Dennis Quaid has numerous high-profile movie and TV roles under his belt, and now he’s set to play one of the nation’s most infamous serial killers in a new streaming drama series. The actor will star in Paramount+’s Happy Face, a series about the notorious real-life serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson. He is nicknamed “Happy Face” because he would draw smiley faces on evidence to draw attention to his crimes, per The Hollywood Reporter.
Happy Face comes from executive producers Robert and Michelle King — the husband and wife team behind shows like and The Good Fight — and showrunner Jennifer Cacicio. It is based on the true story of Melissa Moore — Jepperson’s daughter — who told her story in the autobiography Shattered Silence, written with M. Bridget Cook, as well as Moore’s true-crime podcast Happy Face, from iHeartPodcasts. Actress Annaleigh Ashford (B Positive, Masters of Sex) will portray Moore.
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Per a synopsis of the show shared by THR, Happy Face “will use Moore’s story as a jumping-off point to tell a story of how Melissa (Ashford) is drawn back into her father’s world after decades of not having contact with him. Happy Face (Quaid), in prison for his crimes, finds a way to force himself back into his daughter’s life. Melissa must find out if an innocent man is going to be put to death for a crime her father committed, while also discovering the impact her father had on his victims’ families and facing a reckoning with her own identity.”
Jesperson was an active serial killer in the early ’90s. He’s claimed to have killed as many as 160 people, but only eight murders have been confirmed. Currently, Jesperson is serving life without parole at the Oregon State Penitentiary.
At this time, Happy Face does not have an announced premiere date. Those interested in trying out a free trial of Paramount+ can do so by clicking here.
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