Dennis Quaid

Dennis Quaid (birthname: Dennis William Quaid) has had a durable if fluctuating career as a movie star in the classic vein, capable of evoking both light and extremely dark shades in his roles, first most notably in director/producer Peter Yates’ five-Oscar-nominated comedy-drama, Breaking Away (1979), in which Quaid had his first significant co-starring role opposite Dennis Christopher, Daniel Stern, Jackie Earle Haley, and Paul Dooley, and grossing a terrific $20 million against a $2 million budget for 20^th Century Fox.

Quaid joined the colorful ensemble of brother actors Walter Hills’s fine Western for United Artists, The Long Riders (1980), co-starring David, Keith, and Robert Carradine, James and Stacy Keach, Christopher and Nicholas Guest, and Dennis with brother Randy.

Quaid joined the starry cast of Gene Hackman, Barbra Streisand, and Diane Ladd for Universal Pictures’ quickly forgotten comedy, All Night Long (1981), and then Quaid starred with Kristy McNichol and Mark Hamill in the musical drama, The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia (1981), directed by Ronald F. Maxwell and released by Avco Embassy Pictures.

Quaid landed a role as astronaut Gordon Cooper in one of his very best movies, filmmaker Philip Kaufman’s delightful and classic Space Race drama-comedy based on Tom Wolfe’s book, The Right Stuff (1983), starring Ed Harris, Scott Glenn, Sam Shepard, Fred Ward, Lance Henriksen, Charles Frank, Pamela Reed, Veronica Cartwright, and Barbara Hershey, winning four Oscars despite losing money at the box office for Warner Bros.

Dennis Quaid starred in the third entry in the Jaws franchise, Jaws 3-D (1983), the only Jaws movie shot in 3-D and earning a solid $88 million (and terrible reviews) for Universal Pictures, and then starred in a more successful project, director Jim McBride’s neo-noir drama, The Big Easy (1986), with Ellen Barkin, Ned Beatty, and John Goodman, released by Columbia Pictures and spinning off a USA Network series. Quaid was picked by director Joe Dante to star in his sci-fi comedy, Innerspace (1987), opposite Martin Short, Meg Ryan, Kevin McCarthy, and Fiona Lewis, but underperforming with a $42 million global take.

Quaid enjoyed one of his rare box office hits as star of the well-received remake of the 1950 noir thriller, D.O.A. (1988), co-starring Meg Ryan, Daniel Stern, and Charlotte Rampling under Rocky Morton’s and Annabel Jankel’s direction, grossing a solid $12.7 million for Touchstone/Buena Vista Distribution. Quaid had another major starring role as rock n’ roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis in Great Balls of Fire! (1989), Quaid’s striking reunion with writer-director Jim McBride and co-starring Winona Ryder, Alec Baldwin, and Trey Wilson, but losing money for Orion Pictures ($13.7 million on $18 million costs).

Dennis Quaid headed the cast of director/writer Alan Parker’s WWII Japanese internment camp drama, Come See the Paradise (1990), with Tamlyn Tomita, Sab Shimono, and Shizuko Hoshi, premiering in competition at the Cannes Film Festival but which was a box office bomb for 20^th Century Fox.

Quaid performed under Mike Nichols’ direction in writer Carrie Fisher’s dark memoir, Postcards from the Edge (1990), starring Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine, with Gene Hackman, Richard Dreyfuss, Rob Reiner, Annette Bening, Simon Callow, C.C.H. Pounder, and Oliver Platt, and earning a good $63.4 million gross for Columbia Pictures.

Quaid jumped from the spy comedy, Undercover Blues (1993), directed by Herbert Ross and co-starring Kathleen Turner, to director/writer Steve Kloves’ neo-noir Flesh and Bone (1993), with Meg Ryan and James Caan, to the flawed Rob Cohen-directed fantasy adventure, Dragonheart (1996), co-starring David Thewlis, Pete Postlethwaite, Dina Meyer, Julie Christie, and Sean Connery, grossing $115 million for Universal Pictures.

Quaid was in more box-office duds like Gang Related (1997) and Switchback (1997), before starring in a hit remake of the 1961 family comedy, The Parent Trap (1998), co-starring Natasha Richardson and Lindsay Lohan, and returning $92 million for Disney.

Dennis Quaid shifted from the frothy ensemble movie, Playing by Heart (1998), co-starring Gillian Anderson, Ellen Burstyn, Sean Connery, Angelina Jolie, Ryan Phillippe, Gena Rowlands, and Jon Stewart, to a co-starring role in Oliver Stone ”ss sss NFL drama starring Al Pacino, Any Given Sunday (1999), co-starring Cameron Diaz, James Woods, Jamie Foxx, LL Cool J, Ann-Margret, Lauren Holly, Matthew Modine, and Charlton Heston, earning $100 million for Warner Bros.

Quaid starred in producer-director Gregory Hoblit’s sci-fi drama for New Line Cinema, Frequency (2000), co-starring Jim Caviezel, Andre Braugher, Elizabeth Mitchell, and Noah Emmerich, and then Quaid had his first collaboration with filmmaker Steven Soderbergh in his ambitious crime epic which won four Oscars including Best Director, Traffic (2000), co-starring Don Cheadle, Benicio del Toro, Michael Douglas, Luis Guzman, and Catherine Zeta-Jones, and proving to be a spectacular hit for USA Films with a $207.5 million return.

Quaid had one of his best box-office turns as lead star in his career in John Lee Hancock’s baseball biopic, The Rookie (2002), with Rachel Griffiths, Jay Hernandez, and Brian Cox, and grossing an excellent return of $80.7 million for Disney. Quaid then enjoyed a more artistic triumph, earning a Best Supporting Actor Globes nomination, with his role in Todd Haynes’ acclaimed melodrama, Far from Heaven (2002), starring Julianne Moore and Dennis Haysbert, Patricia Clarkson, Viola Davis, and June Squibb, and earned a good $29 million return for Focus Features after having an award-winning premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

Dennis Quaid portrayed another historical figure—as Texas patriot Sam Houston—in a reunion with director/writer John Lee Hancock, the widely dismissed remake of The Alamo (2004), co-starring Billy Bob Thornton, Jason Patric, Patrick Wilson, Jordi Molla, Emilio Echevarria, and turning into a box-office bomb for Touchstone/Disney ($26 million against $107 million costs).

Quaid starred in his first disaster movie, director/writer/producer Roland Emmerich’s The Day After Tomorrow (2004), based on Art Bell’s and Whitley Streiber’s 1999 non-fiction book, The Coming Global Superstorm, and co-starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Ian Holm, Emmy Rossum, and Sela Ward, and grossing a world-beating $552 million return (against $125 million costs) for 20^th Century Fox.

Quaid co-starred with Scarlett Johansson and Topher Grace in director/writer/producer Paul Weitz’s comedy-drama, In Good Company (2004), delivering a profit for Focus Features and Universal Pictures, and then Quaid turned to classic adventure-survival mode taking on the James Stewart role in Fox’s failed remake of their 1965 production, Flight of the Phoenix (2004), with Giovanni Ribisi, Tyrese Gibson, Miranda Otto, and Hugh Laurie under John Moore’s direction.

Quaid starred in another widely panned remake, the family comedy Yours, Mine & Ours (2005), with Rene Russo, Rip Torn, and Linda Hunt, earning a mediocre $72.7 million return for MGM/Nickelodeon Movies/Columbia Pictures/Paramount Pictures.

Dennis Quaid played a satirized version of George W. Bush in director/writer/producer Paul Weitz’s political comedy, American Dreamz (2006), with Hugh Grant, Mandy Moore, Marcia Gay Harden, Chris Klein, Jennifer Coolidge, and Willem Dafoe, but failing at the box office for Universal Pictures. Quaid starred in one of his top box-office successes with the political thriller, Vantage Point (2008), co-starring Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker, Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt, and Edgar Ramirez, grossing a healthy $152 million over $40 million costs for Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Releasing.

Quaid played support in director/co-writer Craig Brewer’s successful remake of Footloose (2011), with Kenny Wormald, Julianne Hough, and Andie MacDowell, produced partly by MTV Films and released by Paramount Pictures to a solid return of $63 million worldwide.

Quaid again did support in Italian filmmaker Gabriele Muccino’s bomb of a rom-com, Playing for Keeps (2012), with Gerard Butler, Jessica Biel, Uma Thurman, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Judy Greer, and then Quaid starred in another bomb by talented American indie filmmaker, Ramin Bahrani, with the Venice Film Festival-premiering drama, At Any Price (2012), and then Quaid was in a supporting role in another money-losing movie, Sony Pictures Classics’ Dan Rather/CBS News drama, Truth (2015), written and directed by James Vanderbilt and co-starring Cate Blanchett, Robert Redford, Topher Grace, Elisabeth Moss, Bruce Greenwood, and Stacy Keach.

Dennis Quaid co-starred in Amblin/Universal’s hit family comedy-drama, A Dog’s Purpose (2017), directed by Lasse Hallström and grossing a sensational $205 million globally, and then followed in the same role in the more modestly successful sequel directed by Gail Mancuso, A Dog’s Journey (2019). Quaid went into over-the-top mode for his co-starring turn in the thriller directed and produced by Deon Taylor for Screen Gems/Sony Pictures Releasing, The Intruder (2019), with Michael Ealy, Meagan Good, and Joseph Sikora, and grossing a potent $40 million against $8 million costs.

Quaid portrayed another of his several true stories and historical figures with Vice Admiral “Bull” Halsey in his reunion with director/producer Roland Emmerich, Midway (2019), but which proved to be a very expensive ($100 million) indie-produced bomb ($126 million gross) released by Lionsgate (U.S. and U.K.) and other international distributors with a sprawling cast including Patrick Wilson, Luke Evans, Aaron Eckhart, Nick Jonas, Tadanobu Asano, Jun Kunimura, and Woody Harrelson.

Quaid had one of his few voice roles in an animated movie with a co-starring role in Disney’s Fantastic Voyage (1966)-inspired sci-fi adventure, Strange World (2022), with the voices of Jake Gyllenhaal, Jaboukie Young-White, Gabrielle Union, and Lucy Liu, but losing significant money for Disney with a disastrous $73.6 million gross on a $180 million budget.

Dennis Quaid swung from the sentimental baseball movie, The Hill (2003) to a co-starring role (replacing the late Ray Liotta) in French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat’s wildly acclaimed body horror movie, The Substance (2024), starring Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, and Hugo Diego Garcia, and premiering in competition at the Cannes Film Festival where Fargeat won the best screenplay Palme prize, and released by Mubi. Quaid portrayed yet another American President with the indie biopic, Reagan (2024), co-starring Penelope Ann Miller, Robert Davi, Lesley-Anne Down, and Jon Voight, and released by ShowBiz Direct.

Quaid co-starred with Nick Offerman, Jacob Tremblay, and Nancy Travis in director/writer Christian Swegal’s crime drama, Sovereign (2024), released by Briarcliff Entertainment, and then Quaid co-starred in a voice role in the stop-motion animated movie, Saurus City (date to be announced), written and directed by Nathan Smith, and with the voices of Emma Roberts, Ron Perlman, Tim Meadows, and Julia Ormond. Quaid joined the cast of Canadian director/writer Jonathan Sobol’s sci-fi mystery, Littlemouth (date to be announced), co-starring Isabelle Fuhrman, David Thewlis, Josh Hutcherson, and Kiera Allen.