Joan Cusack facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Joan Cusack
Cusack in 2009
Born	Joan Mary Cusack (1962-10-11) October 11, 1962 (age 62) New York City, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Wisconsin–Madison
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1979–present
Spouse(s)	Richard Burke ​ (m. 1996)​
Children	2
Parent(s)	Dick Cusack (father)
Relatives	Ann Cusack (sister) John Cusack (brother) Jim Piddock (brother-in-law)
Awards	Full list

Joan Mary Cusack (born October 11, 1962) is a talented American actress and comedian. She is known for her many roles in movies and TV shows. Joan has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress twice. These nominations were for her roles in Working Girl (1988) and In & Out (1997).

She has also starred in popular films like Addams Family Values (1993), School of Rock (2003), and Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (2008). Many people know her voice as Jessie from the Toy Story movies. She won an Annie Award for her voice work as Jessie.

Joan Cusack was also a cast member on the comedy show Saturday Night Live from 1985 to 1986. Later, she starred in the TV series Shameless from 2011 to 2021. For her role as Sheila Jackson in Shameless, she won a Primetime Emmy Award in 2015. Joan is also the sister of actors Ann Cusack and John Cusack.

Early Life and Family

Joan Cusack in 2004

Joan Mary Cusack was born on October 11, 1962, in New York City. She grew up in Evanston, Illinois. Her mother, Ann Paula "Nancy" Cusack, was a former math teacher. Her father, Dick Cusack, was an actor and filmmaker.

Joan comes from a family of actors. Two of her four siblings, Ann and John, are also actors. Her family has Irish Catholic roots. Joan studied English at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and graduated in 1984.

Acting Career Highlights

Joan Cusack has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress two times. These nominations were for her roles in Working Girl (1988) and In & Out (1997). She has acted alongside her brother John in ten different movies. Some of these include Sixteen Candles (1984), Say Anything... (1989), and High Fidelity (2000).

In the movie Addams Family Values (1993), she played the character Debbie Jellinsky. She also starred in the TV show What About Joan? in 2001. For many years, Joan was also the voice for U.S. Cellular commercials.

One of her most famous roles was Rosalie Mullins, the principal in School of Rock (2003). She also voiced Jessie in the Pixar movies Toy Story 2 (1999), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Toy Story 4 (2019). She played Dr. Burton, a therapist, in the teen film The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012). Joan also appeared in the final episode of NBC's The Office.

Early TV Work

Joan Cusack was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live. She was on the show from 1985 to 1986. On SNL, she played various characters. She also did impressions of famous people like Brooke Shields and Queen Elizabeth II.

Awards and Recognition

Joan has won several awards for her acting. She has been nominated four times for the American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actress in a Movie. She won this award three times for Runaway Bride (1999), In & Out (1997), and Working Girl (1988). She also won the New York Film Critics Circle Award and the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress for In & Out.

Joan Cusack also narrates the animated TV series Peep and the Big Wide World. In 2010, she was a guest star on NBC's Law & Order: SVU. She also appeared as Justice Strauss in the Netflix series A Series of Unfortunate Events, which started in 2017. In November 2019, she appeared in the Netflix movie Let It Snow.

Role in Shameless

In 2010, Joan Cusack joined the Showtime series Shameless. She played the character Sheila Jackson. The show's first season began in January 2011. Joan replaced another actress, Allison Janney, in this role.

Cusack received great praise for her performance as Sheila Jackson. She was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series in 2011, 2012, and 2013. She also received nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2014 and 2015. She won the Emmy Award in 2015 for her work on Shameless.

Personal Life

Joan Cusack married attorney Richard Burke in 1996. They have two sons named Dylan John and Miles. She found out she was expecting her first child on the first day of filming the movie Mr. Wrong (1996). Joan Cusack owns a home in Three Oaks Township, Michigan. She also lives in Chicago, Illinois.

Since 2011, Joan Cusack has owned a gift shop in Old Town, Chicago. The shop is called Judy Maxwell Home. It is named after a character from What's Up Doc?, which is Joan's favorite movie.

Filmography

Movies

Television Shows

Video Games

Awards and Nominations

See also

In Spanish: Joan Cusack para niños