Rise to Fame
Forty-three pounds lost for a role gave him anorexia. That role was Doc Holliday in Wyatt Earp (1994), the film flopped critically and commercially, and his early-1990s career stalled out in one triple setback. The ascent had started with The Right Stuff in 1983, playing astronaut Gordon Cooper in Philip Kaufman's Tom Wolfe adaptation. The comeback came in 2002 with Far From Heaven, a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and The Rookie proving he could still open a movie.
In the Spotlight
Playing Ronald Reagan in a 2024 biopic while publicly endorsing Donald Trump is either deeply on-brand or deeply ironic, depending on how you see it. He spoke at Trump's California rally in October 2024 and flew on Air Force One with Trump in early 2026, calling him 'the best president since Ronald Reagan.' He played a sleazy TV exec in The Substance the same year, a body-horror film that got more attention than most of his recent work. He's moved to Nashville, speaks openly about faith, and calls Hollywood ideologically hostile to anyone who doesn't vote Democrat.
Side Notes
In the 1980s, he was using cocaine daily, sometimes up to 2 grams a day, in an era when Hollywood studios reportedly covered the bill out of petty cash. A moment in 1990 where he saw himself dead or in jail sent him to rehab. His son with Meg Ryan, Jack Quaid, now plays Hughie on The Boys and has arguably eclipsed both parents. Dennis has said so openly and without apparent bitterness, which is the rare kind of honest that usually takes a lot of work to get to.