Joan Cusack

Joan Cusack Headshot

Actress

Birth Name: Joan Mary Cusack

Birth Date: October 11, 1962

Age: 62 years old

Birth Place: New York, New York

Siblings: Ann Cusack, John Cusack

Despite living in the shadow of her superstar brother, John Cusack, actress Joan Cusack carved out a substantial career with memorable supporting roles. But unlike her better known sibling, she earned an Academy Award nomination for her performance in "Working Girl" (1988), which came hot on the heels of her breakout role in "Broadcast News" (1987). From there, she accumulated a long list of credits where she played the best friend, sidekick or scourge, most notably in "Say Anything" (1989), "My Blue Heaven" (1990) and "Addams Family Values" (1993).

While she did land the occasional dramatic role, as happened with "Arlington Road" (1999) and "The Cradle Will Rock" (1999), Cusack seemed content with her position as a character actress. Though her career was not without its setbacks - a failed sitcom run in early 2001 paid testament to that - Cusack nonetheless remained secure in herself and career, becoming by the late 1990s and early 2000s, one of the most dependable supporting players working in Hollywood.

Born Oct. 11, 1962 in Evanston, IL, Cusack was raised in an Irish Catholic home headed by her father, Richard, a screenwriter, actor and advertising executive, and her mother, Nancy, a math teacher. She was encouraged by her parents to be creative, which led her to join the Piven Theater Workshop as a child. After learning improvisation at the Story Theatre, Cusack made her feature film debut in "My Bodyguard" (1980), before joining another improv group, The Ark, where she honed her latent comedy skills. She continued to land small roles in Chicago-based movies, including "Sixteen Candles" (1984), while attending the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where she earned her bachelor's degree in English in 1985.

After graduation, she hit the big time by joining the cast of "Saturday Night Live" (NBC, 1975- ) for its 1985-86 season, though like many of the female players during its early years, she was vastly underused. Cusack departed the show after one season and returned her focus toward feature films, co-starring in the teen comedy "The Allnighter" (1987) before announcing her arrival as a comic force to be reckoned with in "Broadcast News" (1987). In the classic James L. Brooks film, she delivered a strong supporting turn as a harried, sprinting production assistant who memorably says to her boss (Holly Hunter), "Except for socially, you're my role model." Her rush to get a tape dub back to the studio in time for a live broadcast - including her manic slide under an opening file cabinet - became one of the most famous scenes in the film.

In "Married to the Mob" (1988), Cusack was featured as a Long Island Mafia wife who helps gang up on the wife of a hitman (Michelle Pfeiffer) in a memorable grocery store scene. Cusack then gave an Oscar-nominated performance in Mike Nichols' winning romantic comedy, "Working Girl" (1988), playing a big-haired Staten Island secretary who can not fathom why an executive (Sigourney Weaver) would pay thousands of dollars for a dress when "it's not even leatha." After co-starring with younger brother John - playing his sister, of all things - in his breakout film, "Say Anything" (1989), she continued to build her reputation with an atypical dramatic portrayal of a mature seductress in "Men Don't Leave" (1990).

Cusack was the perfect comic foil to Steve Martin's wisecracking mobster-turned-state's evidence in "My Blue Heaven" (1990), playing a stick-in-the-mud district attorney who grudgingly falls for a nerdy FBI agent (Rick Moranis) protecting him. Becoming pigeonholed as a comic sidekick or supporting player, Cusack nonetheless continued to impress with roles in "Hero" (1992), "Toys" (1992) and particularly "Addams Family Values" (1993), playing a voluptuous blonde nanny who is less benign than she seems to be.

After a fine turn as a loyal secretary to a youthful hit man (John Cusack) in "Grosse Point Blank" (1997), Cusack graduated to leading lady in Frank Oz's "In & Out" (1997). Scripted by Paul Rudnick, "In & Out" provided the actress with a rich role as the trusting fiancée of a fellow teacher (Kevin Kline) who is exposed as being gay by a former student (Matt Dillon) at the Academy Awards. In a role that could have devolved into a cartoon, Cusack imbued the character - a 30ish, formerly overweight and still insecure woman - with equal amounts of warmth and empathy.

Meanwhile, Cusack ventured into more straightforward dramatic territory, appearing as Tim Robbins' wife in the paranoiac thriller "Arlington Road" (1999) and working with Robbins the director in "The Cradle Will Rock" (1999), playing a clerk whom an anti-Communist ventriloquist (Bill Murray) attempts to seduce while coaching to inform on her left-leaning superiors. But Cusack also kept her comedic chops sharp, playing Julia Roberts' best friend Peggy, a hair stylist who reads omens in the flights of geese, in director Garry Marshall's "Runaway Bride" (1999), then received kudos for her voice performance as the lonely cowgirl puppet, Jesse, in Disney/Pixar's winning CGI-animated sequel, "Toy Story 2" (1999).

Rejoining her brother in "High Fidelity" (2000) for a brief, but nicely etched role as Liz, best friend to the ex-girlfriend of a romantically challenged record shop owner (John Cusack), Cusack followed up with a strong co-starring turn as a hard-boiled talent agent in the otherwise meandering comedy, "Where the Heart Is" (2000). In a return to regular series work - her first stint since he days on "SNL" - Cusack starred in her own sitcom produced by James L. Brooks, "What About Joan?" (ABC, 2000-02). Shot entirely in her native Chicago, the show focused on Cusack as high school teacher Joan Gallagher, who deals with problems through close friends and co-workers while putting the breaks on a quickly-developing romance with a fellow teacher (Kyle Chandler).

While the mid-season replacement series received some critical support, Cusack was also criticized for playing too big for television's intimate scale. The series failed to lure many viewers and was axed just a few months into the fall season, despite a summertime revamp. Turning to a sweet-natured TV movie project, Cusack next appeared in "It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie" (NBC, 2001), playing miserly banker Rachel Bitterman, who gives the Muppets till Christmas Eve to come up with the money they owe or else she will foreclose on the beloved Muppet Theater.

After an absence from major screen roles, Cusack made a welcome return in the excellent comedy, "School of Rock" (2003), playing a seemingly stern and imperious private school principal whose humanity and insecurities are revealed after she is tricked into hiring wannabe rocker (Jack Black) as a substitute teacher who recruits his students to form a rock band. Following an appearance as Mother in the lackluster live action-animated feature, "Loony Tunes: Back in Action" (2003), she provided a brittle comedic edge to the lightweight comedy "Raising Helen" (2004), playing the disapproving older sister of Helen (Kate Hudson), a party girl who finds herself raising three children of their late sibling.

After voicing a character in the animated "Chicken Little" (2005), she played the mother of a teenage girl (Michelle Trachtenberg) who dreams of becoming a championship skater against her mother's wishes in "Ice Princess" (2005). Cusack followed with a supporting role in the adult comedy of manners, "Friends With Money" (2006), then co-starred alongside her brother once again in "War, Inc." (2008), an irreverent satire about war profiteering in a Middle Eastern country. After joining young star Abigail Breslin for the family-oriented "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl" (2008) and the Nick Cassavetes' drama "My Sister's Keeper" (2009), Cusack reprised the voice of Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl for the animated hit "Toy Story 3" (2010).

Back on the small screen, she made a guest appearance in an episode of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (NBC, 1999- ) while playing the recurring role of Sheila Jackson on "Shameless" (Showtime, 2011- ), an agoraphobic who serves as the love interest to an unabashed alcoholic and head of a dysfunctional family (William H. Macy). Her role on "Shameless" earned Cusack an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress on a Drama Series. While appearing in this series, Cusack also maintained her big-screen presence in films including teen comedy-drama "The Perks of Being A Wallflower" (2012), Kristen Wiig's "Welcome To Me" (2014) and the David Foster Wallace biopic "The End of the Tour" (2015).

Credits

Toy Story 4Stream

Voice
Jessie
Movie
2019
97%

Klaus

Voice
Mrs. Krum
Movie
2019

Let It SnowStream

Actor
Tin Foil Woman
Movie
2019
81%

La leyenda de Klaus

Voice
Mrs. Krum
Movie
2019

HomecomingStream

Actor
Francine Bunda
Series
2018
79%

Instant FamilyStream

Actor
Mrs. Howard
Movie
2018
82%

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate EventsStream

Actor
Justice Strauss
Series
2017
96%

SnatchedStream

Actor
Barb
Movie
2017
36%

The Christmas TrainStream

Actor
Agnes
Movie
2017

Unicorn Store

Actor
Gladys
Movie
2017

Popstar: Never Stop Never StoppingStream

Actor
Tilly
Movie
2016
79%

Freaks of Nature

Actor
Peg Parker
Movie
2015

The End of the TourStream

Actor
Patty
Movie
2015
92%

Toy Story That Time ForgotStream

Voice
Jessie
Movie
2014
91%

Welcome to MeStream

Actor
Dawn Hurley
Movie
2014
73%

Toy Story of Terror!

Voice
Jessie
Show
2013

Toy Story of Terror!

Voice
Jessie
Movie
2013

Mars Needs Moms: Extras

Actor
Show
2012

The Perks of Being a WallflowerStream

Actor
Dr. Burton
Movie
2012
85%

Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil

Voice
Verushka the Witch
Movie
2011

Mars Needs Moms

Voice
Mom
Movie
2011

Arthur ChristmasStream

Voice
Lead Elf
Movie
2011
92%

Hawaiian Vacation

Voice
Jessie
Movie
2011

Small Fry

Voice
Jessie
Movie
2011

ShamelessStream

Actor
Sheila
Series
2010
82%

ShamelessStream

Guest Star
Sheila Jackson
Series
2010
82%

Peep and the Big Wide World/Pocoyo

Narrator
Show
2010

Toy Story 3Stream

Voice
Jessie
Movie
2010
98%

ES.TV

Guest
Show
2009

Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

Guest
Talk
2009

Confessions of a Shopaholic

Actor
Jane Bloomwood
Movie
2009

My Sister's KeeperStream

Actor
Judge De Salvo
Movie
2009
47%

Acceptance

Actor
Nina
Movie
2009

Toys in the Attic

Voice
Madame Curie
Movie
2009

The Bonnie Hunt Show

Guest
Talk
2008

The Wendy Williams Show

Guest
Talk
2008

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl

Actor
Miss Bond
Movie
2008

War, Inc.

Actor
Marsha Dillon
Movie
2008

Martian Child

Actor
Liz
Movie
2007

Rachael Ray ShowStream

Guest
Talk
2006

Friends With MoneyStream

Actor
Franny
Movie
2006
72%

Made in Hollywood

Guest
Series
2005

The Martha Stewart Show

Guest
Reality
2005

The OfficeStream

Guest Star
Erin's Biological Mother
Series
2005
81%

American DadStream

Guest Voice
Widows Support Group Member
Series
2005

Ice Princess

Actor
Mrs. Carlyle
Movie
2005

Chicken LittleStream

Voice
Abby Mallard
Movie
2005
37%

Peep and the Big Wide World

Narrator
Show
2004

Peep

Narrator
Show
2004

Raising Helen

Actor
Jenny
Movie
2004

School of RockStream

Actor
Rosalie Mullins
Movie
2003
92%

Looney Tunes: Back in Action

Actor
Mother
Movie
2003

It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas MovieStream

Actor
Rachel Bitterman
Movie
2002
82%

What About Joan

Actor
Joan Gallagher
Show
2001

High FidelityStream

Actor
Liz
Movie
2000
91%

Where the Heart Is

Actor
Ruth Meyers
Movie
2000

Law & Order: Special Victims UnitStream

Guest Star
Pamela Burton
Series
1999
78%

Arlington Road

Actor
Cheryl Lang
Movie
1999

Cradle Will Rock

Actor
Hazel Huffman
Movie
1999

Runaway BrideStream

Actor
Peggy Flemming
Movie
1999
46%

Toy Story 2Stream

Voice
Jessie
Movie
1999
100%

Grosse Pointe BlankStream

Actor
Marcella
Movie
1997
82%

A Smile Like YoursStream

Actor
Nancy Tellen
Movie
1997
6%

In & OutStream

Actor
Emily Montgomery
Movie
1997
73%

Mr. Wrong

Actor
Inga Gunther
Movie
1996

Two Much

Actor
Gloria
Movie
1996

The Mother

Actor
Show
1995

Nine Months

Actor
Gail Dwyer
Movie
1995
27%

Devet Mjeseci

Actor
Movie
1995

Corrina, Corrina

Actor
Jonesy
Movie
1994

Addams Family ValuesStream

Actor
Debbie Jellinsky
Movie
1993
75%

Hero

Actor
Evelyn
Movie
1992

ToysStream

Actor
Alsatia Zevo
Movie
1992
29%

The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez

Actor
Cathy
Movie
1991

Men Don't Leave

Actor
Jody
Movie
1990

My Blue HeavenStream

Actor
Hannah Stubbs
Movie
1990
71%

Say AnythingStream

Actor
Constance Dobler (uncredited)
Movie
1989
98%

Stars and Bars

Actor
Irene Stein
Movie
1988

Married to the MobStream

Actor
Rose
Movie
1988
88%

Working GirlStream

Actor
Cyn
Movie
1988
83%

Broadcast NewsStream

Actor
Blair Litton
Movie
1987
98%

The Allnighter

Actor
Gina
Movie
1987

Sixteen CandlesStream

Actor
Geek Girl #1
Movie
1984
81%

My BodyguardStream

Actor
Shelley
Movie
1980
79%

Saturday Night LiveStream

Actor
Series
1975

Sesame StreetStream

Guest Star
Series
1969

Today

Guest
News
1952

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