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Dennis Quaid Reveals the Surprising Star His and Meg Ryan's Son Is Named After

Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan’s son Jack Quaid is named after one of dad’s heroes, who the actor said gave him "a lot of encouragement."

By Corinne Heller Apr 11, 2024 4:20 PMTags
Watch: Dennis Quaid Praises Lindsay Lohan: "She Was Fearless"

Heeeeere's Johnny? More like here's Jack Nicholson—and Jack Quaid.

After all, Dennis Quaid revealed that his and Meg Ryan's 31-year-old son was named the legendary actor. That is, with a little help from his older brother Randy Quaid.

"I just got to L.A. and my brother got a part in a movie called Missouri Breaks," Dennis told E! News' Francesca Amiker in an exclusive interview. "So I drove my brother's car up to Montana. My very first movie set, I'm watching these actors, my real heroes. We hung out at Jack Nicholson's house every night. He and Randy were good friends."

They gave me a lot of encouragement," the Parent Trap alum continued. "And that's a true story that we named him Jack after that."

So it's no surprise Jack followed in his namesake's footsteps.

"Nobody pushed him into being an actor," Dennis said. "He was 4 years old and he's carrying around a video camera making little movies and he's still doing that."

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Most Unique Celebrity Kid Names

And the Boys star did it on his own.

Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images for UTA

"He was in the drama department in high school and didn't want him to be a child actor with all that pressure that went with it," the 70-year-old continued. "Got his own agent. The next thing I know, his first movie is Hunger Games. And the second thing he's doing, he's working with Martin Scorsese."

Cathy Blaivas/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images

As for Dennis, he's working on The Long Game, which hits theaters April 12.

"It's so uplifting," he said about the film, based on a true story about the 1957 Texas state high school golf championship. "It reminds us of who we used to be as a country and how far we've come, and where we still need to go."

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