Dennis Quaid is offering a window into the quieter, more grounded life he has embraced in Nashville, years after turning his back on the chaos of Los Angeles.
The veteran actor, who relocated to Tennessee with his wife Laura Savoie in 2020 after decades in California, described a daily routine that reflects both stability and traditional family values. According to Fox News, Quaid told People, "Basically, I play golf," before adding, "I love to be around the house here. You get a lot of land and space, but youre still in an urban environment. Ive made some really good friends here to spend time with. Its important and a great place to raise a family."
For Quaid, that sense of rootedness is not merely about geography but about community, something he suggests has been steadily eroding in Hollywood. He noted that the connection he has found in Nashville makes it feel genuinely like home, a stark contrast to the increasingly transient and impersonal culture of the coastal entertainment hubs.
The actor, who rose to prominence long before the digital age reshaped casting and production, reflected candidly on how his industry has changed. "It used to be if you were auditioning for something, youd go to an office. Youd go in and there would be five people dressed just like you, all up for the same part, waiting for time to read. You met a lot of people that way and thats where a community was formed," Quaid told the outlet.
He repeated that "Its important and a great place to raise a family," underscoring his belief that places like Nashville still foster the kind of close-knit environment that once defined Hollywood. By contrast, he lamented the rise of self-taped auditions, which have replaced face-to-face interaction with isolated, screen-based submissions.
"Now everybody puts something on tape in their room and sends it in. You dont have this feeling of community over that," Quaid said, suggesting that technological convenience has come at the cost of human connection. From his vantage point in Tennessee, the shift appears emblematic of a broader cultural move away from shared spaces and toward atomized, digital lives.
Quaid, best known to many for roles such as in "The Parent Trap," went so far as to say that if he were starting out today, he would bypass California altogether. "If I was an actor starting out, I wouldnt go to LA I would go to Atlanta," he said, pointing to the growing accessibility of production studios in the South and the economic opportunities they bring outside traditional liberal strongholds.
Still, he has not entirely written off the Golden State, even as many families and businesses have fled its high taxes, crime, and regulatory burdens during President Trumps second administration. "I might be open to going back to LA later on. I moved before the fires and everything, but I just think things have got to get a little better there," he said, adding, "And its so nice here in Tennessee. Its soft, and its a real feeling of community."
Over six years in Tennessee, Quaid has also come to appreciate that Nashville is far more than a country music enclave. "Its not a one-horse town. Its 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 said, highlighting the citys outsized cultural and economic influence.
"The actor concluded, "They have so many other industries, and its also booming, but its still holding its character. I think because its not just people from California. Theres people from New York and Chicago and really all over that are coming to live in Nashville." In Quaids eyes, that blend of growth, opportunity, and preserved characteranchored in community rather than ideologyoffers a model that stands in sharp contrast to the fraying social fabric of coastal liberal cities.
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