Dennis Quaid is thrilled that his son, Jack Quaid, is leading the box office.
When Dennis, 70, sat down with PEOPLE recently to discuss his new Paramount+ true crime series, Happy Face, he said he had just spoken with Jack, 32, to congratulate him on his new film, Novocaine, which led the domestic box office in its opening weekend.
“I just talked to him last night. His movie’s no. 1. I mean, that’s incredible, really great,” Dennis, who shares Jack with ex-wife Meg Ryan, said of Novocaine‘s success. “He certainly deserves it. He’s just getting started. You haven’t seen nothing yet when it comes to him.”
Dennis frequently heaps praise on Jack, who began acting as a teenager in 2012’s The Hunger Games, when asked about his son and parenting in interviews. Back in September 2024, the Parent Trap actor said he thinks Jack could have a more successful career than either him or Ryan, 63, as he reflected on his marriage to Ryan during an appearance on Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?
“I tried to be a big person and tell myself that didn’t bother me, but people are human,” he said at the time, referring to how he felt overshadowed by Ryan’s success during the 1990s. The pair were married from 1991 to 2000 before finalizing their divorce in 2001.
Dennis added, “She was ascending as I went into rehab and Meg is really such a great, sweet person and really talented and deserved all her success. But I don’t regret anything about my marriage to Meg, and we got Jack Quaid out of it who is really going on to maybe eclipse both of us.”
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Dennis was married to his first wife P.J. Soles from 1978 to 1983. After he and Ryan divorced, Dennis was wed to Kimberly Buffington from 2004 to 2018. Quaid shares two other children — twins Thomas and Zoe, 17 — with Buffington. In 2020, he married his current wife, Laura Savoie.
Jack himself told PEOPLE back in July 2023 that growing up with actors for parents “didn’t really feel different” for a time, since he had friends whose parents also worked in the entertainment industry.
“But then you grow up, and you realize that’s a pretty unique thing, that not one but two of your parents are actors,” he added. “You don’t realize that things are slightly abnormal until later.”
Dennis’ new series, Happy Face, begins streaming on Paramount+ on Thursday, March 20 while Jack’s movie, Novocaine, is in theaters now.
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