John Paul Cusack was born on June, 28, 1966. His family was an Irish-Catholic and lived in Evanston Il. His father, Dick Cusack was a screenwriter who won a documentary film-maker, Emmy. His mother, Nancy, was a maths teacher. John has one brother, Bill and three sisters, Ann, Joan and Susan and they are all involved in show business.

John was sent to catholic school after his parents felt that he needed some discipline due to the fact that they were asked to visit the school on more than one occasion. Unfortunately, being at Catholic School didn't prevent John and his friends from staying up till six in the morning calling radio stations on school nights!

At a very young age John was keen on acting. Along with his sisters Ann and Joan, he would often put on garage plays to entertain neighbours. At just eight years old he started going to The Piven Theater Workshop and at fourteen he was in several commercials. John's passion for acting was helped by Ann and Joan who decided that was what they wanted to do first.

At sixteen, he went to his first agent and said "put me up for any audition and I'll get the part". That was the beginning of his film career. He's also written and directed several plays at local theatres, and they have earned him local awards. John even started a production company called New Crime Productions with some of his friends back home.

John took a 2 year break from the movies after 'Bullets Over Broadway'. "I just didn't work for a while. I was tired of it. When you work on films, you don't get to do a lot. Like travel and explore some other stuff. I wanted to walk away. I think it makes you seem more attractive to people who want to hire you, sickly enough." But now " I feel very blessed, very fortunate, very happy. I love my work, I love my friends, I love my family. There was a period when I didn't work for about two years, I couldn't imagine what I would do with my life and that was scary. But now I have other things I love. I'm a pretty good kick boxer; I'm a pretty good writer; there are things I could fall back on. And you know how it is-the minute you realize that your options are unlimited, things just start falling into place all around you."

When asked which of the character's he's portrayed he's most like, he replied: "Lloyd Dobler was simply the best part of who I could ever be. You know how in 'The Grifters', my character, the con man Roy Dillon, had such a dark heart? I'd have to say I'm right smack in the middle of Lloyd and Roy."

John has an impressive list of movies, and has worked with a lot of great directors, including Woody Allen (Annie Hall) in 'Shadows and Fog', 'Bullets Over Broadway', Rob Reiner (When Harry Met Sally) in 'The Sure Thing', John Frears in 'The Grifters', John Sayles (Long Star) in 'Eight Men Out' Alan Parker (Evita) for 'The Road to Welville' and Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire)in 'Say Anything'. John has grown up throughout the years, much like the roles he's portrayed.

His recent films include, 'Identity' and 'Runaway Jury' and as well as mainstream cinema, he seems to like acting in more obscure roles and films that very rarely go to cinema.

The first time I saw him was in 'The Sure Thing' and to this day I still think it's my favourite of his - very funny and romantic, definite feel good movie. That said, my other fav's are 'The Grifters' and 'Con Air' - fantastic piece of drama and action respectively. One of the few actors out there that can seem to turn his hand to any kind of role, and do it well. I look forward to watching many more of his films in the future.