John Cusack's Real Name: John Paul Cusack

Quick answer: John Cusack's full name is John Paul Cusack. He was born on June 28, 1966, in Evanston, Illinois. He is usually billed as John Cusack. He became widely known in Say Anything (1989) and later starred in Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), Con Air (1997), and High Fidelity (2000), which brought a Golden Globe nomination (Britannica).

Real name and early life

Britannica gives the name "in full" as John Paul Cusack, born June 28, 1966, in Evanston, a Chicago suburb. The Library of Congress heading is "Cusack, John, 1966-." His parents are Ann Paula "Nancy" Cusack, née Carolan, a math teacher, and Dick Cusack, an actor and filmmaker. His siblings Joan, Ann, Bill, and Susie are all actors.

He joined Chicago's Piven Theatre Workshop while still in elementary school. He graduated from Evanston Township High School in 1984 and attended New York University for a year before leaving school.

Career highlights

Britannica notes that his first on-screen role was the 1980 short Why Is It Always Me?, in which he was credited, possibly by mistake, as "John Cusak." His first major film was the 1983 comedy Class. In the 1980s he appeared in coming-of-age films including Sixteen Candles (1984), with Winona Ryder, Better Off Dead (1985), The Sure Thing (1985), and Stand by Me (1986). Those roles, along with Say Anything (1989), made him one of the best-known young leads of the decade.

He then moved into a wider range of roles, among them The Grifters (1990), Eight Men Out (1988), the dark comedy Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), which he also helped write, and the action thriller Con Air (1997). High Fidelity (2000), again with a writing credit, brought his Golden Globe acting nomination. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2012.

Later films include the romantic comedy Serendipity (2001), the thriller Identity (2003), the Stephen King adaptation 1408 (2007), and Hot Tub Time Machine (2010). He also appeared in Being John Malkovich (1999), Runaway Jury (2003), and Love & Mercy (2014), a film about Beach Boys songwriter Brian Wilson. Britannica describes a career that moved from teen leads in the 1980s to crime films, romantic comedies, and action thrillers in later decades.

Name notes for searchers

John Paul Cusack is the documented full name; John Cusack is the short form used in almost all credits. An early short film billed him as "John Cusak," which Britannica flags as a possible error. He is part of a well-known Chicago acting family.