John Cusack
John Paul Cusack is an American actor. With a career spanning over four decades, he has appeared in over 80 films. He began acting in films during the 1980s, appearing in coming-of-age dramedies such as Sixteen Candles, Better Off Dead, The Sure Thing, Stand by Me, and Say Anything.... Moving away from his teen idol image, he went on to appear in a variety of genres, such as the crime thrillers The Grifters and The Paperboy, the black comedies Bullets Over Broadway and Grosse Pointe Blank, and the psychological horror film 1408.
Cusack has been nominated for several awards, including a Golden Globe for his starring role in High Fidelity. Cusack won the 2014 Canadian Screen Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Maps to the Stars.
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, originally from New York City, and Ann Paula "Nancy" Cusack, 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 and John Hughes' directorial debut film Sixteen Candles. On the set of Grandview, U.S.A., 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. 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. 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.
Cusack then had a brief appearance in Reiner's Stand by Me, 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, about Major League Baseball's Black Sox Scandal during the 1919 World Series. He also appeared in the cult comedy Tapeheads, a film by executive producer Michael Nesmith.
In the late 1980s, Cusack starred in Cameron Crowe's directorial debut film, Say Anything.... 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, and Money for Nothing. For Quentin Tarantino's second film, Pulp Fiction, Cusack declined the role of Lance, which went to Eric Stoltz. After establishing New Crime Productions, Cusack co-wrote the screenplay for, and starred in, George Armitage's crime film Grosse Pointe Blank, 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 as the FBI agent Vince Larkin, and in Clint Eastwood's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. He also voiced Dimitri in the animated film Anastasia.In the critically acclaimed Spike Jonze film Being John Malkovich, 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, Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress.
2000s
Cusack was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performance in High Fidelity, 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, Serendipity, Must Love Dogs, playing opposite lead actresses Julia Roberts, Kate Beckinsale, and Diane Lane.Cusack starred in a series of thriller films such as Identity, Runaway Jury, The Contract, and 1408, 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, and War, Inc., as well as James C. Strouse's directorial debut film Grace Is Gone, in which he played the grieving widower of a soldier killed in the Iraq War.
In Roland Emmerich's epic disaster film 2012, Cusack starred as Jackson Curtis, a struggling novelist who attempts to save his family during a global cataclysm.
2010s
In the 2010s, Cusack starred in and produced the comedy film Hot Tub Time Machine ; he did not feature in the sequel, Hot Tub Time Machine 2, however. Both films were directed by Steve Pink.In 2012, Cusack played Edgar Allan Poe in James McTeigue's biopic film The Raven. 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. 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 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. He won a Canadian Screen Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Maps to the Stars. 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, The Numbers Station, The Frozen Ground, Grand Piano, Drive Hard, The Prince, Reclaim, Cell, Arsenal, Blood Money, and Singularity. He also appeared in Dragon Blade, 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, 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. During the call, Cusack said, "Like Trump, Musk is a pathological liar. He’s a criminal. He’s a sociopath and a ghoul."