and Kao Kan doggedly pursues Jones to the Nang Tao Airport, where other agents of Lao Che take over the assignment to kill Jones.

Representative of these unusual traits, his character's trademark is a penchant for evil laughter, particularly in a scene where Kao Kan fires his Thompson submachine gun at Indy, sending bullets spraying wildly around the Club Obi-Wan (where the location of the opening scene of Temple of Doom took place) as he laughs manically.

Kao Kan was portrayed by the Chinese actor Ric Young in the Temple of Doom, who is most well-known to Western audiences for his roles in Seven Years in Tibet, The Transporter, and the hit American television show Alias.