American actor Dennis Quaid has signed on for a lead role in the upcoming series 'Happy Face,' Variety reported.
Quaid will appear opposite actor Annaleigh Ashford, who will star as Melissa. The series is based on the podcast from iHeartMedia and Melissa Moore, and Moore's book 'Shattered Silence' co-written with M. Bridget Cook.
Moore discovered at the age of 15 that her father, Keith Hunter Jesperson, was the serial murderer known as the 'Happy Face' Killer, after drawing smiling faces on evidence where he boasted about his atrocities. As an adult, she changed her name and kept her secret while her father served life in prison.
According to the series' official description, it begins with Moore's real-life story. "Happy Face (Quaid) is an incarcerated serial killer who also is Melissa's (Ashford) once-beloved father," the description read. "After decades of no contact, he finally finds a way to force himself back into his daughter's life. In a race against the clock, Melissa must find out if an innocent man is going to be put to death for a crime her father committed. Throughout, she discovers the impact her father had on his victims' families and must face a reckoning of her own identity."
Quaid will now feature in his second Paramount+ series, after he recently appeared in the streamer's 'Lawmen: Bass Reeves' series.
He has previously appeared in programs such as ‘Merry Happy Whatever,’ ‘The Art of More,’ and ‘Vegas,’ and is best recognised for his cinematic appearances, having starred in ‘The Rookie,’ ‘The Day After Tomorrow,’ ‘Traffic,’ ‘Frequency,’ ‘The Parent Trap,’ ‘The Right Stuff,’ ‘Breaking Away,’ and ‘Midway,’ among others. ’Happy Face’ will begin filming its eight-episode first season in Vancouver this spring.
