After decades in Hollywood, the 72-year-old actor says he’s happier taking life at a slower pace in Tennessee
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NEED TO KNOW
- Dennis Quaid moved to Tennessee in 2020 to enjoy a more relaxed lifestyle with his wife, Laura Savoie
- The actor appreciates Nashville’s sense of community and its balance of urban life and open land, he tells PEOPLE
- Quaid says the entertainment industry has changed, with self-taped auditions replacing the in-person connections he once valued
Six years ago, Dennis Quaid traded the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles for a little more room to breathe.
The Substance actor, 72, moved to Nashville with his wife, Laura Savoie, 33, in 2020 after decades of living in the L.A. area. While Quaid remains busy with acting and other projects, his day-to-day life in Tennessee looks considerably more relaxed.
“Basically I play golf,” he tells PEOPLE while promoting his latest project, Water Wars. “I love to be around the house here. You get a lot of land and space, but you’re still in an urban environment. I’ve made some really good friends here to spend time with. It’s important and a great place to raise a family.”
Credit: Alan Poizner For The Washington Post via Getty
That sense of connection is a big part of what makes Nashville feel like home for Quaid.
The actor has previously spoken about his decision to leave L.A., describing the city he once thought of as “fantastic” but saying he felt it had changed over the years. When asked what he misses most about the L.A. of his younger days, his answer was simple: “It was such a great community when I lived there.”
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The Texas native arrived in L.A. in 1974, chasing an acting career. By the early 1980s, he was a rising leading man, landing roles in films including The Right Stuff, The Big Easy and Innerspace as his career took off.
After spending decades working in Hollywood, he says the entertainment industry itself has changed, too. Quaid remembers a time when actors would gather in casting offices for auditions, often sitting alongside other performers going for the same role.
“It used to be if you were auditioning for something, you’d go to an office. You’d go in and there would be five people dressed just like you, all up for the same part, waiting for time to read,” he says. “You met a lot of people that way and that’s where a community was formed.”
Credit: Alan Poizner For The Washington Post via Getty
Those in-person connections have largely been replaced by self-taped auditions, which Quaid says have made the business feel less communal.
“Now everybody puts something on tape in their room and sends it in. You don’t have this feeling of community over that,” he says.
If he were starting his acting career today, Quaid says he might not choose the City of Stars at all.
“If I was an actor starting out, I wouldn’t go to L.A. I would go to Atlanta,” he says, explaining that productions can increasingly cast smaller roles locally rather than flying actors to and from the West Coast hub.
That doesn’t mean Quaid has completely closed the door on his former home. He says he could potentially return someday, but for now, Tennessee has plenty to offer.
“I might be open to going back to L.A. later on. I moved before the fires and everything, but I just think things have got to get a little better there,” he says.
He adds, “And it’s so nice here in Tennessee. It’s soft and it’s a real feeling of community.”
While Nashville is famously associated with country music, Quaid points out that there’s so much more happening in the city.
“It’s not a one-horse town,” explains Quaid. “It’s not just music, although, like 75 percent of all music in the United States, no matter what genre it is either, not just country is done right here in Nashville.”
He also appreciates how the honky tonk town has grown without losing what drew people there in the first place.
“They have so many other industries, and it’s also booming, but it’s still holding its character,” Quaid says. “I think because it’s not just people from California. There’s people from New York and Chicago and really all over that are coming to live in Nashville.”
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. The documentary premieres on Prime Video Sept. 4.
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