Harrison Ford
In Temple of Doom, Harrison Ford continues his role as Indiana Jones. It was Spielberg who initially suggested that Ford be cast over the objections of series co-creator George Lucas. Lucas wanted to cast an actor who he was less familiar with. The two eventually settled on Tom Selleck, but he had to back out because of his commitment to Magnum P.I. Three weeks before filming began and because of Spielberg and producers Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy, Ford was cast in one of his many career-defining roles: Indiana Jones.
To prepare for Temple of Doom, Ford worked feverishly with trainer Jake Steinfeld to become more muscular. And that work shows in his final performance.
Kate Capshaw
A classic damsel, Kate Capshaw’s Willie Scott is Indy’s companion and eventually, love interest. Incredibly, Capshaw beat out over the 120 actresses who auditioned for the role. Among those actresses was Sharon Stone, who was relatively unknown at the time but likely would have shot to superstardom after taking on the role.
To prepare for her role, Capshaw a number of movies including The African Queen. She also watched Raiders of the Lost Ark to study Karen Allen’s Marion Ravenwood performance so that her performance could be as opposite as possible from Allen’s.
Interestingly, Capshaw married director Steven Spielberg seven years after the release of the film.
Jonathan Ke Quan
Jonathan Ke Quan plays the young and loud Short Round, who becomes Indy's sidekick. Ke Quan decided to audition for the film after seeing a casting call for it and after his brother had auditioned for the role of Short Round. Amazingly, Ke Quan beat out over 6000 actors across the world who auditioned for the role because Spielberg liked Ke Quan's personality.
