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Born in Houston, Texas
April 9, 1954
Quaid was born in Houston, Texas, the son of Juanita Bonniedale "Nita" (née Jordan), 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 drama at Bellaire High School in Bellaire, Texas and later in college, at the University of Houston, under drama coach Cecil Pickett.
Married to P.J. Soles
November 25, 1978 - January 23, 1983
Quaid married actress P.J. Soles on November 25, 1978 (Thanksgiving Day). The two divorced on January 23, 1983.
Breaking Away
July 13, 1979
Quaid began to gain notice when he appeared in Breaking Away.
In the film, Dave (Dennis Christopher), Mike (Dennis Quaid), Cyril (Daniel Stern) and Moocher (Jackie Earle Haley) live in a state college town and often get into fights with some of the male students. Dave is obsessed with bicycle racing. His down-to-earth, blue-collar father Raymond (Paul Dooley) is puzzled and exasperated by his son's love of Italian music and culture, which the son associates with bicycle racers. However, his mother Evelyn (Barbara Barrie) is more understanding. In a humorous interlude, Dave pretends to be an Italian exchange student in order to romance an unsuspecting university coed (Robyn Douglass), even serenading her one evening outside her dormitory window.
The Right Stuff
October 21, 1983
Quaid played the role of Gordon Cooper in The Right Stuff, a film adaptation of Tom Wolfe's 1979 book, The Right Stuff, about the test pilots who were involved in high-speed aeronautical research at Edwards Air Force Base as well as those selected to be astronauts for the Mercury program, America's first attempt at manned spaceflight. The story contrasts the "Mercury Seven" and their families with pilots like Chuck Yeager, who was considered by many test pilots to be the best of them all, but who was never selected as an astronaut. The Mercury Seven were Scott Carpenter, Gordon "Gordo" Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Walter "Wally" Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Donald "Deke" Slayton.
Engaged to Lea Thompson
December 1, 1983 - December 1, 1986
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.
Enemy Mine
December 20, 1985
Quaid had a starring role in the film Enemy Mine.
It is the late 21st century. In the midst of an interstellar war between humans and Dracs (reptilian-like aliens), human pilot Willis E. Davidge (Quaid) and Drac pilot Jeriba "Jerry" Shigan (Gossett), engage in a spacecraft battle resulting in both crashlanding on Fyrine IV, a hostile alien world with a breathable atmosphere, water, and dangerous animal life.
Innerspace
July 1, 1987
Down on his luck Navy pilot Tuck Pendleton (Dennis Quaid) is selected as a guinea pig to participate in an experimental project which will place him in a submersible pod, to be shrunk to microscopic size and injected into the body of a rabbit. Immediately after being miniaturized, the experiment takes a bad turn when the lab is attacked. The experiment supervisor Ozzie Wexler escapes with the miniaturized Tuck in a syringe. After sustaining a fatal gunshot wound, he injects Tuck and the pod into hypochondriac Safeway clerk Jack Putter (Martin Short).
Great Balls of Fire!
June 30, 1989
Quaid achieved acclaim for his portrayal of Jerry Lee Lewis in Great Balls of Fire!
The film tells the story of Jerry Lee Lewis (Dennis Quaid), nicknamed "The Killer", during the early years of rock and roll, 1956-1958. Lewis is shown as a mixed-up person: a skilled performer with little discipline, an alcoholic, and a caring husband who sometimes beats his wife.
Married to Meg Ryan
Feburary 14, 1991 - June 16, 2001
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.
Son Jack Henry Born
April 24, 1992
Quaid's son, Jack Henry, with his second wife Meg Ryan was born on April 24, 1992.
Wyatt Earp
June 24, 1994
Wyatt Earp is a 1994 Western film, written by Dan Gordon and Lawrence Kasdan and directed by Kasdan. The semi-biographical film starred Kevin Costner as lawman Wyatt Earp. Other members of the all-star cast included Dennis Quaid, Gene Hackman, Mark Harmon, Michael Madsen, Joanna Going, Tom Sizemore, Bill Pullman, JoBeth Williams, Linden Ashby, and Mare Winningham. It's rated PG-13 for strong gunfights, some language and sensuality.
Unlike most films depicting lawman Wyatt Earp, this one gave the back history of his life, starting in his teenage years and taking the viewer on into his late years. Dennis Quaid received some praise for having portrayed Doc Holliday very accurately.
Far From Heaven
September 1, 2002
Set in suburban 1950s Connecticut, the film is about Cathy Whitaker (Moore), the perfect wife, mother, and homemaker. Cathy is married to Frank (Quaid), a successful executive at Magnatech. The film begins with Cathy preparing for her annual party with her best friend, Eleanor Fine (Clarkson). One day, Cathy spies an unknown man walking through her garden. He turns out to be Raymond Deagon (Haysbert), the son of Cathy's late gardener.
The Day After Tomorrow
May 28, 2004
This movie takes a big-budget, special-effects-filled look at what the world would look like if the greenhouse effect and global warming continued at such levels that they resulted in worldwide catastrophe and disaster, including multiple hurricanes, tornadoes, tidal waves, floods and the beginning of the next Ice Age. At the center of the story is a paleoclimatologist (a scientist who studies the ways weather patterns changed in the past), Professor Jack Hall (Quaid), who tries to save the world from the effects of global warming while also trying to get to his son, Sam (Gyllenhaal), who was in New York City as part of a scholastic competition, when the city was overwhelmed by the chilling beginnings of the new Ice Age. In addition to all of the other challenges Dr. Hall faces, he's also going against the flow as humanity races south to warmer climes, and he's nearly the only one going north
Married to Kimberly Buffington
July 4, 2004 - Now
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).
Yours, Mine and Ours
November 23, 2005
Frank Beardsley (Dennis Quaid) is a widower US Coast Guard Rear Admiral and superintendent of the United States Coast Guard Academy raising 8 kids. Helen North (Rene Russo) is a widowed fashion designer raising 10 kids. When the two, who were high school sweethearts, meet up again at their school's thirty-year reunion, they fall in love and promptly marry, causing much displeasure within their suddenly-mixed family of 18 children. The children team up to separate their parents in a variety of inventive ways.
Twins Born
November 8, 2007
Quaid and his wife Kimberly Buffington 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).
Twins Hospital Overdose
November 20, 2007
On November 20, 2007, hospital staff mistakenly gave Quaid's twelve-day-old twins a dosage of heparin 1,000 times the common dosage for infants.[7][8] 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.
Vantage Point
Feburary 22, 2008
President Ashton (William Hurt) is attending a global war on terror summit in Spain. Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid) and Kent Taylor (Matthew Fox) are two of the Secret Service agents assigned to protect him. This is the first action that Agent Barnes has been in since he took a bullet for President Ashton six-month earlier. We really dont know if Agent Barnes is up to the challenge of protecting the President. Shortly after President Ashton is escorted to the stage in the plaza by the Secret Service, he is immediately shot twice by a rifle from a window and falls to the floor. The crowd is in shock and chaos breaks out all over, especially, when bombs begin to explode. Howard Lewis (Forest Whitaker) is an American video-taping the event to show to his children that he was actually there at this historic event. He believes that he has the picture of the man who shot the President. Agent Barnes sees the tape and has a clue to that person. Several different people witness the event, and only through their eyes do we see the truth behind the assassination attempt.
