John Cusack
| John Cusack | |
|---|---|
.jpg) John Cusack, May 2006 |
|
| Born | John Paul Cusack June 28, 1966 Evanston, Illinois, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor/Screenwriter |
| Years active | 1983–present |
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]
Contents |
Early life
Cusack was born in Evanston, Illinois, to an Irish Catholic family.[2][3] His father, Dick Cusack (1925–2003), and siblings Ann, Joan, Bill, and Susie, are also 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 (née Carolan), is a former mathematics teacher and political activist.[7] Cusack spent a year at New York University before dropping out, saying that he had "too much fire in his belly".[8]
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 experienced box office success with his roles in the dark comedy Grosse Pointe Blank and the Jerry Bruckheimer blockbuster Con Air. In the years since, 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 Marisa Tomei.
His sister Joan Cusack and 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 Say Anything, Grosse Pointe Blank, High Fidelity, Cradle Will Rock, Martian Child, and War, Inc.. Piven and Cusack played opposite one another in One Crazy Summer, Serendipity, Say Anything, 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.[9]
Cusack was next seen in Roland Emmerich's disaster film, 2012, which was released in theaters November 13, 2009; he played Jackson Curtis, a book writer and limo driver, with his Identity and Martian Child co-star Amanda Peet. Most recently Cusack was seen in Hot Tub Time Machine, opposite Rob Corddry and Craig Robinson, which came out in March 2010.
Personal and political life
Since May 2005, Cusack 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 its worldview "depressing, corrupt, unlawful, and tragically absurd".[10]
He also appeared in a June 2008 MoveOn.org ad, where he made the claim that George W. Bush and John McCain have the same governing priorities.[11]
In August 29, 2010, Cusack made a tweet that Fox News called caustic and expressed concern that it might be overly provocative and could possibly incite violence among less stable fans: “I AM FOR A SATANIC DEATH CULT CENTER AT FOX NEWS HQ AND OUTSIDE THE OFFICES OF DICK ARMEY AND NEWT GINGRICH-and all the GOP WELFARE FREAKS.” Fox News responded with a quote from a psychiatric consultant, Dr. Carole Lieberman: "Fans could not only be influenced because of their devotion to Cusack, the man, but also because of their love for one of the characters he plays."[12] This follows a peak in anti-Muslim hate crimes after Fox News took a stand against the building of Park51.[13]
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."[14] He has led the crowd in a performance of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at Wrigley Field.[14]
Cusack has trained in kickboxing for over 20 years under former world kickboxing champion Benny “The Jet’ Urquidez. He began training under Urquidez in preparation for his role in Say Anything and currently holds the rank of Level 6 black belt in Urquidez’ Ukidokan Kickboxing system.[15]
In March 2008, police arrested Emily Leatherman outside Cusack's home for stalking the actor. On October 10, 2008, Leatherman pled 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.[16]
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | 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 | |||
| 1988 | Eight Men Out | George 'Buck' Weaver | ||
| Tapeheads | Ivan Alexeev | |||
| 1989 | Elvis Stories | Corky | short subject | |
| Say Anything... | Lloyd Dobler | Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Emerging Actor | ||
| 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 | Screenplay and co-producer Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Adapted Screenplay |
|
| Con Air | U.S. Marshal Vince Larkin | Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actor — Action/Adventure | ||
| Anastasia | Dimitri | voice | ||
| Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil | John Kelso | |||
| 1998 | Chicago Cab | Scary man | Executive producer | |
| This Is My Father | Eddie Sharp, the Pilot | |||
| The Thin Red Line | Capt. Gaff | Satellite Special Achievement Award for Outstanding Motion Picture Ensemble | ||
| 1999 | Pushing Tin | Nick Falzone | ||
| Cradle Will Rock | Nelson Rockefeller | Nominated - Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast | ||
| Being John Malkovich | Craig Schwartz | Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor Nominated — London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture |
||
| The Jack Bull | Myrl Redding | TV film, executive producer | ||
| 2000 | High Fidelity | Rob Gordon | Screenplay and co-producer Nominated — American Comedy Award Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated — Empire Award for Best Actor Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Hissy Fit Nominated — USC Scripter Award 2000 Nominated — Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay |
|
| 2001 | America's Sweethearts | Eddie Thomas | ||
| Serendipity | Jonathan Trager | |||
| 2002 | Max | Max Rothman | associate producer | |
| Adaptation. | Himself | uncredited | ||
| 2003 | Identity | Ed Dakota | ||
| Breakfast With Hunter | Himself | documentary | ||
| Runaway Jury | Nicholas Easter | |||
| 2005 | Must Love Dogs | Jake Anderson | ||
| The Ice Harvest | Charlie Arglist | |||
| 2006 | Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride: Hunter S. Thompson on Film | Himself | documentary | |
| The Contract | Ray Keene | |||
| 2007 | Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten | Himself | documentary | |
| Martian Child | David Gordon | |||
| 1408 | Mike Enslin | Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Actor | ||
| Grace Is Gone | Stanley Philipps | Producer | ||
| 2008 | War, Inc. | Brand Hauser | Writer and producer | |
| Summerhood | Narrator | uncredited | ||
| Igor | Igor | voice | ||
| 2009 | 2012 | Jackson Curtis | nominated-Teen choice award: Actor SCI-FI | |
| 2010 | Shanghai | Paul Soames | ||
| Hot Tub Time Machine | Adam | also producer | ||
| 2011 | The Factory | Mike Fletcher | post-production | |
| 2011 | The Raven | Edgar Allan Poe | pre-production |
References
- ↑ John Cusack - Awards
- ↑ John Cusack interview
- ↑ John Cusack Interview-Max Movie
- ↑ "Being John Cusack." guardian.co.uk. July 1, 2000.
- ↑ John Cusack Biography (1966-). FilmReference.com.
- ↑ "Actor John Cusack on Hitler, politics and his movie 'Max'." Beliefnet.com.
- ↑ "Cusack, Richard J.". Chicago Tribune. 2003-06-03. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2003-06-03/news/0306030038_1_piven-theater-workshop-jonah-house-sheridan. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
- ↑ "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. June 11, 2008.
- ↑ Jo Piazza, "John Cusack calls for "Satanic Death" of Fox News, GOP Leaders" Fox 411
- ↑ "MSNBC: Ahmed Rehab Discusses Stabbing of Muslim Cab Driver in NYC and Anti-Muslim Propaganda". MSNBC. 26 August 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IscHP0wikg0. Retrieved 3 September 2010.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Inside the Actors Studio, December 3, 2007
- ↑ Ukidokan Black Belts and Levels. URL accessed on March 19, 2010.
- ↑ Accused John Cusack stalker, Emily Leatherman, accepts plea deal. New York Daily News. October 10, 2008.