Dennis Quaid has spent more than fifty years in Hollywood, and at 72, he says this is the version of his career — and his life — he's enjoyed the most. The Oscar-nominated actor recently opened up about how differently he approaches work now compared with his 20s, tying it to a broader outlook he's talked about for years: gratitude for simply being alive. Here's everything you need to know about where Dennis Quaid is now , from his career resurgence to his marriage and the faith journey behind it all.
Key Facts About Dennis Quaid
- Dennis Quaid turned 72 on April 9, 2026, and is still working steadily across film and TV.
- He says he has more enthusiasm for acting now than he did in his 20s.
- Quaid has been married four times; he's been with wife Laura Savoie since 2020.
- He's open about his 1980s cocaine addiction and credits his Christian faith with his recovery.
- His son Jack Quaid, with ex-wife Meg Ryan, is now a working actor in his own right.
Who Is Dennis Quaid
Born in Houston, Texas, in 1954, Quaid moved to Los Angeles in 1974 to chase an acting career. He's the older brother of actor Randy Quaid, and the two grew up in a working-class household before both ended up in Hollywood.
Quaid landed a handful of small parts before his breakout in 1979's Breaking Away. From there, he became one of the defining leading men of the 1980s and '90s, moving between action, comedy, and drama with equal ease. Decades later, he's still doing it — a rare feat in an industry that isn't always kind to aging leading men.
From Breaking Away to The Substance: His Career Journey
Quaid's filmography reads like a tour of American movie history. He played astronaut Gordon Cooper in The Right Stuff, a hard-nosed detective in The Big Easy, and rocker Jerry Lee Lewis in Great Balls of Fire! In 1998, he found a new generation of fans as divorced dad Nick Parker in The Parent Trap alongside a young Lindsay Lohan.
More recently, he's taken on riskier, less flattering roles — including a sleazy TV executive in 2024's body-horror hit The Substance — and stepped into one of the biggest challenges of his career playing Ronald Reagan in the 2024 biopic Reagan.
That range is part of why Quaid says the work feels different now than it did when he was younger.
"I have more enthusiasm for what I do now than I did back in my 20s," Quaid told PEOPLE in September 2026. He explained that early in his career, he was always chasing the next opportunity rather than enjoying the one in front of him. These days, he picks projects because they genuinely interest him — not because he feels like he has something to prove.
That shift shows up in how he talks about choosing roles generally, too. "I take everything as it comes along," he told Fox News, adding that the characters tend to find him rather than the other way around.
The Faith and Sobriety That Changed Everything
Quaid's current outlook didn't come easily. He's spoken candidly about struggling with cocaine addiction in the 1980s, at the height of his early fame, and about the "white light" moment that pushed him to get sober — what he's called, half-jokingly, "cocaine school."
Rebuilding his life afterward meant leaning back into the Christian faith he grew up with. "My dad died at 63, so I didn't have an example of it," Quaid explained to TODAY's Al Roker, describing the strange feeling of aging past the point his father ever reached.
Quaid has repeated one particular phrase in interview after interview over the past few years when describing what got him through it: the joy of being alive. He's traced that feeling back to his faith and his recovery, describing it to CBN News as the thing underneath everything else he was chasing during his addiction — connection, meaning, gratitude for simply still being here.
Marriage to Laura Savoie and Family Life
Quaid has been married four times: to P.J. Soles from 1978 to 1983, to Meg Ryan from 1991 to 2001, to Kimberly Buffington from 2004 to 2018, and to Laura Savoie since 2020. He's spoken openly about believing this marriage is the one that will last.
He has three children: son Jack Quaid, now a working actor in his own right, with Ryan, and twins Thomas and Zoe with Buffington. Quaid has said one of the most important things he tries to pass on to his kids is simple — find something you love and figure out how to get paid doing it.
Why Dennis Quaid Says This Is His Best Chapter Yet
Between a steady stream of acting work, a stable marriage, and a faith practice he credits with saving his life, Quaid frames his early seventies not as a slowdown but as a high point. It's a rare, grounded take on aging in an industry that tends to treat 70-plus actors as an afterthought.
Quaid isn't showing signs of stopping. Between film roles, TV projects, and his ongoing work as a musician and faith advocate, he's staying just as busy as ever — just, by his own account, enjoying it more.
Stay tuned to Bigwritehook for more on Dennis Quaid as his 2026 projects continue to roll out.
