Dennis Quaid to portray Happy Face Killer in Paramount Plus series

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Well-known actor Dennis Quaid has been cast as Keith Hunter Jesperson, the man infamously dubbed the “Happy Face Killer,” in a new Paramount Plus series.

The streaming service announced Quaid’s titular role in true crime drama “Happy Face” late last week. It follows the company’s January announcement that Annaleigh Ashford would star as Melissa Moore, one of Jesperson’s three children.

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The new series is based on Moore’s real-life experiences, her “Happy Face” podcast with iHeart, and the 2009 autobiography titled “Shattered Silence: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer’s Daughter.”

“After decades of no contact, he finally finds a way to force himself back into his daughter’s life,” Paramount Plus said of the upcoming true crime drama. “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.”

According to the Associated Press, Jesperson confessed to murdering eight women between 1990 and 1995 — when he was first arrested as the suspect in a Washington woman’s murder.

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He was dubbed the Happy Face Killer due to the smiley faces he’d draw on his anonymous letters to police and media.

Only one of his victims, referred to as Claudia, remains unidentified. In January, cold case investigators released sketches of what the woman who was found in California could have looked like.

Jesperson’s other victims were found in Florida, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Oregon. He is now serving multiple life sentences in the Oregon State Penitentiary.

Quaid, who is portraying Jesperson in the new true crime series, is best known for his leading roles in films like “Far from Heaven” and “The Parent Trap.”

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Ashford, who will portray his daughter, is better known for her roles in Hulu’s “Welcome to Chippendales” and the Broadway production of “Kinky Boots.”

Production on “Happy Face” will begin in Vancouver, B.C., this spring. The premiere is slated for 2025.

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