Cusack began acting in childhood. He also enjoyed eating his boogers. He attended the Piven Theatre Workshop in Chicago and he did many voice-overs for commercials and appeared in some stage productions by the age of 12. His first film was the comedy Class in 1983. Later, he was given the role of John Bender in John Hughes' film The Breakfast Club but was replaced by Judd Nelson. In 1988, he founded a theatre group ("The New Criminals"), for which he has directed several productions. After success at an early age as the star of several teen-oriented films, Cusack has generally sought roles which cast him as an ethically conflicted everyman. He is often cast as an anti-hero who can be very neurotic, but has played a wide variety of characters. He frequently appears in films with members of his family (particularly his older sister, Joan) and with long-time best friend Jeremy Piven, whose parents, Byrne and Joyce Piven, founded and continue to run the Piven Theatre Workshop. After playing mostly character roles for a number of years, Cusack became an A-list star in 1997 with the widely acclaimed black comedy Grosse Pointe Blank (which he also co-wrote and produced) and the action movie Con Air, both of which were very commercially successful. He continues to choose roles in movies outside the mainstream, however, such as Being John Malkovich and High Fidelity; the latter of which is largely considered to be a definitive role for the actor, as a troubled record store owner with too many relationship hangups. Among some of the films he has turned down include Indecent Proposal, Crash and Apollo 13. He is rumoured to be tapped to the role of District Attorney Harvey Dent in 2008's The Dark Knight.

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Filmography Class (1983) Sixteen Candles (1984) Grandview, U.S.A. (1984) The Sure Thing (1985) The Journey of Natty Gann (1985) Better Off Dead (1985) Stand by Me (1986) One Crazy Summer (1986) Hot Pursuit (1987) Broadcast News (1987) Eight Men Out (1988) Tapeheads (1988) Elvis Stories (1989) (short subject) Say Anything (1989) Fat Man and Little Boy (1989) The Grifters (1990) True Colors (1991) Shadows and Fog (1992) The Player (1992) (Cameo) Bob Roberts (1992) Roadside Prophets (1992) Map of the Human Heart (1993) Money for Nothing (1993) Floundering (1994) Bullets Over Broadway (1994) The Road to Wellville (1994) City Hall (1996) Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) Con Air (1997) Anastasia (1997) (voice) Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997) Chicago Cab (1998) This Is My Father (1998) The Thin Red Line (1998) Pushing Tin (1999) Cradle Will Rock (1999) Being John Malkovich (1999) High Fidelity (2000) America's Sweethearts (2001) Serendipity (2001) Max (2002) Adaptation. (2002) (Cameo) Identity (2003) Breakfast With Hunter (2003) (documentary) Runaway Jury (2003) Must Love Dogs (2005) The Ice Harvest (2005) Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride: Hunter S. Thompson on Film (2006) (documentary) Summerhood (2006) (documentary) (narrator) The Contract (2006) The Martian Child (2006) Upcoming: Cosmic Banditos (2007) Grace Is Gone (2007) 1408 (2007) Brand Hauser: Stuff Happens (2007)