The Unconventional Acting Career of John Cusack

John Cusack Profile He made a name for himself by taking on unconventional roles and gravitating toward the part of the odd man out. Welcome to Watchmojo.com and today we’re taking a look at the acting career of John Cusack. Born on June 28, 1966 in Evanston, Illinois, he grew up in a large family of performers. Eventually, he dropped out of New York University to pursue an acting career alongside his siblings, some of whom he would accompany in films, such as his sister Joan. In 1983 Cusack made his film debut the teen comedy “Class”. However, he only became a fixture of the decade’s teen-flicks by playing a geek in 1984’s “Sixteen Candles”. As a result of his many supportive performances throughout the 80s, he would stay on the periphery of the Brat Pack, and likewise avoid the sudden rise and fall that the other young actors would experience. Luckily, he was still able to take on the lead roles in several comedies. These parts included that of college freshman John Gibson in “The Sure Thing”, and as a boy dumped for the arrogant captain of the high school ski team in “Better off Dead”. Yet, from the countless films he appeared in as a young actor, he is best remembered for his role as stereo-carrying romantic Lloyd Dobler in “Say Anything”, which was his last adolescent part before making the transition to mature roles. Though Cusack continued appear in films throughout the 90s, he would only truly re-launch himself in 1997 by playing a hit man attending his high-school reunion in “Grosse Pointe Blank”, and as a U.S. Marshall in the box-office blockbuster Con-Air. He then followed these projects by appearing as an aircraft controller in “Pushing Tin”, and as a reporter in Clint Eastwood’s “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”. Hilariously, he also played the part of a man who finds a portal into the brain of an actor John Malkovich (Editor’s note: “Being John Malkovich”). Between 2000-2005, Cusack then appeared in a string of high profile romantic comedies, such as “High Fidelity”, “America’s Sweethearts” and “Serendipity”. However, he also took on bolder roles, such as that of a Jewish Art dealer who mentored a young and developing Adolf-Hitler in “Max”; and as a limo driver caught up in deadly situation in the psychological thriller “Identity”. In the later part of the decade, Cusack continued to turn heads in several performances, such as a thieving lawyer trapped by an ice storm in the 2005 drama film “The Ice Harvest”; the high profile 2007 horror film “1408” and as a father trying to save his family in Roland Emrich’s epic disaster film “2012”. In 2010, Cusack took a break from moodier projects and ventured back to the 80s in the hilarious sci-fi comedy “Hot Tub Time Machine.