John Cusack
| John Cusack | |
|---|---|
 Cusack at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con International
|
|
| Born | John Paul Cusack June 28, 1966 Evanston, Illinois, United States |
| Occupation | Actor, film producer, screenwriter |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Parents | Richard Cusack (father) Nancy Cusack (Mother) |
| Family | Ann Cusack (sister) Joan Cusack (sister) Bill Cusack (Brother) Susie Cusack (Sister) |
John Paul Cusack (born June 28, 1966) is an American actor, producer, and screenwriter who has appeared in films such as Say Anything..., Grosse Pointe Blank, High Fidelity, Con Air, Being John Malkovich, 1408, Must Love Dogs, 2012, Martian Child, America's Sweethearts, and The Butler.
Contents
Early life[edit]
Cusack was born in Evanston, Illinois, to a Catholic Irish-American family.[1][2] His mother, Ann Paula "Nancy" (née Carolan), is a former mathematics teacher and political activist.[3][4] His father, Richard Cusack (1925–2003), was an actor, as are John's siblings, Ann, Joan, Bill, and Susie.[5] His father was also a documentary filmmaker,[6] owned a film production company,[7] and was a friend of activist Philip Berrigan.[8] Cusack spent a year at New York University before dropping out, saying that he had "too much fire in [his] belly".
Career[edit]
Cusack gained fame in the mid-1980s after appearing in teen films such as Better Off Dead, The Sure Thing, One Crazy Summer, and Sixteen Candles. He made a cameo in the 1988 music video for "Trip at the Brain" by Suicidal Tendencies. In 1989, he starred as Lloyd Dobler in Cameron Crowe's Say Anything.... His roles broadened in the late 1980s and early 1990s with more serious-minded fare such as the politically themed True Colors and the film noir thriller The Grifters.
Cusack experienced box office success with his roles in the dark comedy Grosse Pointe Blank and the Jerry Bruckheimer blockbuster Con Air. In the years since, his range of films has diversified, appearing in roles such as an air traffic controller in Pushing Tin, an obsessive puppeteer in Being John Malkovich, a lovelorn record store owner in High Fidelity, and a Jewish art dealer mentoring a young Adolf Hitler in Max. He starred in the horror film 1408, based on Stephen King's short story of the same name. He next appeared as a widowed father in the Iraq War-themed drama Grace Is Gone and as assassin Hauser in the dark political satire, War, Inc., along with Hilary Duff and Marisa Tomei.
His sister Joan Cusack and close friend Jeremy Piven have appeared in many of his films such as Say Anything... and Grosse Pointe Blank. The siblings appeared as two geeks in Sixteen Candles, John as one of Farmer Ted's posse, and Joan as the geek with the neck brace, High Fidelity, Cradle Will Rock, Martian Child and War, Inc.. Piven and Cusack play opposite one another in One Crazy Summer, Serendipity. Cusack also had a brief cameo, seen from behind but speaking a line of dialogue, in Broadcast News, in which Joan also appeared. Piven also had roles in The Grifters and Runaway Jury.[9]
In Roland Emmerich's last disaster film 2012, he played Jackson Curtis, a struggling novelist and limo driver, with his Identity and Martian Child co-star Amanda Peet. In 2010, Cusack starred in Hot Tub Time Machine, with Rob Corddry, Clark Duke, and Craig Robinson. In the 2012 thriller film The Raven, Cusack portrayed Edgar Allan Poe. In July 2013, Cusack joined the production of David Cronenbergs Maps to the Stars, which is described as dark comic look look at Hollywood excess.[10] He portrayed president Richard Nixon in Lee Daniel's 2013 historical film The Butler".
Cusack is set to play Beach Boys founding member, Brian Wilson, in the upcoming biopic Love and Mercy, he plays Wilson in his later years while Paul Dano will play a younger Wilson. Cusack is the founder and owner of New Crime Productions.[11]
Personal life[edit]
Cusack is a fan of both the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago White Sox, for which, he says, he is "in trouble there".[12] He has led the crowd in a performance of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at Wrigley Field.[12] He has also been spotted at multiple Chicago Bears games, and attended many of the Stanley Cup Finals games in support of the Chicago Blackhawks.[13]
Cusack has trained in kickboxing for over 20 years, under former world kickboxing champion Benny Urquidez. He began training under Urquidez in preparation for his role in Say Anything... and currently holds the rank of a level 6 black belt in Urquidez's Ukidokan Kickboxing system.[14]
Political views[edit]
Between 2005 and 2009, Cusack blogged at The Huffington Post, including an interview with Naomi Klein. He has blogged on his opposition to the war in Iraq and his disdain for the Bush administration, calling its worldview "depressing, corrupt, unlawful, and tragically absurd".[15]
He also appeared in a June 2008 MoveOn.org advertisement, where he made the claim that George W. Bush and John McCain have the same governing priorities.[16] Cusack has also blasted President Barack Obama's administration for its drone policy in the Middle East and its support of the National Defense Authorization Act. In 2012, Cusack became one of the initial supporters of the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
Stalking incident[edit]
In March 2008, police arrested Emily Leatherman outside Cusack's Malibu home for stalking him. On October 10, 2008, Leatherman pleaded no contest and received five years' probation and mandatory psychiatric counseling and was ordered to stay away from Cusack, his home and business for the next 10 years.[17]
Filmography[edit]
Film[edit]
Television[edit]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Fraiser | Greg | Voice Episode: Our Father Whose Art Ain't Heaven |
| 1999 | The Jack Bull | Myrl Redding | Television movie Executive producer |
References[edit]
- ^ John Cusack interview
- ^ John Cusack Interview-Max Movie
- ^ "Cusack, Richard J.". Chicago Tribune. 2003-06-03. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
- ^ "Miss Carolan, Newton Centre, Is Bride of Richard Cusack". Daily Boston Globe. February 14, 1960.
- ^ "Newton Girl Plans February Wedding". Daily Boston Globe. December 6, 1959.
- ^ "Being John Cusack." guardian.co.uk. July 1, 2000.
- ^ John Cusack Biography (1966-). FilmReference.com.
- ^ "Actor John johan on Hitler, politics and his movie 'Max'." Beliefnet.com.
- ^ One Crazy Summer (1986) - Full cast and crew
- ^ "Julianne Moore, John Cusack, Sarah Gadon Join Robert Pattinson and in Maps to the Stars". Retrieved 20 July 2013.
- ^ "Actor John Cusack." NPR.org.
- ^ a b Inside the Actors Studio, December 2, 2007
- ^ "Chicago’s Own John Cusack".
- ^ Ukidokan Black Belts and Levels. URL accessed on March 19, 2010.
- ^ John Cusack - Politics on The Huffington Post.
- ^ "John Cusack Stars In MoveOn's New McCain Ad." Associated Press. June 11, 2008.
- ^ Accused John Cusack stalker, Emily Leatherman, accepts plea deal. New York Daily News. October 10, 2008.
External links[edit]
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Cusack. |
- John Cusack at AllRovi
- John Cusack on Twitter
- John Cusack at the Internet Movie Database
- John Cusack collected news and commentary at The Guardian
- Works by or about John Cusack in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- John Cusack collected news and commentary at The New York Times
- John Cusack Interview
- The Onion A.V. Club interview, November 27, 2007
- Reddit AskMeAnything, February 27, 2013
- John cusack-Huffington Pos
- 1966 births
- 20th-century American male actors
- 21st-century American male actors
- Male actors from Chicago, Illinois
- American anti–Iraq War activists
- American bloggers
- American male film actors
- American male television actors
- American people of Irish descent
- Cusack family (United States)
- Living people
- New York University alumni
- Evanston Township High School alumni
