Dennis Quaid extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Dennis Quaid
Dennis Quaid, August 1991
Born	Dennis William Quaid April 9, 1954 (1954-04-09) (age 55) Houston, Texas, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1975–present
Spouse(s)	P. J. Soles (1978–1983) Meg Ryan (1991–2001) Kimberly Buffington(2004-)

Dennis William Quaid (born April 9, 1954) is an American actor. Raised in Texas, he became known during the 1980s after appearing in several successful films, and established a career as a Hollywood actor.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2.1 Personal life 3 Filmography 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External links

Early life

Quaid was born in Houston, Texas, the son of Juanita Bonniedale "Nita" (née Jordan), a real estate agent, and William Rudy Quaid, an electrician.¹ He is the younger brother of actor Randy Quaid. Quaid has Irish and Cajun ancestry.² He attended Pershing Middle School in Houston. He studied drama at Bellaire High School in Bellaire, Texas and later in college, at the University of Houston, under drama coach Cecil Pickett.

Career

After his brother, actor Randy Quaid, was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in The Last Detail, he dropped out of the University of Houston before graduating and moved to Los Angeles, California, to pursue an acting career of his own.² He initially had trouble finding work but began to gain notice when he appeared in Breaking Away (1979), the critically panned but commercial success Jaws 3-D (1983), and earned good reviews for his role in The Right Stuff (1983).²

Known for his grin,³ Quaid has appeared in both comedic and dramatic roles.² Quaid had starring roles in the films Enemy Mine and Innerspace. He also achieved acclaim for his portrayal of Jerry Lee Lewis in Great Balls of Fire! (1989).²

Quaid's career lost steam in the early 1990s, after he fought and kicked a cocaine addiction.² He continued to garner positive reviews in a variety of films, however, such as Doc Holliday in Wyatt Earp.² He starred in the 1998 remake of The Parent Trap playing the part of the twins' father. Some of Quaid's more recent film credits include Far From Heaven (2002), In Good Company (2004), The Day After Tomorrow (2004), Yours, Mine and Ours (2005), Vantage Point (2008), and The Express. His role in Far From Heaven saw him receive Golden Globe, PFCS and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for "Best Supporting Actor," as well as NYFCC, CFCA, OFCS and Independent Spirit Award wins.

In 2011 he will play former US President Bill Clinton alongside Michael Sheen as Tony Blair and Julianne Moore as Hillary Clinton in the film The Special Relationship.

Personal life

Quaid was raised Baptist and is a practicing Christian.⁴⁵

Quaid married actress P.J. Soles on November 25, 1978. The two divorced on January 23, 1983. Quaid's second marriage was to Meg Ryan on February 14, 1991 (Valentine's Day). Quaid and Ryan have a son, Jack Henry (born April 24, 1992). Their marriage ended on June 16, 2001. Quaid was also engaged for three years to actress Lea Thompson (Back to the Future, Caroline in the City), whom he met on the movie set of Jaws 3-D in 1983.

Quaid married Kimberly Buffington, an Austin, Texas real estate agent, on July 4, 2004 (Independence Day). The couple welcomed twins born via a gestational carrier on November 8, 2007 in Santa Monica, California. Their son Thomas Boone was born first at 8:26 a.m. and weighed 6 pounds, 12 ounces (3.06 kg). Daughter Zoe Grace made her appearance two minutes later weighing in at 5 pounds, 9 ounces (2.52 kg).⁶

On November 18, 2007, hospital staff mistakenly gave Quaid's twelve-day-old twins a dosage of heparin 1,000 times the common dosage for infants.⁷⁸ Their attorney said the newborns will "be fine now", but Quaid has filed a lawsuit against the drug manufacturer, Baxter Healthcare, claiming that packaging for the two doses of heparin are not different enough.⁹ In May 2008, the Quaids testified before the United States House of Representatives' Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, asking Congress not to preempt the right to sue drug manufacturers for negligence under state law.¹⁰

Aside from acting, Quaid is a musician and plays with his band the Sharks. Quaid also has a pilot's license and is a scratch golfer and, in 2005, was named as the top golfer among the "Hollywood set" by Golf Digest. He lends his name to the annual "Dennis Quaid Charity Weekend" (formerly the "Jiffy Lube/Dennis Quaid Charity Classic") in Austin, Texas. The golf tournament attracts numerous celebrities with the proceeds split among local children's charities. He is a member of the Bel-Air Country Club in Bel-Air and tries to stay at homes on private courses when he is on the road.

Quaid works with the charity "International Hospital for Children in New Orleans." He makes trips to Central America to help build medical clinics and transport sick children back to the United States for treatment they cannot get locally.

In a 2006 interview with Best Life magazine, Quaid said that in the mid-1990s he suffered from anorexia nervosa saying, "I'd look in the mirror and still see a 180 lb (82 kg) guy, even though I was 138 pounds (62 kg)," and "for many years, I was obsessed about what I was eating, how many calories it had, and how much exercise I'd have to do".^{citation needed}

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1975	Crazy Mama	Bellhop	(uncredited)
1977	I Never Promised You a Rose Garden	Shark, Baseball Pitcher
	September 30, 1955	Frank
1978	Are You in the House Alone?	Phil Lawver	(TV)
	Our Winning Season	Paul Morelli
	The Seniors	Alan
1979	Breaking Away	Mike
1980	The Long Riders	Ed Miller
	Gorp	Mad Grossman
1981	All Night Long	Freddie Dupler
	Caveman	Lar
	The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia	Travis Child
	Stripes	Extra at Graduation Ceremony	(uncredited)
1983	Tough Enough	Art Long
	Jaws 3-D	Michael 'Mike' Brody
	The Right Stuff	Gordon Cooper
1984	Dreamscape	Alex Gardner
1985	Enemy Mine	Willis Davidge
1987	The Big Easy	Det. Remy McSwain	Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Male Valladolid International Film Festival Award for Best Actor
	Innerspace	Lt. Tuck Pendleton
	Suspect	Eddie Sanger
1988	D.O.A.	Dexter Cornell
	Everybody's All-American	Gavin Grey
1989	Great Balls of Fire!	Jerry Lee Lewis
1990	Come See The Paradise	Jack McGurn
	Postcards from the Edge	Jack Faulkner
1993	Wilder Napalm	Wallace Foudroyant/Biff the Clown
	Undercover Blues	Jefferson 'Jeff' Blue
	Flesh and Bone	Arlis Sweeney
1994	A Century of Cinema	Himself	(documentary)
	Wyatt Earp	Doc Holliday
1995	Something to Talk About	Eddie Bichon
1996	Dragonheart	Bowen
1997	Gang Related	Joe Doe/William
	Switchback	Frank LaCrosse
1998	Savior	Joshua Rose/Guy
	The Parent Trap	Nick Parker
	Playing by Heart	Hugh
1999	Any Given Sunday	Jack 'Cap' Rooney
2000	Frequency	Frank Sullivan	Nominated — Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor - Suspense Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
	Traffic	Arnie Metzger	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
	Dinner With Friends	Gabe	(TV)
2002	The Rookie	Jimmy Morris
	Far from Heaven	Frank Whitaker	Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
2003	Cold Creek Manor	Cooper Tilson
2004	The Alamo	Sam Houston
	The Day After Tomorrow	Jack Hall
	In Good Company	Dan
	Flight of the Phoenix	Frank Towns
2005	Yours, Mine and Ours	Frank Beardsley
2006	American Dreamz	President Joseph Staton
2007	Battle for Terra	Roven	(voice)
2008	Vantage Point	Thomas Barnes
	Smart People	Lawrence Wetherhold
	The Express	Ben Schwartzwalder
2009	The Horsemen	Aidan Breslin
	SpongeBob SquarePants	Grandpa Redbeard	(1 episode)
	G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra	General Hawk	(post-production)
	Pandorum	Payton	(post-production)
2010	Legion	Bob Hanson	(post-production)
2011	The Special Relationship	Bill Clinton	(pre-production)

References

Further reading

• Silver, Murray, 2005. When Elvis Meets the Dalai Lama, (Bonaventure Books, Savannah), in which the author describes Quaid's participation in the film Great Balls of Fire.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dennis Quaid

• Dennis Quaid at the Internet Movie Database
• Dennis Quaid interview at reviewgraveyard.com
• D.Q. and the sharks Dennis Quaid's Band