Dennis Quaid

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Born in Houston, Texas, on April 9th, 1954, Dennis followed in his older brother Randy Quaid into acting. After having some acting success in college, he set off to try his luck in Hollywood. After a few years of bit parts, he landed an attention-grabbing role in Breaking Away (1979) with Daniel Stern. He played his brother Randy’s on-screen brother in 1980’s The Long Riders and worked with veteran actors Gene Hackman, Barbra Streisand and Diane Ladd on 1981’s All Night Long.

He appeared opposite then-fiancée Lea Thompson in 1983’s Jaws 3-D and in the classic space program film The Right Stuff with Sam Shephard, Scott Glenn and Ed Harris.

Dennis enjoyed a string of lead roles including Dreamscape (1984), Enemy Mine (1985), The Big Easy (1987) and Innerspace (1987) where he would meet his future wife, Meg Ryan. He teamed up with Cher for the 1987 film Suspect and in 1988 he appeared in the remake D.O.A. with Meg Ryan and Everybody’s All-American with Jessica Lange.

Dennis, an avid musician, channeled rock wild child Jerry Lee Lewis when he played opposite Winona Ryder in Great Balls of Fire. In 1990, he co-starred with Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine in the Carrie Fisher-penned Postcards from the Edge. In 1993, Dennis appeared in Under Cover Blues with Kathleen Turner and Flesh and Bone with Meg Ryan, James Caan and Gwyneth Paltrow. He worked again with Gene Hackman in 1994’s Wyatt Earp and played Julia Roberts’ philandering husband in 1995’s Something to Talk About. In 1997, he played a FBI agent in Switchback and the following year appeared with Natasha Richardson and Lindsay Lohan in the remake of Disney’s The Parent Trap.

Quaid worked with Al Pacino and Cameron Diaz in Oliver Stone’s Any Given Sunday (1999) and worked with Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Benicio Del Toro in 2000’s ensemble drama, Traffic. He also appeared in Frequency with James Caviezel.

He earned great reviews in 2002 with great performances in The Rookie with Rachel Griffiths and Far From Heaven opposite Julianne Moore. He worked opposite Sharon Stone in 2003’s Cold Creek Manor and worked with Billy Bob Thornton in the 2004 box office flop, The Alamo. He followed that working opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in The Day After Tomorrow.

Dennis Quaid has been married twice. His first marriage, to P.J. Soles lasted from 1978 to 1983. His ten-year marriage to Meg Ryan ended in 2001. He married Texas real estate agent Kimberley Buffington on July 4th, 2004.

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