Hollywood is notoriously fickle. It can create stars overnight and toss them aside as quickly, moving on to the next big thing. Once you are gone, you are usually forgotten, with no second shot at stardom and no career do-overs.

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Beating the odds, we have not one but two big comeback stories this awards season, Ke Huy Quan and Brendan Fraser. They have both emerged as major awards contenders for the first time in their careers with their first major movie roles in decades, in Everything Everywhere All At Once (Quan) and The Whale (Fraser). Their return to Hollywood’s top echelon was reaffirmed this morning when both received their first Oscar nomination — for Fraser, Lead Actor, and for Quan, Supporting Actor.

Quan was one of the biggest child stars of the 1980s with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies; Fraser was one of the biggest action stars of the late 1990s and early 2000s with The Mummy franchise and George of the Jungle. Then they both fell off the radar. After decades in Hollywood oblivion and doubts whether movie acting opportunities would come again, Fraser and Quan have spoken about being welcomed back in their acceptance speeches, showing appreciation for the directors who gave them a chance, The Whale‘s Darren Aronofsky and Everything Everywhere All At Once‘s Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.

“Darren Aronofsky, I was in the wilderness, and I probably should have left a trail of breadcrumbs, but you’ve found me,” Fraser said at the Critics Choice Awards. He later added backstage that the award meant “more than I know how to say with words.”

Quan spoke about the years of self-doubt that followed his success as a child actor during his Golden Globes speech.

“As I grew older, I started to wonder if that was it — if that was just luck,” he admitted. “For so many years, I was afraid I had nothing more to offer, that no matter what I did, I would never surpass what I’d achieved as a kid.

“Thankfully, more than 30 years later, two guys thought of me,” he continued, referring to the Daniels. “They remembered that kid and they gave me an opportunity to try again. Everything that has happened since, has been unbelievable. Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, thank you so, so much for helping me find my answer. You have given me more than I could have ever hoped.”

Prior to their Oscar nominations, Fraser and Quan have both been nominated for Critics Choice Awards, Golden Globes and SAG Awards. Both won at the Critics Choice Awards; Quan also won at the Golden Globes, a ceremony Fraser boycotted because of an alleged sexual assault by former HFPA president Philip Berk, which Fraser has previously revealed as a major reason for his retreat from acting.

Wins at the upcoming SAG Awards would cement Fraser and Quan’s status as Oscar frontrunners.

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