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IMDbPro

John Cusack(I)

  • Actor
  • Producer
  • Writer
IMDbProStarmeter
Top 5,00047
John Cusack in Utopia (2020)
Take a closer look at the various roles John Cusack has played throughout his acting career.
Play clip1:24
John Cusack: Movie Moments
99+ Videos
99+ Photos
John Cusack is, like most of his characters, an unconventional hero. Wary of fame and repelled by formulaic Hollywood fare, he has built a successful career playing underdogs and odd men out--all the while avoiding the media spotlight. John was born in Evanston, Illinois, to an Irish-American family. With the exception of mom Nancy (née Carolan), a former math teacher, the Cusack clan is all show business: father Dick Cusack was an actor and filmmaker, and John's siblings Joan Cusack, Ann Cusack, Bill Cusack and Susie Cusack are all thespians by trade. Like his brother and sisters, John became a member of Chicago's Piven Theatre Workshop while he was still in elementary school. By age 12, he already had several stage productions, commercial voice overs and industrial films under his belt. He made his feature film debut at 17, acting alongside Rob Lowe and Andrew McCarthy in the romantic comedy Class (1983). His next role, as a member of Anthony Michael Hall's geek brigade in Sixteen Candles (1984), put him on track to becoming a teen-flick fixture. Cusack remained on the periphery of the Brat Pack, sidestepping the meteoric rise and fall of most of his contemporaries, but he stayed busy with leads in films like The Sure Thing (1985) and Better Off Dead... (1985). Young Cusack is probably best remembered for what could be considered his last adolescent role: the stereo-blaring romantic Lloyd Dobler in Say Anything (1989). A year later, he hit theaters as a grown-up, playing a bush-league con man caught between his manipulative mother and headstrong girlfriend in The Grifters (1990).

The next few years were relatively quiet for the actor, but he filled in the gaps with off-screen projects. He directed and produced several shows for the Chicago-based theater group The New Criminals, which he founded in 1988 (modeling it after Tim Robbins' Actors' Gang in Los Angeles) to promote political and avant-garde stage work. Four years later, Cusack's high school friends Steve Pink and D.V. DeVincentis joined him in starting a sister company for film, New Crime Productions. New Crime's first feature was the sharply written comedy Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), which touched off a career renaissance for Cusack. In addition to co-scripting, he starred as a world-weary hit man who goes home for his ten-year high school reunion and tries to rekindle a romance with the girl he stood up on prom night (Minnie Driver). In an instance of life imitating art, Cusack actually did go home for his ten-year reunion (to honor a bet about the film's financing) and ended up in a real-life romance with Driver. Cusack's next appearance was as a federal agent (or, as he described it, "the first post-Heston, non-biblical action star in sandals") in Con Air (1997), a movie he chose because he felt it was time to make smart business decisions. He followed that with Clint Eastwood's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997), in which he played a Yankee reporter entangled in a Savannah murder case.

Cusack has always favored offbeat material, so it was no surprise when he turned up in the fiercely original Being John Malkovich (1999). Long-haired, bearded and bespectacled, he was almost unrecognizable in the role of a frustrated puppeteer who stumbles across a portal into the brain of actor John Malkovich. The convincing performance won him a Best Actor nomination at the Independent Spirit Awards. In 2000, Cusack was back to his clean-shaven self in High Fidelity (2000), another New Crime production. He worked with Steve Pink and D.V. DeVincentis to adapt Nick Hornby's popular novel (relocating the story to their native Chicago), then starred as the sarcastic record store owner who revisits his "Top 5" breakups to find out why he's so unlucky in love. The real Cusack has been romantically linked with several celebs, including Driver, Alison Eastwood, Claire Forlani and Neve Campbell. He's also something of a family man, acting frequently opposite sister Joan Cusack and pulling other Cusacks into his films on a regular basis. He seems pleased with the spate of projects on his horizon, but admits that he still hasn't reached his ultimate goal: to be involved in a "great piece of art".
BornJune 28, 1966
  • More at IMDbPro
    • Contact info
    • Agent info
    • Resume
BornJune 28, 1966
IMDbProStarmeter
Top 5,00047
  • View contact info at IMDbPro
  • Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award

Photos709

John Cusack and Owen Teague in Cell (2016)
John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Isabelle Fuhrman, and Owen Teague in Cell (2016)
John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson in Cell (2016)
John Cusack in Pursuit (2022)
John Cusack and Lily Tomlin in Shadows and Fog (1991)
John Cusack and Jodie Foster in Shadows and Fog (1991)
John Cusack, Jodie Foster, and Lily Tomlin in Shadows and Fog (1991)
John Cusack and John Malkovich in Shadows and Fog (1991)
John Cusack and Mia Farrow in Shadows and Fog (1991)
John Cusack, Mia Farrow, and Andy Berman in Shadows and Fog (1991)
John Cusack, Rainn Wilson, and Cory Michael Smith in Utopia (2020)
John Cusack, Fiona Dourif, and Cory Michael Smith in Utopia (2020)

Known for

John Cusack and Minnie Driver in Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)
Grosse Pointe Blank
7.3
  • Martin Q. Blank
  • 1997
Promotional One Sheet
High Fidelity
7.4
  • Rob Gordon
  • 2000
John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson in 1408 (2007)
1408
6.8
  • Mike Enslin
  • 2007
John Cusack and Ione Skye in Say Anything (1989)
Say Anything
7.3
  • Lloyd Dobler
  • 1989

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actor

  • My Only Sunshine
    • Pre-production
  • Pursuit (2022)
    Pursuit
  • Utopia (2020)
    Utopia
  • John Cusack, Emile Hirsch, and Déborah François in Never Grow Old (2019)
    Never Grow Old
  • John Cusack, Taye Diggs, George Lopez, Luke Hemsworth, Gianni Capaldi, and Jennifer Tao in River Runs Red (2018)
    River Runs Red
  • John Cusack and Christina Ricci in Distorted (2018)
    Distorted
  • John Cusack and Julian Schaffner in Singularity (2017)
    Singularity
  • John Cusack, Ellar Coltrane, Willa Fitzgerald, and Jacob Artist in Blood Money (2017)
    Blood Money
  • Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, Johnathon Schaech, and Adrian Grenier in Arsenal (2017)
    Arsenal
  • John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson in Cell (2016)
    Cell
  • Chi-Raq (2015)
    Chi-Raq
  • Hot Tub Time Machine 2 (2015)
    Hot Tub Time Machine 2
    • (unrated version, uncredited)
  • John Cusack, Jackie Chan, Adrien Brody, and Peng Lin in Dragon Blade (2015)
    Dragon Blade
  • Wall Street
  • John Cusack, Ryan Phillippe, Rachelle Lefevre, and Jacki Weaver in Reclaim (2014)
    Reclaim
  • Love & Mercy (2014)
    Love & Mercy

Producer

  • John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson in Cell (2016)
    Cell
  • Wall Street
  • We Are Not Animals (2013)
    We Are Not Animals
  • John Cusack, Chevy Chase, Clark Duke, Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry, Brook Bennett, Aliu Oyofo, and Jake Rose in Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)
    Hot Tub Time Machine
  • John Cusack, Joan Cusack, Marisa Tomei, Ben Kingsley, and Hilary Duff in War, Inc. (2008)
    War, Inc.
  • John Cusack in Grace Is Gone (2007)
    Grace Is Gone
  • John Cusack and Noah Taylor in Max (2002)
    Max
  • Never Get Outta the Boat (2002)
    Never Get Outta the Boat
  • Promotional One Sheet
    High Fidelity
  • The Jack Bull (1999)
    The Jack Bull
  • Chicago Cab (1997)
    Chicago Cab
  • John Cusack and Minnie Driver in Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)
    Grosse Pointe Blank

Writer

  • We Are Not Animals (2013)
    We Are Not Animals
  • John Cusack, Joan Cusack, Marisa Tomei, Ben Kingsley, and Hilary Duff in War, Inc. (2008)
    War, Inc.
  • Promotional One Sheet
    High Fidelity
  • John Cusack and Minnie Driver in Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)
    Grosse Pointe Blank
  • Floundering (1994)
    Floundering
  • In-development projects at IMDbPro

Star Siblings: Famous Brothers and Sisters

Star Siblings: Famous Brothers and Sisters

Take a look at some of our favorite celebrity siblings, including Toby Sebastian and Florence Pugh, and Bill and Alexander Skarsgård.
See the gallery
[object Object]
Photos

Videos146

5 Forgotten Gems From 1990
Clip 4:04
5 Forgotten Gems From 1990
John Cusack: Movie Moments
Clip 1:24
John Cusack: Movie Moments
Hot Tub Time Machine: "Texting" Red-band clip
Clip 0:24
Hot Tub Time Machine: "Texting" Red-band clip
2012: Deleted Scene - "Jackson Underwater"
Clip 1:07
2012: Deleted Scene - "Jackson Underwater"
Arsenal
Clip 0:53
Arsenal
Arsenal
Clip 0:40
Arsenal
Boom Bust Boom
Clip 1:19
Boom Bust Boom
Boom Bust Boom
Clip 1:02
Boom Bust Boom
Anastasia (1997)
Clip 1:59
Anastasia (1997)
High Fidelity
Clip 1:28
High Fidelity
High Fidelity
Clip 0:53
High Fidelity
Grosse Pointe Blank: 15th Anniversary Edition
Clip 1:04
Grosse Pointe Blank: 15th Anniversary Edition

Personal details

Edit
  • Official sites
    • Instagram
    • MySpace
    • June 28, 1966
    • Evanston, Illinois, USA
    • Bill Cusack(Sibling)
  • Other works
    Release of the song and the music video for the new song, Suicidal Tendencies: Trip at the Brain (1988), by Suicidal Tendencies, with video appearances by John Cusack (portraying The General), Mike Clark, Rocky George, Bob Heathcote, R.J. Herrera, Mike Muir; and was directed by Bill Fishman.
  • Publicity listings
    • 5 Interviews
    • 13 Articles
    • 1 Pictorial
    • 8 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Sister Joan Cusack appeared in 10 of his movies:Class (1983), Sixteen Candles (1984), Grandview, U.S.A. (1984), Broadcast News (1987), Say Anything (1989), Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), Cradle Will Rock (1999), High Fidelity (2000), Martian Child (2007) and War, Inc. (2008).
  • Quotes
    I was a teen star. That's disgusting enough.
    • Dark, unruly hair

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