Dennis William Quaid (born April 9, 1954) is an
American actor. He became known during the 1980s after appearing in
several successful films.
Early life
Quaid was
born in Houston
, Texas
, the son of
Juanita Bonniedale "Nita" (née Jordan) Quaid, a real estate agent, and William Rudy
Quaid, an electrician. He is the
younger brother of actor
Randy Quaid.
Quaid has Irish and
Cajun ancestry. He
attended
Pershing
Middle School in Houston.
He studied chinese and dance 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, Randy, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best
Supporting Actor for his role in The Last Detail (1973), Quaid dropped
out of the University of Houston before graduating and moved to
Los
Angeles
to pursue an acting career of his own. He
initially had trouble finding work but began to gain notice when he
appeared in
Breaking Away
(1979) and earned good reviews for his role in
The Right Stuff (1983).
Known for his
grin, Quaid has appeared in both
comedic and
dramatic
roles. Quaid had starring roles in the films
Enemy Mine (1985) and
Innerspace (1987). He also achieved acclaim
for his portrayal of
Jerry Lee Lewis
in
Great Balls of
Fire! (1989).
Quaid's career lost steam in the early 1990s, after he fought and
kicked a
cocaine addiction. He continued to
garner positive reviews in a variety of films, however, such as
Doc Holliday in
Wyatt Earp (1994). He starred in the
remake of
The Parent
Trap (1998), 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),
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
(2009), and Pandorum (2009).
In 2011, he will portray
U.S. President Bill Clinton, alongside
Michael Sheen as
Tony
Blair and
Hope Davis as
Hillary Clinton, in the film
The Special
Relationship.
Awards
For his role in
Far From Heaven (2002) he won the
New
York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor, the
Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting
Actor, the
Online
Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor and the
Independent
Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male. He received nominations
for Best Supporting Actor from the
Golden Globe Awards, the
Phoenix Film Critics Society
Awards and the
Screen
Actors Guild Awards.
Personal life
Quaid was raised in the
Baptist faith and is
a currently a practicing
Christian.
Quaid and actress
P.J. Soles were married on November 25, 1978. The
couple were divorced on January 23, 1983. On February 14, 1991, he
and
Meg Ryan were married. Quaid and Ryan
have a son, Jack Henry (born April 24, 1992). They were divorced on
June 16, 2001.
Quaid
married Kimberly Buffington, an Austin
, Texas,
real-estate agent, on July 4, 2004. The couple had 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 six pounds, twelve ounces (3.06 kg).
Daughter Zoe Grace was born two minutes later weighing five pounds,
nine ounces (2.52 kg).
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. Their attorney said the
newborns will "be fine now", but Quaid filed a lawsuit against the
drug manufacturer,
Baxter
Healthcare, claiming that packaging for the two doses of
heparin are not different enough. In May 2008, the Quaids testified
before the
United
States House of Representatives'
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, asking
U.S. Congress not to
preempt the right to sue drug manufacturers
for
negligence under state law.
In addition to acting, Quaid is a
musician
and plays with his band, the Sharks. Quaid also has a
pilot's license and is a scratch
golfer.
In 2005, he 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. 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
, California, 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
, Louisiana
. He makes trips to
Central America to help build medical
clinics and transport sick children back to the U.S. for treatment
they cannot get locally.
Filmography
References
- Dennis Quaid Biography (1954-)
- Stated in interview at Inside
the Actors Studio.
- 'It's All God': Interview with Dennis
Quaid.
- Mr. Versatile 'Christianity Today' By Peter T.
Chattaway - 2005-11-22.
- Dennis & Kimberly Quaid Welcome a Boy & Girl -
Babies, Dennis Quaid : People.com.
- FoxNews.com, Dennis Quaid's Newborn Twins Fighting for Life,
2007-11-20.
- Dennis Quaid's newborns reportedly harmed by
medical mix-up.
- Dennis Quaid and wife sue drug maker.
- Testimony of Dennis Quaid and Kimberly Quaid Before
the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the United
States House of Representatives, 2008-05-14.
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
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