John Cusack
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| John Cusack | |
|---|---|
.jpg) John Cusack, May 2006 |
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| Born | John Paul Cusack June 28, 1966 Evanston, Illinois, United States |
John Paul Cusack (born June 28, 1966) is an American film actor and screenwriter. He won the 1990 Most Promising Actor CFCA Award for Say Anything..., the 1998 Favorite Supporting Actor Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Con Air, and the 2000 Commitment to Chicago Award.[1]
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Cusack was born in Evanston, Illinois, to an Irish American Catholic family.[2][3] His father, Dick Cusack (1925—2003), and siblings Ann, Joan, Bill, and Susie have also been actors; his father was also a documentary filmmaker,[4] owned a film production company[5] and was a friend of activist Philip Berrigan.[6] Cusack's mother, Nancy, is a former mathematics teacher and political activist. Cusack spent a year at New York University before dropping out, saying that he had "too much fire in his belly".[7]
[edit] Career
Cusack gained fame in the mid-1980s after appearing in teen movies such as Better Off Dead, The Sure Thing, One Crazy Summer, and Sixteen Candles. Cusack made a cameo in the 1988 music video for "Trip At The Brain" by Suicidal Tendencies. His biggest success in that genre is arguably his starring role 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 political satire True Colors and the film noir thriller The Grifters.
Cusack became a proven box office success with his roles in the dark comedy Grosse Pointe Blank and the Jerry Bruckheimer blockbuster Con Air. In the years hence, his range of films has diversified, appearing in roles such as 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 Brand Hauser in the dark political satire, War, Inc., along with Hilary Duff and sister Joan Cusack.
Sister Joan Cusack and his close friend Jeremy Piven have appeared in many of his films. 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. They also appeared together in High Fidelity, Grosse Pointe Blank, Cradle Will Rock, Martian Child and Say Anything. Piven and Cusack played opposite one another in One Crazy Summer, Serendipity, and Grosse Pointe Blank. 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 Say Anything, The Grifters and Runaway Jury.[8]
[edit] Personal and political life
Cusack is fiercely protective of his private life; he has said that "celebrity is the worst thing that can happen to an actor."[citation needed] Since May 2005, he has been an occasional contributing blogger at The Huffington Post, including an interview with Naomi Klein. He has written extensively on his opposition to the war in Iraq and his disdain for the Bush administration, calling their worldview "depressing, corrupt, unlawful, and tragically absurd".[9] He also appeared in a June 2008 Moveon.org ad, where he makes the claim that George W. Bush and John McCain have the same governing priorities.[10]
Cusack has an allegiance to both the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago White Sox, for which, he says, he's "in trouble there for that."[11] He has led the crowd in a performance of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at Wrigley Field.[11]
In 2008, police arrested a woman suspected of stalking Cusack.[12] On October 10, 2008, the woman pleaded no contest and received five years probation, mandatory psychiatric counseling, and was ordered to avoid Cusack, his home and business for the next 10 years.[13]
[edit] Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Class | Roscoe Maibaum | |
| 1984 | Sixteen Candles | Bryce | |
| Grandview, U.S.A. | Johnny Maine | ||
| 1985 | The Sure Thing | Walter (Gib) Gibson | |
| The Journey of Natty Gann | Harry | ||
| Better Off Dead | Lane Meyer | ||
| 1986 | Stand by Me | Denny Lachance | |
| One Crazy Summer | Hoops McCann | ||
| 1987 | Hot Pursuit | Dan Bartlett | |
| Broadcast News | Angry Messenger | as John Cusak | |
| 1988 | Eight Men Out | George 'Buck' Weaver | |
| Tapeheads | Ivan Alexeev | ||
| 1989 | Elvis Stories | Corky | short subject |
| Say Anything | Lloyd Dobler | ||
| Fat Man and Little Boy | Michael Merriman | ||
| 1990 | The Grifters | Roy Dillon | |
| 1991 | True Colors | Peter Burton | |
| 1992 | Shadows and Fog | Student Jack | |
| The Player | Self | Cameo | |
| Bob Roberts | Cutting Edge Host | ||
| Roadside Prophets | Caspar | ||
| 1993 | Map of the Human Heart | The Mapmaker | |
| Money for Nothing | Joey Coyle | ||
| 1994 | Floundering | JC | |
| Bullets Over Broadway | David Shayne | ||
| The Road to Wellville | Charles Ossining | ||
| 1996 | City Hall | Deputy Mayor Kevin Calhoun | |
| 1997 | Grosse Pointe Blank | Martin Q. Blank | Also screenplay |
| Con Air | U.S. Marshal Vince Larkin | ||
| Anastasia | Dimitri | voice | |
| Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil | John Kelso | ||
| 1998 | Hellcab | Scary man | |
| This Is My Father | Eddie Sharp, the Pilot | ||
| The Thin Red Line | Capt. Gaff | ||
| 1999 | Pushing Tin | Nick Falzone | |
| Cradle Will Rock | Nelson Rockefeller | ||
| Being John Malkovich | Craig Schwartz | Nominated - Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award - Best Cast |
|
| The Jack Bull | Myrl Redding | TV film | |
| 2000 | High Fidelity | Rob Gordon | Also screenplay Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated - Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated - Golden Globe Award - Best Actor |
| 2001 | America's Sweethearts | Eddie Thomas | |
| Serendipity | Jonathan Trager | ||
| 2002 | Max | Max Rothman | |
| Adaptation. | Himself | uncredited | |
| 2003 | Identity | Ed | |
| Breakfast With Hunter | Himself | documentary | |
| Runaway Jury | Nicholas Easter | ||
| 2005 | Must Love Dogs | Jake | |
| The Ice Harvest | Charlie | ||
| 2006 | Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride: Hunter S. Thompson on Film | Himself | documentary |
| The Contract | Ray | ||
| 2007 | Martian Child | David | |
| 1408 | Mike Enslin | ||
| Grace Is Gone | Stanley Philipps | ||
| 2008 | War, Inc. | Brand Hauser | Writer |
| Summerhood | Narrator | uncredited | |
| Igor | Igor | voice | |
| Shanghai | Paul Soames | post-production | |
| 2009 | The Factory | Mike Fletcher | post-production |
| 2012 | Jackson Curtis | filming |
[edit] References
- ^ John Cusack - Awards
- ^ John Cusack interview
- ^ John Cusack Interview-Max Movie
- ^ "Being John Cusack." guardian.co.uk. 1 July 2000.
- ^ John Cusack Biography (1966-). FilmReference.com.
- ^ "Actor John Cusack on Hitler, politics and his movie 'Max'." Beliefnet.com.
- ^ "Actor John Cusack." NPR.org.
- ^ One Crazy Summer (1986) - Full cast and crew
- ^ John Cusack - Politics on The Huffington Post.
- ^ "John Cusack Stars In MoveOn's New McCain Ad." Associated Press. 11 June 2008.
- ^ a b Inside the Actors Studio, December 3, 2007
- ^ "Woman arrested on suspicion of stalking Cusack." CNN. 1 April 2008.
- ^ "Accused John Cusack stalker accepts plea deal." Associated Press. October 10, 2008.
