Dennis Quaid

Dennis William Quaid (born April 9, 1954) is an American actor. He is known for his leading man roles in film and television. The Guardian named him one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination. Quaid is known for his starring roles in Breaking Away (1979), The Right Stuff (1983), The Big Easy (1986), Innerspace (1987), Great Balls of Fire! (1989), Dragonheart (1996), The Parent Trap (1998), Frequency (2000), The Rookie (2002), The Day After Tomorrow (2004), In Good Company (2004), Yours, Mine & Ours (2005), and Vantage Point (2008). He received a Golden Globe Award nomination for his role in Far from Heaven (2002). Quaid also acted in Jaws 3-D (1983), Come See the Paradise (1990), Any Given Sunday (1999), Traffic (2000), American Dreamz (2006), Footloose (2011), Playing for Keeps (2012), Truth (2015), Midway (2019), and Strange World (2022). He portrayed President Bill Clinton in the HBO film The Special Relationship (2010) for which he earned nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award. Early life and education Dennis William Quaid was born in Houston, Texas, the son of Juanita Bonnie Dale "Nita" (née Jordan), a real estate agent, and William Rudy Quaid (1923–1987), an electrician. He has English, Irish, Scots-Irish, and Cajun (French) ancestry. Through his father, he is a first cousin, twice removed, of cowboy performer Gene Autry. Quaid attended Paul W. Horn Elementary School in Bellaire and Pershing Middle School in Houston. He studied Mandarin and dance at Bellaire High School in Bellaire, Texas, and later in college, at the University of Houston, under drama coach Cecil Pickett, who had previously taught at Bellaire High and whose daughter is actress Cindy Pickett. Quaid was raised in the Baptist faith. He is the younger brother of actor Randy Quaid.