REAGAN actor Dennis Quaid opened up about the shame he has experienced throughout his acting career.
When preparing for any role, Quaid endeavors to relate to his character, and in many ways, he felt like his life reflected that of Ronald Reagan, who he portrayed in 2024.
“I tried to relate with him. I felt like, in really getting into it — talking to people who knew him and just kind of feeling who he was — that Ronald Reagan was an actor. Just like me,” Quaid told Pastor Greg Laurie in an interview.
“Ronald Reagan never really got fulfilled as an actor. He never got to the place he wanted to be. Was he a good actor? Sure. And he was married to Jane Wyman — a giant talent who won an Academy Award,” he continued. “I was married to Meg Ryan — who transcended my career while we were together as well.”
Related: Dennis Quaid Almost Turned Down Playing Ronald Reagan — Here’s Why
Quaid explained that who he was married to didn’t matter when it came to his acting career, but in reality, he developed shame because of it.
“You want to tell yourself you don’t care about that, that it doesn’t matter. But yeah, I’m sure it is. You start to kind of feel yourself disappear a little bit,” he described. “And that’s a little shameful, because you know you’re not that kind of person. But you still kind of feel like you’re disappearing in a way.”
“So with Reagan, when he left the studio system, he became first vice president and then president of the Screen Actors Guild,” Quaid explained. “Then he was working in Las Vegas — doing live shows. And that’s when General Electric came in. When television came along, that was really the comeback of Ronald Reagan. That’s where he found himself.”
Quaid starred as President Ronald Reagan in REAGAN, “a cinematic journey of overcoming the odds. Told through the voice of Viktor Petrovich, a former KGB agent whose life becomes inextricably linked with Ronald Reagan’s when Reagan first caught the Soviets’ attention as an actor in Hollywood, this film offers a perspective as unique as it is captivating.”
Movieguide® gave it a +1 content score and awarded it the 2025 Faith & Freedom Award for Movies. Part of review reads:
REAGAN stars Dennis Quaid as the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan. It covers Reagan’s life from his childhood to his death. There’s a strong focus throughout the movie on Reagan’s lifelong fight against communism. The movie relates Reagan’s battle in the Screen Actors Guild against communist infiltration in the Hollywood unions in the late 1940s. It also details his battle against the Soviet Union’s communist tyranny in Germany and Eastern Europe. Included is Reagan’s dramatic demand that Soviet President Gorbachev tear down the Berlin Wall. In the end, Gorbachev let the people of Germany tear down the wall themselves in November 1989.
Dennis Quaid gives a bravura performance in REAGAN as the beloved President, union leader and movie star. He’s just as good during the more intimate scenes as he is in the iconic public scenes. He’s supported by a great cast, including Jon Voight as a KGB analyst who closely follows Reagan’s beliefs and behavior. The movie’s focus on Reagan’s fight against communism gives a strong narrative structure to REAGAN’s stirring story of faith and patriotism.
Quaid’s and Reagan’s stories are powerful reminders that God has a specific plan for each of our lives, no matter how well or poorly we think we’re doing.
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