Dennis Quaid

Dennis Quaid (born April 9, 1954, Houston, Texas, U.S.) is a prolific American actor who emerged as a movie star in the 1980s and later overcame career setbacks to stage a comeback. His notable films include Breaking Away (1979), The Right Stuff (1983), Great Balls of Fire! (1989), The Rookie (2002), and Reagan (2024).

Early life

Quaid was born in Houston to Juanita (“Nita”) Quaid (née Jordan) and William (“Buddy”) Quaid, a real estate agent and electrician, respectively. The family—which included elder brother Randy Quaid, who also became an actor—lived in Bellaire, a suburb of Houston. As a boy, Dennis Quaid played baseball, and he later developed a passion for music. At age 12 he learned to play the guitar and soon began writing songs. After Quaid’s parents divorced when he was a teenager, he found music to be therapeutic.

Quaid became interested in acting through his father, whom he has described as a frustrated actor. After graduating from high school in 1973, Quaid began attending the University of Houston, where he studied drama. He eventually dropped out to move to Los Angeles and pursue an acting career.

Stardom: Breaking Away, The Right Stuff, and Great Balls of Fire!

Quaid made his film debut in 1975, appearing in an uncredited role in the crime comedy Crazy Mama. More movies followed, including I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977). His breakthrough film, Breaking Away, was released in 1979. The coming-of-age comedy follows a group of aimless, working-class townies in Bloomington, Indiana, who battle arrogant Indiana University students in the Little 500 bicycling race. Quaid’s convincing performance as Mike, the angriest of the townies, led to many opportunities for the young actor, and he went on to become one of the biggest movie stars of the 1980s.

Quaid’s notable credits during the decade include the acclaimed The Right Stuff (1983), an adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s book about the U.S. space program; Quaid was cast as astronaut Gordon Cooper. He later appeared in such hits as the crime drama The Big Easy (1986) and Innerspace (1987), a sci-fi comedy that also starred Martin Short and Meg Ryan, Quaid’s future wife. He and Ryan then worked together on D.O.A. (1988), about a university professor who has been implanted with a substance that will kill him in 24 hours. Quaid played a former football star in Everybody’s All-American (1988) and starred in Great Balls of Fire! (1989), a biopic about Jerry Lee Lewis.

Battling addiction and tabloids

During this heady rise, Quaid was “basically doing cocaine pretty much on a daily basis during the ’80s,” as he recalled on the Megyn Kelly Today show in 2018. In 1990 Quaid went into rehab, and he married Ryan the next year. In 1992 the couple had a son, Jack Quaid, who later became an actor. During this time Quaid took a break from acting, but when he was ready to return he had a hard time getting his career back on track. Meanwhile, Ryan was becoming a big star, thanks to a series of blockbuster romantic comedies, and, Quaid admitted, he felt diminished when people would scream, “Meg! Meg!” as they walked in New York City. They divorced in 2001, and their breakup became fodder for the tabloids.

Comeback: The Parent Trap, The Rookie, and Reagan

Quaid began to rebuild his career, appearing in such movies as the mystery Flesh and Bone (1993), with Ryan; Wyatt Earp (1994), in which he played Doc Holliday; and the romantic comedy Something to Talk About (1995), about a husband who cheats on his wife (played by Julia Roberts). He closed out the decade with the popular The Parent Trap (1998), starring Lindsay Lohan, and the Oliver Stone NFL drama Any Given Sunday (1999).

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More high-profile movies followed, notably the sci-fi thriller Frequency (2000) and Stephen Soderbergh’s Traffic (2000), an Oscar-winning drama about the war on drugs. In 2002 Quaid starred in the well-received The Rookie, playing a real high school teacher and baseball coach who, at age 35, tried out for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and had a brief Major League Baseball career. Also in 2002 Quaid earned critical acclaim for his performance in Todd Haynes’s Far from Heaven, a 1950s drama in which he portrayed a married man who is gay.

Quaid remained busy, and his later credits include Footloose (2011) and the TV crime series Vegas (2012–13). In 2019 he starred in the family drama A Dog’s Journey and played William F. Halsey, Jr., in the World War II epic Midway. Quaid was later cast as St. Louis Rams coach Dick Vermeil in American Underdog (2021), a biopic about quarterback Kurt Warner. In 2024 he starred in another biopic, Reagan, portraying the 40th U.S. president. That year he also appeared with Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley in The Substance. The body horror film centers on an aging actress who discovers a medical treatment that will make her look younger, though at a great cost.

Music career

In addition to his acting, Quaid has continued to pursue his interest in music. He formed the band Dennis Quaid and the Sharks in 2000. The group released its first album, Out of the Box, in 2018. Five years later he released the solo album Fallen: A Gospel Record for Sinners.

Personal life and politics

In 1978 Quaid married actress P.J. Soles, who was known for her roles in the horror films Carrie (1976) and Halloween (1978). The couple divorced in 1983. After his marriage (1991–2001) to Meg Ryan, Quaid wed Kimberly Buffington, a real estate agent, in 2004. The couple had twins before divorcing in 2018. Two years later Quaid married Laura Savoie, an accountant.

Quaid, a self-described political independent, has said that Reagan is his favorite president. During the 2024 presidential election, the actor appeared at a rally for the Republican nominee—and eventual winner—Donald Trump. At the event, Quaid said that Trump is his favorite president of the 21st century.