Dennis Quaid’s Best 10 Performances, Ranked According To Rotten Tomatoes

Dennis Quaid is an incredibly versatile actor, having starred in both comedic and dramatic feature films and receiving both fan and critical acclaim for his work in both genres. The British newspaper, The Guardian recently named Dennis Quaid as one of the best actors to have never received an Academy Award nomination.

Dennis Quaid struggled to find success early on in his career, but rose to become a household name after a couple of successful feature film roles in the early 1980s. Quaid has been working steadily ever since and most recently, it was announced that Quaid would begin filming a Ronald Reagan biopic. While audiences await his next film, here’s a few of his best from over the years, ranked by Rotten Tomatoes.

10 I Can Only Imagine (61%)

This Christian biographical drama tells the story of the making of the song “I Can Only Imagine” which was released in 2001 and went on to become the most popular Christian single to date. The song is about lead singer of the band MercyMe, Bart Millard, and his relationship with his father, Arthur, who was abusive. In the film, Dennis Quaid plays Arthur and Broadway actor J. Michael Finely plays the role of Bart.

9 Frequency (70%)

This science-fiction thriller stars Dennis Quaid as Frank Sullivan, a New York firefighter who dies in a warehouse fire in 1969, leaving behind his wife and his six-year-old son, Johnny. When Johnny finds his late father’s ham radio in 1999, he discovers that through that radio’s frequency, he can communicate with his deceased father in a different time. This discovery seems great at first, but starts to affect their present realities.

8 In Good Company (83%)

This romantic comedy stars Dennis Quaid, Scarlett Johansson, and Topher Grace.

In the movie, Dennis Quaid plays Dan Foreman, a successful advertising executive who has to make some major adjustments when his company is bought out by an international corporation and his new boss is not only half is age, but also interested in dating Dan’s daughter.

7 Postcards From The Edge (84%)

This film, written by the late Carrie Fisher about her own real-life experiences struggling with addiction and working in Hollywood and having a very famous mother, stars Shirley MacLaine, Meryl Streep, and Dennis Quaid. Meryl Streep plays Suzanne Vale, the character based on Fisher, who falls for producer Jack Faulkner, played by Dennis Quaid, only to find out she isn’t the only actress Jack is seeing. The film has been praised by both fans and critics for Fisher’s vulnerability and brilliance in telling her own story.

6 The Rookie (84%)

The Rookie is a sports drama based on a true story and stars Dennis Quaid as the central character, Jim Morris, who had a brief but very famous career in Major League Baseball from 1999-2000.

Jim Morris was a very talented pitcher, who should have had a very long career, but a couple of roadblocks early on led him to pursue other things. When he does get a chance in the big leagues, he makes a big impression, but ultimately tears his shoulder, ending his chances of having a long and successful sports career.

5 The Parent Trap (86%)

In this Disney family feature film, Dennis Quaid plays the father of twin girls, Hallie and Annie. Hallie and Annie grow up not knowing about one another. When Quaid’s character, Nick and his wife, Liz decide to divorce, they split the infant twins up and each takes one to raise on their own. When Hallie and Annie happen to meet one year at summer camp, they realize what their parents did and are on a mission to reunite their family.

4 Far From Heaven (88%)

This period drama, set in the 1950s stars Julianne Moore and Dennis Quaid. The film examines race, sexual orientation, and class in America at this time.

Julianne Moore plays housewife, Cathy Whitaker, who is married to Quaid’s Frank Whitaker. Things within Cathy and Frank’s seemingly perfect marriage begin to fall apart as Frank starts to explore his sexuality and attraction to other men at a time when homosexuality was actually criminalized.

3 Dinner With Friends (90%)

This film, based on the play with the same name by Donald Margulies, was made for HBO and released on the network in 2001. The film adaptation received two Emmy nominations and a lot of critical praise. The film stays true to the play, almost entirely, and tells the story of a group of four friends, two couples, who regularly have dinner together, but when Beth shows up to Gabe and Karen’s house without Tom, she reveals they’re getting divorced and this close-knit group begins to unravel.

2 Traffic (93%)

This crime thriller boasts an impressive ensemble cast, which tells different stories of drug trafficking from different perspectives. Dennis Quaid plays Arnie Metzger, a man who works for drug lord, Carl Ayala, and is the one who tells Catherine Zeta-Jones’ character, Helena, who her husband really is. Helena, who is pregnant, jumps in on the plot to save not only herself, but her husband and unborn child from any kind of retaliation from her husband’s line of work.

1 The Right Stuff (96%)

The Right Stuff is a historical drama, based on the book by the same name, about test pilots involved in aeronautical research at Edwards Air Force base and the Mercury Seven. The Mercury Seven were seven military pilots who were selected to be astronauts for Project Mercury, the first human spaceflight by the United States. In the movie, Dennis Quaid plays Gordon Cooper, who in 1963 piloted the longest and the last space flight for the Mercury program.

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