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Joan Cusack

Joan Cusack has received two Academy Award nominations, first for her comic portrayal of a Staten Island secretary in Working Girl opposite Harrison Ford and Melanie Griffith, and again for her role as Kevin Kline's jilted bride in the critically acclaimed In & Out. She was the recipient of an American Comedy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for her role in Runaway Bride, opposite Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. She also recently received a Daytime Entertainment Emmy nomination for her work in Peep and the Big Wide World.

She made her screen debut in My Bodyguard at age 15. She has starred in such films as Friends with Money, Ice Princess, Raising Helen, School of Rock, Arlington Road, High Fidelity, Cradle Will Rock and Where the Heart Is. She has also starred in films with her brother, John Cusack, including War, Inc., Grosse Pointe Blank and Martian Child. Her filmography includes comedic femme fatale roles in Addams Family Values, Nine Months, The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez, Corrina, Corrina, Toys, Hero, My Blue Heaven, Men Don't Leave, Broadcast News, Say Anything and Sixteen Candles, among others. Most recently, Cusack appeared in Confessions of a Shopaholic for Walt Disney Films and Kit Kittredge: An American Girl for HBO Films.

Cusack's appearances on the small screen include a regular role on Saturday Night Live during the show's 1985-86 season and a starring role alongside Anne Bancroft in the BBC production of Paddy Chayefsky's The Mother. She also starred in the sitcom What About Joan.

Her theatrical work includes the premiere of Brilliant Traces at New York's Cherry Lane Theatre, The Road at La Mama and the role of Imogen in Cymbeline at the Public Theater in New York. She portrayed Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, and was directed by JoAnne Akalaitis in 'Tis a Pity She's a Whore.

Cusack studied acting at the Piven Theatre Workshop. She became a member of the improvisational group The Ark while studying at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where she graduated with a degree in English.

Cusack reprised the role of Jessie this summer in Disney•Pixar's Toy Story 3, which became the highest grossing animated film of all time. Her recent film work also includes My Sister's Keeper, starring Cameron Diaz and Alec Baldwin, and Acceptance, based on the Susan Coll novel. She produces and stars in the Chicago-based NBC comedy Progress Notes.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2011.
Read earlier biographies on this page.

Joan Cusack Facts

OccupationActress
BirthdayOctober 11, 1962 (61)
SignLibra
BirthplaceEvanston, Illinois, USA
Height5' 8" (1m73)  How tall is Joan Cusack compared to you?

Selected Filmography

Runaway Bride
Toy Story 3
Addams Family Values
Toy Story of Terror! Compilation
Small Fry
Toy Story That Time Forgot
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
The Complete Toy Story Collection 1, 2, 3
Hawaiian Vacation
Partysaurus Rex
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