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More John Cusack Bios & Profiles

 

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Biography #2 (for Must Love Dogs)

With an impressive body of work spanning the course of two decades, John Cusack has evolved into one of Hollywood's most accomplished and respected actors of his generation. He has garnered both critical acclaim and prestigious accolades for his dramatic as well as comedic roles.

Cusack first gained the attention of audiences by starring in a number of 1980s film classics such as The Sure Thing, Say Anything and Sixteen Candles. Following these roles, he successfully shed his teen-heartbeat image by demonstrating his ability to expand his film repertoire by starring in a wide range of dramas, thrillers and comedies including The Grifters, Eight Men Out, Adaptation, Being John Malkovich, High Fidelity and Grosse Pointe Blank.

Cusack is currently in Vancouver filming the Menno Meyjes' science-fiction drama The Martian Child. He plays a widowed father of an adopted young boy, who is convinced that the boy is from Mars. Later this year, Cusack will also film The Contract. The Bruce Beresford directed thriller co-stars Morgan Freeman and will be filmed in Bulgaria.

In November this year, Cusack will be reunited with Billy Bob Thornton in the dark comedy The Ice Harvest. Based on a Scott Phillips novel, the Harold Ramis directed film revolves around a lawyer (Cusack) who is about to embezzle money from his mob superiors on a snowy Christmas Eve.

Cusack's most recent credit on the big screen was Runaway Jury, where he starred opposite Hollywood legends Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman. The film was based on John Grisham's best selling novel of the same title and was directed by Gary Fleder. In 2003, Cusack starred alongside Amanda Peet, Alfred Molina and Ray Liotta in the thriller Identity, directed by James Mangold.

Cusack also starred in the controversial film Max for director Menno Meyjes, released in December 2002. He portrayed Max Rothman, an elegant, sophisticated former cavalry officer who returns to his native Munich to set up an art gallery, when he meets another aspiring artist, a young Adolf Hitler (played by Noah Taylor). The film, which Cusack also produced, garnered strong reactions at the 2002 Toronto Film Festival and has been debated extensively throughout the country because of its controversial subject matter.

Cusack has starred in several romantic comedies including Serendipity, directed by Peter Chelsom and co-starring Kate Beckinsale; as well as starring with Julia Roberts, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Billy Crystal in America's Sweethearts.

In 2001, Cusack was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture Comedy or Musical for his role in the feature version of Nick Hornby's English novel High Fidelity. In addition to starring in the film, Cusack also co-produced and co-wrote the script with Steve Pink and D.V. DeVincentis. The film also stars Jack Black, Lisa Bonet, Catherine Zeta-Jones and John's sister, Joan Cusack.

In 1999, Cusack starred in the dark comedy Being John Malkovich. His performance earned him an Independent Spirit Award nomination in the category of Best Actor. That year, Cusack also co-starred in Cradle Will Rock, an ensemble drama written and directed by Tim Robbins, portraying Nelson Rockefeller, opposite an ensemble cast that included Emily Watson, Cary Elwes, Susan Sarandon, Hank Azaria, John Turturro, Ruben Blades and Vanessa Redgrave. He also starred with Billy Bob Thornton, Angelina Jolie and Cate Blanchett in Mike Newell's comedy Pushing Tin. In the same year, he starred in HBO's The Jack Bull, a traditional Western written by his father, Dick Cusack. John served as executive producer on this film along with Steve Pink and D.V. DeVincentis.

In December 1998, Cusack appeared in the World War II combat epic The Thin Red Line, based on the James Jones novel about the Battle of Guadalcanal. Directed by Terrence Malick, the ensemble cast included George Clooney, Woody Harrelson, Nick Nolte, Gary Oldman, Sean Penn, Bill Pullman and John Travolta.

In 1997, Cusack starred opposite Joan Cusack, Dan Aykroyd and Minnie Driver in Grosse Pointe Blank. Cusack received rave reviews for the comedy that he also produced and co-wrote about a hit man who goes through a spiritual crisis during his high school reunion. This was the first project New Crime developed and produced under their banner.

Also in 1997, Cusack starred with Nicolas Cage, John Malkovich and Steve Buscemi in the blockbuster Con Air from director Simon West. Later that year he starred with Kevin Spacey in the Warner Bros. Pictures' feature Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, directed by Clint Eastwood. Based on John Berendt's nonfiction bestseller of the same name, Cusack portrayed John Kelso, the movie version of the author/narrator. Additionally, Cusack lent his voice to the full-length animated feature Anastasia, opposite the voices of Meg Ryan as Anastasia, Christopher Lloyd as Rasputin, and Kelsey Grammer as Vladimir.

In 1995, Cusack starred opposite Al Pacino in the political thriller City Hall, directed by Harold Becker. In 1994, he re-teamed with Woody Allen, who cast him in the 1991 film Shadows and Fog, to portray playwright David Shayne in the acclaimed Bullets Over Broadway. The ensemble cast included Chazz Palminteri, Jennifer Tilly, Dianne Wiest and Tracey Ullman. Some of his other feature film credits include The Road to Wellville, True Colors, Broadcast News, Stand By Me and Better Off Dead.

Cusack divides his time between Los Angeles and Chicago.

Bio courtesy Warner Bros. for "Must Love Dogs" (23-Sep-2005)


Biography #3 (for Max)

John Cusack is in production on The Runaway Jury with Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman and will next be seen in James Mangold's thriller Identity. Cusack recently teamed with Spike Jonze on the acclaimed Being John Malkovich, and has also earned accolades for Stephen Frears' The Grifters, John Sayles' Eight Men Out, Cameron Crowe's Say Anything..., Rob Reiner's The Sure Thing and recently, Frears' high-energy hit High Fidelity, which Cusack co-produced and co-wrote the screenplay from the Nick Hornby novel and also earned him a Best Actor Golden Globe nomination.

Cusack, along with Steve Pink and D.V. DeVincentis, is partnered in New Crime Productions, the first production of which was Grosse Pointe Blank, co-written by Cusack, who starred with Minnie Driver, Alan Arkin, Dan Aykroyd, and Cusack's sister Joan. New Crime's next project (executive-produced by Cusack), for HBO, was The Jack Bull, scripted by Cusack's father Dick, and starring Cusack, John Goodman and L.Q. Jones. Most recently, New Crime produced Never Get Outta The Boat, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival.

Cusack's recent roles also include Serendipity, and America's Sweethearts as well as Pushing Tin, Terrence Malick's Academy Award-nominated The Thin Red Line and Cradle Will Rock as Nelson Rockefeller. His other screen credits include the animated feature Anastasia; making cameo appearances in The Player and Bob Roberts; and starring in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Con Air, City Hall, Bullets Over Broadway, Shadows and Fog, The Road to Wellville, Money for Nothing, True Colors, Tapeheads and Fat Man and Little Boy.

In addition to his film work, Cusack founded the New Crime Theatre Company, which, like Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater Company, is one of the nation's foremost avant-garde theater companies. Cusack has directed four plays with New Crime, including Alagazam... After the Dog Years and Methusalem, the latter earning him a Jeff citation for Best Director from Chicago's famed Joseph Jefferson Awards. That production also won awards for Best Original Music and Best Costume Design. Cusack also directed a stage production of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Bio courtesy Lionsgate Films for "Max" (03-Jan-2003)