Dennis Quaid left Los Angeles behind in 2020 and moved his family to Nashville.
Six years later, he's telling an entire generation of newcomers something Hollywood won't want them to hear.
Quaid has one piece of advice for anyone chasing that career today, and it might be the last thing they'd expect from him.
Why Quaid Traded LA for Land, Space and a Front Porch
Quaid moved to Nashville with his wife, Laura Savoie, after decades of building his career out of Los Angeles.
He says the trade gave his family something LA never could.
"You get a lot of land and space, but you're still in an urban environment," Quaid said.
He calls it "a great place to raise a family."
He's not the only star who made that exact move.
Melissa Joan Hart and Steven Tyler both relocated to Tennessee in recent years, part of a wider migration of familiar names trading Los Angeles zip codes for Nashville ones.
Quaid golfs, he settles into the community, and he sounds like a man with zero regrets about the trade.
Nashville has spent recent years building an actual production economy to go with its country music reputation, courting film and TV work the way it once courted record labels.
Quaid and his family are a small piece of a much bigger exodus, not a one-time pandemic trend that's already fading.
The most recent IRS migration data shows California lost $11.9 billion in adjusted gross income to other states in a single year, and Tennessee was one of the top five states picking up that money.
Tennessee charges zero state income tax.
California's top earners hand over 13.3 percent.
Quaid never mentioned taxes once, but his move landed him in exactly the state where thousands of other Californians have been quietly landing too.
The City Quaid Tells Newcomers to Try Instead
Quaid didn't stop at praising Nashville.
"If I was an actor starting out, I wouldn't go to LA," Quaid said. "I would go to Atlanta."
That advice lands differently coming from a man who built his entire career the old way, walking into casting offices and shaking hands.
Quaid says that world is gone.
Auditions moved from in-person meetings to self-taped submissions filmed alone in a bedroom.
"It used to be if you were auditioning for something, you'd go to an office," Quaid said, describing rooms full of actors up for the same part who became friends and eventually colleagues.
That entire community, he says, disappeared along with the in-person audition.
Actors used to build careers on relationships formed in waiting rooms.
Quaid says an entire generation of newcomers is now learning the business alone, filming auditions on a laptop with nobody in the room to learn from and nobody to remember their name when the callback comes.
The Wildfires That Proved Quaid Right
Quaid isn't slamming the door on Los Angeles forever.
"I might be open to going back to LA later on," Quaid said, "but I just think things have got to get a little better there."
He pointed to the wildfires that tore through the region, and made clear he moved out before they hit.
Los Angeles used to be the only address that mattered if you wanted a career in film.
Quaid just told an entire generation of newcomers that the smarter move is Atlanta, the smarter life is Nashville, and the city that built his career isn't the one he'd recommend building a new one in today.
That's not nostalgia talking.
That's a guy who spent three decades inside the machine, looking at what's left of it now.
Sources:
- Fox News, "Dennis Quaid says LA has to 'get a little better' as he embraces Nashville life," September 2026.
- Yahoo Entertainment, "Stars Who've Moved to Tennessee: Melissa Joan Hart, Steven Tyler," 2026.
- Kiplinger, "Millions of People Are Leaving High-Tax States Like California," IRS migration data analysis.