Joan Cusack
Joan Cusack is an American actor and comedian born on October 11, 1962, in New York City, whose work spans film, television, and voice acting.
She attended Evanston Township High School before going on to study at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and training at the Piven Theatre Workshop. Those years laid the groundwork for a career that has moved fluidly across multiple performance formats. Her work in English-language productions has earned her recognition in several distinct areas of the industry, including a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, a Theatre World Award, and an Annie Award, the last of which recognizes achievement in animated film.
Her voice work has been a notable part of her career. She appears in Toy Story 2, Toy Story 3, Toy Story 4, and Toy Story 5, as well as the animated film Klaus. The Annie Award she received reflects the recognition her voice performances have drawn within that corner of the industry. The Emmy win came in 2015, adding a television honor to the stage and screen credits she had already accumulated by that point.
Across her work in film, television, and animation, Cusack has consistently moved between comedic and dramatic registers, maintaining an active presence in all three performance formats. Her credits in both live-action and animated film, combined with her television and stage recognition, reflect a career built across several distinct branches of the entertainment industry rather than concentrated in a single one.
Quotes by Joan Cusack
Joan Cusack's insights on:
Us gals need to stay in and just change the way it works, so men aren’t being workaholics and avoiding life and relationships, and they can make films in a reasonable amount of time, so you can have a family and a life outside of work. And have more balanced, content-driven, enjoyable movies.
The fact of the matter is, if you have to have a process, I think, to figure out how to make everything work together, you just don’t get that. But maybe there’s a way to do it.
It’s nice to be able to work; I’d love to be able to do another TV show I could do in Chicago so I could live and work in the same place. It’s hard being a parent and being in a good marriage, and it all takes a lot of work, but if you’re not there you can’t do any of it.
Maybe I’m more drawn to those kind of parts because they are meaningful to me. I mean, more parent-y ones, I find them interesting to do.
You know, I think I’m more of a micro-person, so to me, the context and the framework of trying to do what you love and feel passionate about, in supporting your family in that way, is the most important thing to me.
A lot of women get out of the business because it’s so not family-friendly. And so women that could be in there making good women-roles don’t do it, ’cause they’re smart and get out.
I play- it’s kind of like a slice-of-life, LA women in their forties, playing forty kind of what’s their friendship like, and what’s their life like and so I just play one of the four friends.
I tend to come from a more psychological – that’s sort of my passion. I’m interested in the psychology of politics as well – and obviously I’m interested in what’s going on in the world – but my passion is more the psychology of people.