Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1204
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Dennis Quaid represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 46 years in, and Dennis is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Dennis Quaid appears in 55 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Dennis. Disney 100: Remember That is the clearest case: a film rated 10.0 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for action, thriller, music. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Babak Najafi, Patrick Hughes, Coralie Fargeat and others, Dennis Quaid helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
Disney 100: Remember That (2023) as Self · I Can Only Imagine 2 (2026) as Arthur · A Dog's Journey (2019) as Ethan Montgomery
Career snapshot
Ranked #1204 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
55
1980–2026
Career length
46 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
10.0
Disney 100: Remember That
Average Nutevio score
6.3
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
10.0
Disney 100: Remember That
Most frequent director
Sean McNamara
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Sean McNamara
Most common genre
Drama
34 titles
Average runtime
1h 47m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.0
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
6.9
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
1990s
6.7 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. Any Given Sunday, Savior, The Parent Trap — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
6.7
Across 8 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
6.7
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1980s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Great Balls of Fire!, The Right Stuff, Jaws 3-D.
Most productive era
2020s
20 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.73 films | 6.76 films | 6.27 films | 6.77 films | 6.911 films |
| Action | 6.61 film | 6.61 film | 6.13 films | 6.02 films | 4.83 films |
| Thriller | 5.01 film | 6.01 film | 6.35 films | 6.14 films | 5.44 films |
| Comedy | — | 6.83 films | 5.73 films | 5.53 films | 6.72 films |
| Crime | 6.61 film | — | 6.82 films | — | 6.71 film |
| Romance | — | 6.92 films | 6.43 films | 5.82 films | — |
| Horror | 5.01 film | — | — | 5.91 film | 7.31 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1980The Long Riders
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Ed Miller.
First Nutevio masterpiece · Highest rated performance · Career peak
The first film here to clear 9.0 on our scale — a threshold fewer than one film in ten reaches. 10.0 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer. Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
2026War Machine
The current state of the argument, as Army Sgt Maj Sheridan.
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
55 of 55 films
as James Hill
Directed by Jeff Celentano
as Army Sgt Maj Sheridan
Directed by Patrick Hughes
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
Loading credits…
The defining work
#1
Self
Disney 100: Remember That (2023)
Performance score9.5
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Self gives Dennis Quaid a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Arthur
I Can Only Imagine 2 (2026)
Performance score8.1
I Can Only Imagine 2 asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Arthur is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
James Hill
The Hill (2023)
Performance score7.9
The Hill asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. James Hill is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Arthur
I Can Only Imagine (2018)
Performance score7.8
I Can Only Imagine asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Arthur is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Self
Start here. Disney 100: Remember That is the clearest statement of what Dennis Quaid does — accessible, 36 minutes, and rated 10.0 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Dennis at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
I Can Only Imagine (2018)
Keeps the music register of Disney 100: Remember That but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Hill (2023)
Keeps the drama register of I Can Only Imagine but asks for a colder reading of it.
I Can Only Imagine 2 (2026)
Keeps the drama register of The Hill but asks for a colder reading of it.
War Machine (2026)
A deliberate change of key after I Can Only Imagine 2 — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Paul Weitz
Director
2 films together
Notably In Good Company
Roland Emmerich
Director
2 films together
Notably Midway
Jon Erwin
Director
2 films together
Notably I Can Only Imagine
Sean McNamara
Director
2 films together
Notably Reagan
Walter Hill
Director
1 film together
Notably The Long Riders
Joe Alves
Director
1 film together
Notably Jaws 3-D
Philip Kaufman
Director
1 film together
Notably The Right Stuff
Jim McBride
Director
1 film together
Notably Great Balls of Fire!
Mike Nichols
Director
1 film together
Notably Postcards from the Edge
Lawrence Kasdan
Director
1 film together
Notably Wyatt Earp
Rob Cohen
Director
1 film together
Notably DragonHeart
Jeb Stuart
Director
1 film together
Notably Switchback
Nancy Meyers
Director
1 film together
Notably The Parent Trap
Predrag Antonijević
Director
1 film together
Notably Savior
Oliver Stone
Director
1 film together
Notably Any Given Sunday
Todd Haynes
Director
1 film together
Notably Far from Heaven
Mike Figgis
Director
1 film together
Notably Cold Creek Manor
John Lee Hancock
Director
1 film together
Notably The Alamo
Pete Travis
Director
1 film together
Notably Vantage Point
Stephen Sommers
Director
1 film together
Notably G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Scott Stewart
Director
1 film together
Notably Legion
Gabriele Muccino
Director
1 film together
Notably Playing for Keeps
Kirk Jones
Director
1 film together
Notably What to Expect When You're Expecting
Brian Klugman
Director
1 film together
Notably The Words
Ramin Bahrani
Director
1 film together
Notably At Any Price
Brett Ratner
Director
1 film together
Notably Movie 43
James Vanderbilt
Director
1 film together
Notably Truth
Gail Mancuso
Director
1 film together
Notably A Dog's Journey
Jake Szymanski
Director
1 film together
Notably John Bronco
Don Hall
Director
1 film together
Notably Strange World
Jeff Celentano
Director
1 film together
Notably The Hill
Josh Greenbaum
Director
1 film together
Notably Strays
Coralie Fargeat
Director
1 film together
Notably The Substance
Patrick Hughes
Director
1 film together
Notably War Machine
Babak Najafi
Director
1 film together
Notably The Florist
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Jon Erwin
Director
2 films together · 7.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
I Can Only ImagineRoland Emmerich
Director
2 films together · 6.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
MidwaySean McNamara
Director
2 films together · 6.2 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
ReaganPaul Weitz
Director
2 films together · 5.6 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
In Good CompanyGail Mancuso
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Dog's JourneyJeff Celentano
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The HillPatrick Hughes
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
War MachineCoralie Fargeat
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The SubstanceNancy Meyers
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Parent TrapJosh Greenbaum
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
StraysPhilip Kaufman
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Right StuffTodd Haynes
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Far from HeavenOliver Stone
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Any Given SundayPredrag Antonijević
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SaviorBrian Klugman
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The WordsLawrence Kasdan
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Wyatt EarpRob Cohen
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
DragonHeartMike Nichols
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Postcards from the EdgeWalter Hill
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Long RidersJames Vanderbilt
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
TruthPete Travis
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Vantage PointJim McBride
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Great Balls of Fire!Don Hall
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Strange WorldJake Szymanski
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
John BroncoKirk Jones
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
What to Expect When You're ExpectingJeb Stuart
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SwitchbackScott Stewart
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
LegionStephen Sommers
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
G.I. Joe: The Rise of CobraJohn Lee Hancock
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The AlamoGabriele Muccino
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Playing for KeepsRamin Bahrani
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
At Any PriceMike Figgis
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Cold Creek ManorJoe Alves
Director
1 film together · 5.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Jaws 3-DBrett Ratner
Director
1 film together · 4.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Movie 43Babak Najafi
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The FloristSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Disney 100: Remember That
as Self
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Disney 100: Remember That
as Self
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Disney 100: Remember That
as Self
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Disney 100: Remember That
as Self
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Disney 100: Remember That
as Self
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Dennis Quaid has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
46 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Drama Legend
Awarded
34 catalogue titles in drama, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
Disney 100: Remember That
as Self
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Disney 100: Remember That
as Self
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
I Can Only Imagine 2
as Arthur
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Cold Creek Manor
as Cooper Tilson
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Disney 100: Remember That
as Self
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Kin
as Hal Solinski
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Playing by Heart
as Hugh
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Jaws 3-D
as Mike Brody
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
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Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
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Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Cillian Murphy
Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
Have your say
Community
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Our readers argue about this one. Make your case, or read the ranked debate already in progress.
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Reference
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