Dennis Quaid and the Sharks Biography

American actor and musician Dennis Quaid was born in 1954. Quaid grew up with his younger brother, Randy, in a small city outside of Houston, Texas. The Quaid brothers showed signs of a talent for performance from an early age, and Dennis studied dance while in high school and then later in college. Randy embarked on an acting career while still quite young, and by 1973, he had already earned an Academy Award for his supporting role in the film The Last Detail.

Randy’s success inspired Dennis to ditch his college studies in Houston and move to Los Angeles to pursue a career of his own. Quaid’s earliest roles include Breaking Away (1979) and The Right Stuff (1983), both of which garnered him some positive criticism. His film career continued to rise well into the 1990’s, with roles in Innerspace (1987), Great Balls of Fire! (1989), and Wyatt Earp (1994), to name a few.

In the 1990’s, Dennis Quaid also returned to his love of music and established Dennis Quaid and the Sharks. Many of his fans didn’t even realize that the actor wrote songs for three of his own films (Tough Enough, The Night the Lights Went out in Georgia, and The Big Easy), and also played the piano for much of his role in Great Balls of Fire!, but Dennis Quaid is a talented singer and musician in his own right. While the actor consistently claims that the band exists “just for fun,” the lineup of Quaid and his friends have been entertaining audiences for almost twenty years with a blend of rock’n’roll, country, and soul music that often features classic hits ranging from the Doors to Jerry Lee Lewis.  Quaid is known to entertain the audience with a barefooted performance, one he prefers strictly “for comfort.”

Of course, when Dennis Quaid is not performing with the Sharks, he is making movies – lots of them. Some of his film credits in the new millennium include Frequency (2000), The Rookie (2002), The Day after Tomorrow (2004), Vantage Point (2008), Pandorum (2009), What to Expect When You’re Expecting (2012), and Playing for Keeps (2012.) Dennis Quaid continues to entertain audiences with his performances, music, and that dazzling smile which has become his trademark. Quaid performed with the Sharks most recently in October of 2017, at New York City’s B.B. King Blues Club & Grill.