Cusack was born in Evanston, Illinois, to an Irish American Catholic family. His father, Dick Cusack (1925–2003), as well as his siblings Ann, Joan, Bill, and Susie have also been actors; his father was also a documentary filmmaker, owned a film production company and was a friend of activist Philip Berrigan. Cusack's mother, Nancy, is a former mathematics teacher and political activist. Read more...

Cusack first became famous in the mid-1980s for 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. He began broadening his choice of roles Read more...

Cusack is fiercely protective of his private life; he has said that "celebrity is the worst thing that can happen to an actor". Since May 2005, he has been an occasional contributing blogger at The Huffington Post, including interviewing 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, Read more...