Joan Cusack

Joan Mary Cusack ( ; born October 11, 1962) is an American actress and comedian. She received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in the comedy-drama '' Working Girl'' (1988) and the romantic comedy '' In & Out'' (1997). Her other starring roles include those in '' Toys'' (1992), '' Addams Family Values'' (1993), '' Nine Months'' (1995), '' Cradle Will Rock'' (1999), '' Where the Heart Is'' (2000), '' Looney Tunes: Back in Action'' (2003), '' School of Rock'' (2003), and '' Kit Kittredge: An American Girl'' (2008). She has also provided the voice of Jessie in the ''Toy Story'' franchise (1999–present), for which she won an Annie Award, and Abby Mallard in '' Chicken Little'' (2005).

Cusack was a cast member on the comedy sketch show ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1986. She starred on the Showtime hit drama/comedy series '' Shameless'' (2011–2021) as Sheila Jackson, a role for which she received five consecutive Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning for the first time in 2015. She is the sister of actress Ann Cusack and actor John Cusack.

Early life

Cusack was born on October 11, 1962, in New York City and was raised in Evanston, Illinois. Her mother, Ann Paula "Nancy" Cusack (''née'' Carolan; 1929–2022), was a former mathematics teacher and political activist. Her father, Dick Cusack (1925–2003), was an actor and filmmaker, and two of her four siblings, Ann and John, are actors. Her family is of Irish Catholic descent. Cusack is an alumna of the University of Wisconsin–Madison (1984), where she earned a Bachelor's degree in English.

Career

Cusack has twice been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in '' Working Girl'' (1988) and '' In & Out'' (1997). She has appeared with her brother John in ten movies: '' Class'' (1983), '' Sixteen Candles'' (1984), '' Grandview, U.S.A.'' (1984), '' Broadcast News'' (1987), '' Say Anything...'' (1989), '' Grosse Pointe Blank'' (1997), '' Cradle Will Rock'' (1999), '' High Fidelity'' (2000), '' Martian Child'' (2007), and '' War, Inc.'' (2008).

In the film '' Addams Family Values'' (1993), she played psychotic serial killer Debbie Jellinsky, who marries and kills rich men. She also starred in the short-lived ABC sitcom '' What About Joan?'' in 2001 and the hit film '' Arlington Road'' (1999). For many years, Cusack was also the commercial spokeswoman for U.S. Cellular. One of Cusack's best-known roles was the principal of Horace Green Elementary School, Rosalie 'Roz' Mullins, in '' School of Rock'' (2003). She also voiced Jessie in the Pixar hits ''Toy Story 2'' (1999), '' Toy Story 3'' (2010), and '' Toy Story 4'' (2019), and played Dr. Burton, the therapist of Charlie ( Logan Lerman), in the teen film '' The Perks of Being a Wallflower'' (2012). She also played Erin's mom in the final episode of NBC's '' The Office''.

Cusack was a cast member on the NBC sketch show ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1986. Her recurring characters on ''SNL'' included Salena, a socially inept girl who tries to ask out her boyfriend, Biff (played by Jon Lovitz), who is also socially inept. In addition, she did celebrity impersonations of Brooke Shields, Jane Fonda, and Queen Elizabeth II.

She has been nominated four times for the American Comedy Award in the category of Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture and has won three times, for '' Runaway Bride'' (1999), ''In & Out'' (1997), and ''Working Girl'' (1988). She has also won the New York Film Critics Circle Award and the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress for ''In & Out''.

Cusack narrates the public-TV animated series '' Peep and the Big Wide World''. In September 2010, Cusack guest-starred on NBC's '' Law & Order: SVU''.

She also appeared as Justice Strauss in Netflix's adaptation of '' A Series of Unfortunate Events'', which premiered in 2017.

Cusack also appeared as the Tin Foil Lady in the Netflix movie '' Let It Snow'', which was released in November 2019.

''Shameless''

In 2010, Cusack joined the Showtime drama/comedy '' Shameless'' as Sheila Jackson, the mother of Karen Jackson ( Laura Slade Wiggins). The first season premiered on January 9, 2011, and had its first finale March 27, 2011. Cusack replaced actress Allison Janney, who portrayed the role in the first edit of the pilot episode. Janney took the role with the understanding the character would be less prominent on the show, but when producers decided to increase the character's screen presence, she was forced to pull out of the part to honor her series commitment on the ABC comedy '' Mr. Sunshine''. Cusack has received critical acclaim for her performance, receiving Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series nominations in 2011, 2012, and 2013, as well as a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2014 and 2015, winning in the later year.

Personal life

Cusack married attorney Richard Burke in 1996 They have two sons: Dylan John and Miles. She discovered she was pregnant with her first child on her first day of shooting the movie '' Mr. Wrong'' (1996). Cusack owns a home in Three Oaks Township, Michigan, and lives in Chicago, Illinois.

Since 2011, Cusack has owned Judy Maxwell Home, a gift shop in Old Town, Chicago. The shop is named for Barbra Streisand's character in ''What's Up Doc?'', Cusack's favorite movie.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
*
*

Sac Ticket: Joan Cusack

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cusack, Joan
1962 births
Living people
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
Actresses from Chicago
Actresses from New York City
American film actresses
American people of Irish descent
American television actresses
American video game actresses
American voice actresses
Annie Award winners
Cusack family (United States)
Pixar people
Primetime Emmy Award winners
University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni