John Paul Cusack (/ˈkjuːsæk/; born June 28, 1966)^[1] is an American actor. Cusack began acting in films during the 1980s, starring in coming-of-age dramedies such as Sixteen Candles (1984), Better Off Dead (1985), The Sure Thing (1985), Stand by Me (1986), and Say Anything... (1989). He then started appearing in independent films such as Eight Men Out (1988), The Grifters (1990), True Colors (1991), and Money for Nothing (1993). Cusack began appearing as a leading man in such films as Bullets Over Broadway (1994), Con Air (1997), Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), The Thin Red Line (1998), Being John Malkovich (1999), High Fidelity (2000), America's Sweethearts (2001), Max (2002), and Runaway Jury (2003). He also starred in films such as The Ice Harvest (2005), The Contract (2006), 1408 (2007), War, Inc. (2008), Hot Tub Time Machine (2010), The Raven (2012), The Frozen Ground (2013), and Dragon Blade (2015).

Cusack has been nominated for several awards, including a Golden Globe for his role starring in High Fidelity. He won the 2014 Canadian Screen Awards for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in Maps to the Stars. He is a son of filmmaker Dick Cusack and the younger brother of actresses Joan and Ann Cusack.

Cusack was born 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,^[2][3][4] and Ann Paula "Nancy" Cusack (née Carolan; 1929–2022),^[5] originally from Massachusetts, a former mathematics teacher and political activist.^[2][6] John's older sisters, Ann and Joan, are also actors. Cusack has two other siblings, Bill and Susie.^[2] The family moved from Manhattan, New York, to Illinois^[7][8] and were friends of activist Philip Berrigan.^[9] Cusack graduated from Evanston Township High School in 1984, where he met Jeremy Piven,^[10] and spent a year at New York University before dropping out, saying that he had "too much fire in his belly".^[11]

Cusack began acting in films in the early 1980s. He made his breakout role in Rob Reiner's The Sure Thing (1985). He also starred in Cameron Crowe's directorial debut film, Say Anything... (1989). Cusack played a con artist in Stephen Frears' 1990 neo-noir film The Grifters. 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 10-year high school reunion to win back his high school sweetheart.^[12]

In Spike Jonze's fantasy film Being John Malkovich (1999), Cusack played a puppeteer who finds a portal leading into the mind of the eponymous 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). 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, and also appeared in America's Sweethearts (2001), Serendipity (2001), Identity (2003), Runaway Jury (2003), Must Love Dogs (2005), The Ice Harvest (2005), The Contract (2006), Grace Is Gone (2007), 1408 (2007), Martian Child (2007), War, Inc. (2008).^{[citation needed]}

Cusack starred as Jackson Curtis in Roland Emmerich's epic disaster film 2012 (2009), a struggling novelist who attempts to save his family during a global cataclysm.^[13]

Cusack also played Edgar Allan Poe in James McTeigue's biopic film The Raven (2012) and starred in David Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars (2014).^[14]

Later, he starred in video on demand films, including The Factory, The Numbers Station, The Frozen Ground, Grand Piano (2013), Drive Hard (2014), The Prince (2014), Reclaim (2014), Cell (2016), Arsenal (2017), Blood Money (2017), and Singularity (2017).^{[citation needed]}

In 2014, Cusack criticized Hollywood saying the mega-corporations have stepped in with 50-producer movies, franchises are king, and stars are used as leverage. He noted Hollywood is "a whorehouse and people go mad."^[15]

Cusack is anti-war, having tweeted, "Being anti-war — is pro-troops — pro-human".^[16][17] 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 Bush's administration, calling the government's worldview "depressing, corrupt, unlawful, and tragically absurd".^[18] 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.^[19]

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".^[20] He later criticized the publication for misquoting him in order to make an interesting headline.^[21][22]

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, at a Moscow hotel room.^[23] This meeting was converted into a book co-authored with Roy titled Things That Can and Cannot Be Said.^[24]

Cusack endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders in his 2016 and 2020 presidential bids.^[25][26] He is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.^[27]

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.^[28]

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.^[40]

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.^[41]