Dennis Quaid Says There’s One Major Change in His Career Since His 20s (Exclusive)
Dennis Quaid Says There’s One Major Change in His Career Since His 20s (Exclusive)
Lily BrownTue, September 1, 2026 at 2:16 PM UTC
0
Dennis Quaid attends ‘The Long Game’ screening on April 10, 2024 in Hollywood, Calif.Credit: JC Olivera/Getty Images -
Dennis Quaid opens up to PEOPLE about prioritizing projects that interest him rather than chasing career milestones
The actor balances his film career with his passion for music and performing with his band, Dennis Quaid and the Sharks
Quaid narrates the documentary Water Wars, which explores a legal battle over water rights in Texas, premiering on Prime Video Sept. 4
Dennis Quaid has spent more than five decades working in Hollywood, but these days, he’s not chasing the next big thing.
The veteran actor, 72, says there’s one major difference between the way he approaches his career now and how he did in his 20s: He’s having a lot more fun.
“I have more enthusiasm for what I do now than I did back in my 20s,” Quaid tells PEOPLE. “Because I felt like I was always trying to get somewhere back then in life.”
From left: Dennis Christopher, Jackie Earle Haley, Daniel Stern and Dennis Quaid in ‘Breaking Away’Credit: John Springer Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty
Quaid arrived in Los Angeles in 1974, leaving Texas behind to pursue an acting career. After a handful of early roles, he broke through with Breaking Away in 1979.
He quickly became one of Hollywood’s most recognizable leading men in the 1980s with films like The Right Stuff, in which he portrayed astronaut Gordon Cooper, and The Big Easy, where he starred as a New Orleans detective opposite Ellen Barkin. He also showed off his comedic side in Innerspace before taking on the title role of rock ‘n’ roll legend Jerry Lee Lewis in Great Balls of Fire!
— sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Quaid has continued to move easily between genres throughout his career. In 1998, he starred in one of his most beloved roles as Nick Parker, the divorced father in The Parent Trap. Directed by Nancy Meyers, the Disney favorite follows identical twins Annie and Hallie, both played by Lindsay Lohan, as they meet at summer camp and scheme to reunite their parents.
More than two decades later, Quaid showed another side of himself in The Substance, the 2024 body-horror film starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley. He plays Harvey, the sleazy head of a television studio who dismisses Moore’s character, an aging celebrity, as no longer useful to the industry.
Dennis Quaid in ‘The Right Stuff’Credit: Ladd Company/Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock
Today Quaid says he’s less focused on where a project might take him and more on whether he actually wants to do it.
Advertisement
“And now, I just do it because it’s an interest, or that would be a lot of fun to do,” Quaid tells PEOPLE. “Or, ‘Why not?’ It’s doing things that really interest me. I’m lucky to be able to do that.”
Away from acting, Quaid has also made room for another longtime passion: music. The actor has performed with his band, Dennis Quaid and the Sharks, for decades, playing guitar and singing at shows around the country. The group has released original music and has allowed Quaid to indulge in his love of rock ‘n’ roll alongside his film career.
That mindset is also part of what drew him to Water Wars. Narrated by Quaid, Water Wars explores a high-stakes legal battle over water rights in Texas, pitting ranchers and farmers against some of the state’s wealthiest landowners.
Dennis Quaid in ‘The Parent Trap’Credit: Disney+
Quaid was immediately moved by the story and how the filmmakers brought the complicated subject to life.
“Those guys told a really great story,” he says. “They sent me the documentary with a scratch narration on it and I was really impressed, especially to make a story like that really understandable to [everyone]. I got very caught up in it just watching it, so I wanted to do it.”
Quaid has several projects coming up. He will be starring in The Florist, an action thriller about a quiet horticulturist who is secretly an assassin. The film is set to hit U.S. theaters Oct. 2. He will also star in AMC’s upcoming NASCAR drama, Thunder Road, as Duane “The Wrecking Ball” Whitlock, who leads a family racing empire.
On the holiday front, Quaid appears in Netflix’s A Dog’s Perfect Christmas, alongside Milo Ventimiglia and Jennifer Tilly, premiering Nov. 4. The movie is separate from A Dog’s Purpose, though both are based on books by W. Bruce Cameron. A Dog’s Perfect Christmas follows a basset hound puppy named Winstead as he tries to help a family through a crisis during the Christmas season.
Water Wars premieres on Prime Video Sept. 4.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
