John Cusack

John Paul Cusack (; born June 28, 1966) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, and political activist. He began acting in films during the 1980s and has since starred in more than 85 films, including Sixteen Candles (1984), Tapeheads (1988), Say Anything... (1989), Bullets over Broadway (1994), Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), Being John Malkovich (1999), High Fidelity (2000), Runaway Jury (2003), Igor (2008), Hot Tub Time Machine (2010), The Frozen Ground (2013) and Maps to the Stars (2014). He is the son of filmmaker Dick Cusack, and his older sisters are actresses Joan and Ann Cusack.

Cusack trained in kickboxing under former world kickboxing champion Benny Urquidez for over twenty years. He began training under Urquidez in preparation for his role in Say Anything... and holds the rank of a level six black belt in Urquidez's Ukidokan Kickboxing system.In March 2008, police arrested Emily Leatherman outside Cusack's Malibu, California home for stalking him. On October 10, 2008, Leatherman pleaded no contest and received five years' probation and mandatory psychiatric counseling, and was ordered to stay away from Cusack, his home, and business for the next ten years.When asked in 2009 why he had never married, Cusack answered, "society doesn't tell me what to do."

Cusack was born in 1966 in Evanston, Illinois. He was born into an Irish Catholic family, the son of writer-actor-producer and documentary filmmaker Richard J. Cusack (1925–2003), originally from New York City and Ann Paula "Nancy" (née Carolan) Cusack, originally from Massachusetts, a former mathematics teacher and political activist. John's siblings Ann and Joan are also actors. Cusack has two other siblings, Bill and Susie. The family moved from Manhattan, New York, to Illinois and were friends of activist Philip Berrigan. Cusack graduated from Evanston Township High School in 1984, where he met Jeremy Piven, and spent a year at New York University before dropping out, saying that he had "too much fire in his belly".