John Cusack

The fourth of five children, John Paul Cusack was born in Evanston, Illinois, on June 28, 1966. In 1970, his father quit his job in advertising to start a documentary film company. At age nine, John joined his older sisters Ann and Joan in the local Piven Theater Workshop. He was doing radio ads at twelve and appeared on stage at fourteen. During a high school summer vacation, John had a small role in the college comedy CLASS (1983). After graduation he went to Los Angeles where he appeared in SIXTEEN CANDLES and GRANDVIEW, U.S.A (both 1984). He starred in the teen road trip THE SURE THING and co-starred in THE JOURNEY OF NATTY GANN, BETTER OFF DEAD (all 1985) plus STAND BY ME (1986) and HOT PURSUIT (1987). His first grown-up role was as a player on the 1919 Chicago “Black Sox” in EIGHT MEN OUT. After filming TAPEHEADS (1988), he did his last, and most famous, teen role as the determined dork pursuing the beautiful babe (Ione Skye) in SAY ANYTHING (1989).
The 6’ 3” Cusack appeared as a scientist working on the first atomic bomb, a.k.a. FAT MAN AND LITTLE BOY (1989). He was a con man in THE GRIFTERS (1990), a political opportunist in TRUE COLORS (1991) and a guy who finds MONEY FOR NOTHING (1993), $1 million in cash. Director Woody Allen cast him as a playwright in BULLETS OVER BROADWAY (1994). Cusack played a cereal entrepreneur on THE ROAD TO WELLVILLE (1994) and a deputy mayor at CITY HALL (1996). He co-wrote and starred as a hit man attending his high school reunion in GROSSE POINTE BLANK (1997).
In a variety of roles, Cusack was an Air Marshal in the action thriller CON AIR (1997) and voiced an animated con artist passing off an orphan (voice of Meg Ryan) as ANASTASIA (1997), the last of the Russian royal family. He investigated a Savannah, Georgia, murder at MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL (1997). Then he was a WWII captain in THE THIN RED LINE (1998) and a stressed out air traffic controller in PUSHING TIN (1999).
Exploring odd characters, he was BEING JOHN MALKOVICH (1999) after he discovered a secret door into the actor’s brain. Next Cusack scripted HIGH FIDELITY (2000) where he played a cynical record store owner analyzing his failures at love. He was one of AMERICA’S SWEETHEARTS (2001), the cuckolded actor who has to play nice until their latest movie previews.
Cusack finally found love through SERENDIPITY (2001) with Kate Beckinsale. Three thrillers followed. In IDENTITY (2003) he was storm stranded at a desert motel with nine other people. He manipulated a RUNAWAY JURY (2003). In THE ICE HARVEST (2005) a winter storm kept him from escaping with a stolen $2 million. Romance found Cusack again through an online dating service in MUST LOVE DOGS (2005). He was a single man adopting a boy (Bobby Coleman) who thinks he’s a MARTIAN CHILD (2007). In his first horror film, Cusack stayed in hotel room 1408 (2007). Such great had occurred, the room is permanently unrented. When his wife GRACE IS GONE (2007), killed in combat in Iraq, Cusack takes his young daughters on a road trip rather than tell them. Cusack also co-wrote the black comedy WAR, INC. (2008) and starred as an assassin set to kill an oil company CEO in the Middle East. He was the voice of IGOR (2008), an animated lab tech who invents an evil robot that gets loose. This month on DVD he stars as a writer who discovers the Mayan calendar is right about the world ending in 2012 (2009).
Though he’s never been married, Cusack dated Alison Eastwood who he met in 1997 on the set of her father Clint’s film MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL. Cusack also dated Claire Forlani, Minnie Driver and Lili Taylor. He spent 1998 to 2002 with actress Neve Campbell, then dated Meg Ryan, his ANASTASIA co-star. He owns a home in Malibu, California and an apartment in Chicago, Illinois.

Odds and Ends

Cusack had cameos, in BROADCAST NEWS (1987), SHADOWS AND FOG (1991), BOB ROBERTS (1992), MAP OF THE HUMAN HEART (1993), CRADLE WILL ROCK (1999) and in ADAPTATION 2002).

He practices kickboxing, which he learned for his role in SAY ANYTHING. He also does helicopter snowboarding in Canada and surfing in Hawaii.

Jeremy Piven’s parents ran the Piven Theater Workshop in Evanston. He and Cusack were boyhood friends and have made ten movies together.

John and his sister Joan have also been in ten movies together.

He starred in “The Jack Bull” (1999), a TV western written by his father Dick.

He has a blog on The Huffington Post, often writing against the War in Iraq and his opinion on politics.

Cusack was a guest singer of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” at Wrigley field.