John Paul Cusack is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and puppeteer.
He 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.
Early life Cusack was born to a Catholic Irish-American
family in Evanston, Illinois.
His mother, Ann Paula "Nancy", is a former mathematics teacher and political activist.
His father, Richard Cusack, was an actor, as are John's siblings, Ann, Joan, Bill, and
Susie.
His father was also a documentary filmmaker, owned a film production company, and was a
friend of activist Philip Berrigan.
Cusack spent a year at New York University before dropping out, saying that he had "too
much fire in [his] belly".
Career 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.
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 at Hollywood excess.
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 is the founder and owner of New Crime Productions.
Personal life
Cusack is a fan of both the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago White Sox, for which he says he
is "in trouble there".
He has led the crowd in a performance of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at Wrigley Field.
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.
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.
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".
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.
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 and became one of
the initial supporters of the Freedom of the Press Foundation in 2012.
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.
Filmography Film
Television References
External links John Cusack at AllMovie
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 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