John Cusack

Early life

Cusack was born John Paul Cusack on June 28, 1966 in Evanston, Illinois, into an Irish Catholic family. His parents are writer-actor-producer and documentary filmmaker Richard J. "Dick" Cusack (1925–2003), originally from New York City, and Ann Paula "Nancy" Cusack (née Carolan; 1929–2022), originally from Massachusetts, a former mathematics teacher and political activist. John's older sisters, Ann and Joan, are also actors. Cusack has two other siblings, Bill and Susie. The family moved from Manhattan, New York, to Illinois and were friends of activist Philip Berrigan. Cusack graduated from Evanston Township High School in 1984, where he met Jeremy Piven. Cusack spent a year at New York University before dropping out, saying that he had "too much fire" in his belly and "not enough smarts" in his brain.

Career

1980s

Cusack began acting in films in the early 1980s. In 1980 he appeared in a 16mm educational film short about teen problem solving titled “Why Is It Always Me?”. His first on-screen theatrical film appearances were in minor roles, Class (1983) and John Hughes' directorial debut film Sixteen Candles (1984). On the set of Grandview, U.S.A. (1984), his co-star Jamie Lee Curtis gifted Cusack with his first car, a 1974 Chevrolet Impala, which she had named 'La Bamba'. 16-year-old Cusack made his breakthrough performance in Rob Reiner's teen comedy The Sure Thing (1985). It was a critical success, but has since become an underrated film.

He then took on the small-town teen dark comedy film Better Off Dead (1985). Cusack was initially embarrassed and disappointed by the film, describing it as the "worst thing he had ever seen" on his first watch. The film had a budget of $3 million and grossed $10.3 million at the box office, but the studio still considered it a failure. Cusack also worked with the director Savage Steve Holland on One Crazy Summer (1986).

Cusack then had a brief appearance in Reiner's Stand by Me (1986), a film based on Stephen King's The Body. On the film, co-star Kiefer Sutherland recalled, "John Cusack was on the film for at least a week. I admired what he was doing and thought he was an actor I wanted to emulate." In 1988, Cusack went on and starred in the independent film Eight Men Out (1988), about Major League Baseball's Black Sox Scandal during the 1919 World Series. He also appeared in the cult comedy Tapeheads (1988), a film by executive producer Michael Nesmith.

In the late 1980s, Cusack starred in Cameron Crowe's directorial debut film, Say Anything... (1989). He starred opposite actress Ione Skye. Cusack was reluctant to do the film at first, but he gave his character dimension by referring to the punk bands The Clash and The Replacements. In the film, Cusack became known for the boombox scene, in which his character, Lloyd Dobler, stands near his girlfriend Diane's bedroom window, and wordlessly holds up a cassette player above his head, playing Peter Gabriel's 1986 song "In Your Eyes". His character has since become influential in popular culture, such as the band Lloyd Dobler Effect, and Frank Iero's band Pencey Prep with their misspelled song "Lloyd Dobbler".

1990s

In the 1990s, Cusack played a con artist in Stephen Frears' 1990 neo-noir film The Grifters. He then appeared in a series of independent films such as True Colors (1991), and Money for Nothing (1993). For Quentin Tarantino's second film, Pulp Fiction (1994), Cusack declined the role of Lance, which went to Eric Stoltz. [[File:John Cusack Headshot.jpg|thumb|upright|Cusack in [[Grosse Pointe Blank]] (1997)]]After establishing New Crime Productions, Cusack co-wrote the screenplay for, and starred in, George Armitage's crime film Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), in which he played an assassin who goes to his ten-year high school reunion to win back his high school sweetheart. Released in the same year, Cusack also starred in the Nicolas Cage action film Con Air (1997) as the FBI agent Vince Larkin, and in Clint Eastwood's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997). He also voiced Dimitri in the animated film Anastasia (1997).

In the critically acclaimed Spike Jonze film Being John Malkovich (1999), with a script written by Charlie Kaufman, Cusack played a puppeteer who finds a portal leading into the mind of the actor, John Malkovich. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Director (Jonze), Best Original Screenplay (Charlie Kaufman) and Best Supporting Actress (Catherine Keener).

2000s

Cusack was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performance in High Fidelity (2000), based on Nick Hornby's novel about Rob, a record store owner, and the history of his failed relationships. In the early 2000s, Cusack appeared in a few romantic comedies such as America's Sweethearts (2001), Serendipity (2001), Must Love Dogs (2005), playing opposite lead actresses Julia Roberts, Kate Beckinsale, and Diane Lane.

Cusack starred in a series of thriller films such as Identity (2003), Runaway Jury (2003), The Contract (2006), and 1408 (2007), based on Stephen King's 1408. The film largely went unnoticed at the time of release, but is now considered an underrated horror film. He also appeared in the action comedies The Ice Harvest (2005), and War, Inc. (2008), as well as James C. Strouse's directorial debut film Grace Is Gone (2007), in which he played the grieving widower of a soldier killed in the Iraq War.

In Roland Emmerich's epic disaster film 2012 (2009), Cusack starred as Jackson Curtis, a struggling novelist who attempts to save his family during a global cataclysm.

2010s

In 2012, Cusack played Edgar Allan Poe in James McTeigue's biopic film The Raven (2012). On acting in a real life role, Cusack said, "You have to get yourself as close to insanity as you can, but yet, be able to not go insane." He referred to the source of Poe's letters and writing, and used it as material for his role. Cusack then starred in another real life role as Richard Nixon in Lee Daniels' The Butler (2013). Daniels later said, "I love working with John Cusack. He's terrifying, he's electrifying, and he inspires me to be a better director. He's a fiery, intense presence on set. We never, ever rub up against each other but he fuels me."

In 2014, Cusack appeared in another biopic film, Love & Mercy (2014) as Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, and worked closely with Wilson himself during the making of the film. In the same year, Cusack also starred in David Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars (2014). He won a Canadian Screen Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Maps to the Stars (2014). This era was a new peak in his career, however, in 2014, Cusack infamously criticized Hollywood, calling it "a whorehouse" where "people go mad."

Later, Cusack starred in several video on demand films, including The Factory (2012), The Numbers Station (2013), The Frozen Ground (2013), Grand Piano (2013), Drive Hard (2014), The Prince (2014), Reclaim (2014), Cell (2016), Arsenal (2017), Blood Money (2017), and Singularity (2017). He also appeared in Dragon Blade (2015), his first Chinese production, alongside Jackie Chan and Adrien Brody.

2020s–present

Cusack starred in his first television series, Utopia in 2020. In a 2020 interview with The Guardian, Cusack admitted to the decline of his acting career. "In the last few years, I haven’t been able to get projects financed. That could be a function of getting older. Or it could be a function of being cold."

In 2025, Cusack took on a significant role in the Chinese film Detective Chinatown 1900, portraying Congressman Grant, a character central to the film's exploration of anti-Chinese sentiment in early 20th-century San Francisco. The movie, a prequel to the successful Detective Chinatown franchise, was released on January 29, 2025. Critics have noted Cusack's performance in the film. Phil Hoad of The Guardian highlighted the movie's engaging narrative and cultural commentary, mentioning Cusack's role as part of the ensemble cast.

Political views

Cusack is anti-war, having tweeted, "Being anti-war — is pro-troops — pro-human". Cusack endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark in the 2004 presidential election. Between 2005 and 2009, Cusack wrote blogs for The Huffington Post, which included an interview with Naomi Klein. He voiced his opposition to the war in Iraq and the George W. Bush administration, calling the government's worldview "depressing, corrupt, unlawful, and tragically absurd". He also appeared in a June 2008 MoveOn.org advertisement, where he said that George W. Bush and John McCain had the same governing priorities.

Cusack criticized the Obama 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 June 2015, he stated in an interview with The Daily Beast that "when you talk about drones, the American Empire, the NSA, civil liberties, attacks on journalism and whistleblowers, [Obama] is as bad or worse than Bush". He later criticized the publication for misquoting him in order to make an interesting headline.

At a Moscow hotel room in 2015, Cusack, Daniel Ellsberg, and Arundhati Roy met Edward Snowden, who had fled the US because of his leaks of classified information surrounding illegal population surveillance. This meeting was converted into a book co-authored with Roy titled Things That Can and Cannot Be Said.

Cusack endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders in his 2016 and 2020 presidential bids. He is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

During May 2020, Cusack was recording a George Floyd protest in Chicago on social media when he was attacked by police with batons and later pepper-sprayed.

Cusack has also been a vocal critic of Donald Trump, calling him "an evil fuck who grinds our faces in it every day". During the 2020 presidential election, he pledged on social media that he would vote to "kick Trump's loathsome Nazi ass out of the White House and into prison".

On March 19, 2025, Cusack joined the "#TeslaTakedown Mass Mobilizing Call", a remote protest targeting Tesla, Inc. and its CEO, Elon Musk, for his role in the Trump administration, especially his leadership of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). During the call, Cusack said, "Like Trump, Musk is a pathological liar. He’s a criminal. He’s a sociopath and a ghoul."

Israel–Palestine

Cusack has been fiercely critical of Israel's military actions against Palestinians. He criticized Israel's killing of Palestinians in the 2014 Gaza War, and retweeted articles supporting Gaza for weeks. In 2018, Cusack signed an open letter in support of Lorde cancelling performances in Israel, which was in response to a request from the BDS movement.

In June 2019, Cusack tweeted out an image of a large fist with a blue Star of David crushing a small crowd of people next to a quote by neo-Nazi Kevin Alfred Strom often misattributed to Voltaire: "To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize". In the tweet, Cusack added the words "Follow the money." He deleted the tweet and apologized, saying that "antisemitism has no place in any rational political dialogue".

Following the 2023 October 7 attacks and the subsequent Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, Cusack signed another open letter (Artists4Ceasefire) urging Joe Biden to "call for and facilitate a ceasefire without delay..." He also blocked and direct messaged pro-Israel and Zionist Twitter users' insults, and asserted that Israel is conducting a genocide in Gaza.

On July 7, 2025, Cusack posted a meme on social media website Bluesky linking former United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Jeffrey Epstein, leading to Cusack being accused of antisemitism. Cusack later deleted the post within two hours after posting it.

Personal life

Cusack trained in kickboxing under former world kickboxing champion Benny Urquidez for over 20 years. He began training under Urquidez in preparation for his role in Say Anything... and holds the rank of a level six black belt in Urquidez's Ukidokan Kickboxing system.

In March 2008, police arrested Emily Leatherman outside Cusack's Malibu, California, 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

Awards and nominations

References

References

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