John Cusack biography

Synopsis

Profile

Actor. Born in Evanston, Illinois, on June 28, 1966. The fourth of five children, including actress Joan Cusack, born to a math-teacher mother and a filmmaker-actor father. Cusack joined the Piven Theatre Workshop at the age of 8 and had become one of Chicago's busiest commercial voiceover actors by the age of 12.

In 1983, Cusack made his first feature film appearance in the teen comedy Class. His quirky, self-effacing humor earned him roles in numerous films throughout the eighties, including Sixteen Candles and Better Off Dead. Although he began to emerge as an actor during the heyday of the Brat Pack, and appeared in a number of teen movies, he managed to avoid falling into its pigeonhole. In 1989, he starred in Cameron Crowe's classic Say Anything as Lloyd Dobler, the role that Cusack has said is most like himself. His performance confirmed his ability to carry a film, and better offers began to role in.

In 1990, he won his first grown-up role in The Grifters, where he played a small-time hustler caught between the attention of two rival women played by Angelica Houston and Annette Benning, who each received Oscar nominations for their performances. In 1997, after a series of dramatic and comedic roles in the mid-'90s, Cusack co-produced, co-wrote and starred in Grosse Point Blank opposite Minnie Driver. The darkly comedic film received wide critical acclaim.

Other Cusack films have included Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Pushing Tin and Being John Malkovich. In 2000, he co-produced and starred in the winning adaptation of Nick Hornby's cult novel High Fidelity. In 2001, he reprised his role as the thwarted, but earnest, lover in the romantic comedies Serendipity and America's Sweethearts. Cusack received stronger feedback for his 2003 horror film Identity.

Since 2005, politically conscious, Cusack occasionally blogs for The Huffington Post and has expressed his opposition to the war in Iraq.

John's father, Richard Cusack, an advertising executive turned actor and screenwriter, died of pancreatic cancer in June 2003.

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