Hollywood actor Dennis Quaid has announced he is engaged to his 26-year-old girlfriend Laura Savoie.

The 65-year-old star of films including The Parent Trap and The Day After Tomorrow popped the question to PhD student Savoie after several months of dating.

Quaid told US showbiz outlet Extra he proposed in Hawaii.

Dennis Quaid
Dennis Quaid has announced he is engaged to his partner (Ian West/PA Wire)

“It happened on the very northernmost point of Oahu, at Turtle Bay. It was kind of spontaneous. It was very much a surprise,” he said.

“I had the ring in my pocket… It has been kind of a month-and-a-half plan… I wanted it to be private.

“She was actually taking a selfie of us, and I put the ring in front and said, ‘Will you marry me?’ — and then she fell down.”

Quaid, who was in Hawaii on the weekend promoting his latest film Midway, has reportedly been dating Savoie, a student at the University of Texas, since the summer.

He has previously been married three times, to actresses PJ Soles and Meg Ryan and estate agent Kimberly Buffington.

Quaid has three children, including the actor Jack Quaid, his only child with Ryan.

Following news of the proposal, Quaid’s The Parent Trap co-star Elaine Hendrix made a quip related to the film.

Hendrix played Quaid’s on-screen fiancee in the classic 1998 film, but their relationship is doomed by his meddling twin daughters, both played by Lindsay Lohan.

“Watch out for those twins,” Hendrix tweeted.