Joan Cusack

Joan Mary Cusack (/ˈkjuːsæk/ KEW-sak; born October 11, 1962) is an American actress. She is known for her distinctive voice and offbeat comedic timing, and her portrayals of neurotic, endearing characters have earned her numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award.

Cusack 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 voice roles such as Jessie in the Toy Story franchise (1999–present), for which she won an Annie Award, and Abby Mallard in Chicken Little (2005), as well as the narrator of the children's preschool series Peep and the Big Wide World (2004–2011).

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 (2011–2015) as Sheila Jackson, a role for which she received five consecutive Primetime Emmy nominations, winning the award in 2015. She is a sister of actress Ann Cusack and actor John Cusack.

Early life

Joan Mary Cusack was born on October 11, 1962, in New York City and was raised in Evanston, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Her mother, Ann Paula "Nancy" Cusack (née Carolan; 1929–2022), was a 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 Catholic family is of Irish 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).

Cusack voiced Jessie in the Pixar hits Toy Story 2 (1999), Toy Story 3 (2010), Toy Story 4 (2019), and Toy Story 5 (2026).

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 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 in its eleventh season (1985–86) with fellow cast members and future stars such as Robert Downey Jr., Damon Wayans, and Anthony Michael Hall. 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.^{[citation needed]}

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 latter year.

Personal life

Cusack married attorney Richard Burke in 1996. They have two sons. 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 after Barbra Streisand's character in What's Up Doc? (1972), Cusack's favorite movie.

Filmography

Television

• 1985–1986 — Saturday Night Live — Various Characters — 17 episodes
• 1994 — Great Performances — The Daughter — Episode: "The Mother"
• 2000 — Sesame Street — Herself — 1 episode
• 2000 — 72nd Academy Awards — Jessie — Voice; Television special
• 2001–2002 — What About Joan? — Joan Gallagher — Lead role
• 2004–2011 — Peep and the Big Wide World — Narrator — Voice; Main role
• 2010 — Law & Order: Special Victims Unit — Pamela Burton — Episode: "Locum"
• 2011–2015 — Shameless — Sheila Jackson — Recurring role (seasons 1–5)
• 2011 — Phineas and Ferb — Glenda Wilkins — Voice; Episode: "Last Train to Bustville"
• 2013 — The Office — Erin's Biological Mother — Episode: "Finale"
• 2013 — Toy Story of Terror! — Jessie — Voice; Television special
• 2014 — Toy Story That Time Forgot — Jessie — Voice; Television special
• 2016–2019 — The Stinky & Dirty Show — Red — Voice; 8 episodes
• 2017, 2019 — A Series of Unfortunate Events — Justice Strauss — 4 episodes
• 2020 — Homecoming — Francine Bunda — 3 episodes

Stage

• 1988 — Road — Louise/Clare — La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, Off-Broadway
• 1989 — Brilliant Traces — Rosannah DeLuce — Cherry Lane Theatre, Off-Broadway
• 1989 — Cymbeline — Imogen — The Public Theater, Off-Broadway
• 1990 — 'Tis Pity She's A Whore — Putana — Goodman Theatre
• 1991 — A Midsummer Night's Dream — Helena — Goodman Theatre
• 2003 — The Guys — The Writer — Lakeshore Theatre

Video games

• 1999 — Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue — Jessie
• 2005 — Chicken Little — Abby Mallard — Archive recordings
• 2006 — Chicken Little: Ace in Action — Abby Mallard
• 2010 — Toy Story 3: The Video Game — Jessie
• 2011 — Kinect: Disneyland Adventures — Jessie
• 2012 — Kinect Rush: A Disney–Pixar Adventure — Jessie
• 2016 — Disney Magic Kingdoms — Jessie — Initial release; voice lines were later removed in an update
• 2023 — Disney Speedstorm — Jessie