John Cusack’s 4 Siblings: All About Ann, Joan, Susie and Bill

Mar. 15, 2025

Ann Cusack; John Cusack; Joan Cusack.Photo:getty (3)

getty (3)

John Cusackand his siblings — Ann, Joan, Bill and Susie — have acting in their veins.

After getting their start in theater while growing up in Chicago, each sibling found success in performing arts. Ann had her breakout role inA League of Their Ownand has since been in films likeMultiplicityandSully.

Meanwhile, Joan starred in classics likeSchool of Rock,The Addams Family Valuesand theToy Storyfranchise. She also garnered Oscar nominations for her roles inWorking GirlandIn & Out, in addition to winning an Emmy for her role inShameless.

When John’s career in Hollywood took off in the ’80s, he shared the screen with Joan, and they later folded in their brother Bill and youngest sister Susie. The group appeared in several projects together, includingCon Air,HeroandHigh Fidelity.

Over the years, John has spoken about what it’s been like collaborating closely with his sisters and brothers, including Joan, with whom he has been in 10 movies. “I always love working with her,” he toldCinemaBlendin 2007. “I can’t believe they still let us to do it.”

Here’s everything to know about John Cusack’s siblings — Ann, Joan, Bill and Susie — and their relationship with the fellow actor.

They grew up in Chicago

John Cusack with his family at his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 24, 2012 in Hollywood, California.David Livingston/Getty

David Livingston/Getty

The siblings’ parents, Richard “Dick” and Nancy Cusack, married in 1960 and lived in New York during the early years of their marriage.

The family then moved to Evanston, Ill., a suburb of Chicago, where John was born in 1966, and Susie completed the group with her birth in 1971.

“They were both from the east coast: Boston and New York City,” Joan toldThe Guardianin 2011 about their mom and dad’s roots, respectively. ”After they married, my dad’s job brought them to Chicago for a couple of years, which they thought was a pretty good place to raise a family. So they were first-generation Chicagoans.”

The actress added, “My parents had five kids and we are all close. We were a traditional family. My mum didn’t have a job, she was just raising kids. My dad went out to work."

They have childhood memories with their actor father

Director John Badham with John Cusack and Dick Cusack on the set of ‘Jack Bull’ in 1999.Everett/Shutterstock

Everett/Shutterstock

Dick was an award-winning advertising executive who eventually followed his passion for Hollywood, according toVariety.

In 1970, he embarked on a new chapter when he founded a film production company and wrote the documentaryThe Committee, which won an Emmy the following year. Dick went on to write several plays and starred in numerous movies, includingThe Fugitive, While You Were SleepingandReturn to Me.

By this point in his life, he had welcomed John and his siblings, the eldest of whom was about 10. In her 2011 interview withThe Guardian, Joan reflected on her and her brothers and sisters growing up with a dad who didn’t take himself too seriously.

“He was a really funny man, very silly. He loved comedy,” she said. “We would watchMel Brooksmovies and Monty Python and he would always find some humor in everything.”

Joan continued, “He made home movies of us, and he would show them in the backyard. He was great fun.”

Ann inspired John and their siblings to try theater

Ann Cusack attends the screening of ‘A League of Their Own’ during the 2022 TCM Classic Film Festival at TCL Chinese Theatre on April 24, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.Stefanie Keenan/Getty

Stefanie Keenan/Getty

Speaking to theChicago Tribunein 1992, Ann shared that she and her siblings enjoyed staging plays at home, sometimes with set roles. “I was always the director and always played the princess,” she quipped.

Ann was the first to take her talents on stage with the company at age 10, which inspired Joan, John and Susie to do the same.

“I was very shy but my sister Ann was involved in the theatre and I tagged along – that’s how I got interested in drama,” Joan toldThe Guardianin 2011.

She went on to explain how formative the experience was — and how it helped her and John be in “the right place at the right time” to meet John Hughes, who made movies likeSixteen Candles,in which they both had minor roles.

“It was great training because it was the ‘60s and all about theater games and humanizing people – the creative process,” Joan continued. “Then the director John Hughes came along … and it just clicked. There’s a lot of serendipity involved in both my brother John and I becoming actors.”

Joan was the first to have an on-screen role

Joan Cusack and John Cusack get together at the after screening party for the movie “Max” at The Bubble Lounge.Richard Corkery/getty

Richard Corkery/getty

Joan was still in high school when she landed her first film role in the 1980 projectMy Bodyguardalongside her dad.Three years later, John made his movie debut in the dramedyClass,which Joan also starred in.

Ann didn’t have a role until years later, but it was a big one: Her first part was in the 1992 classic sports dramaA League of Their Own.

John and Joan have appeared in 10 movies together

Joan Cusack and John Cusack attend the premiere of “Toys” on December 13, 1992 in Westwood, California.Ron Galella/getty

Ron Galella/getty

There are few siblings who have been in as many movies together as John and Joan.

Apart fromClassandSixteen Candles, they also shared the screen forGrandview, U.S.A.,Broadcast News, Grosse Pointe Blank, Cradle Will Rock, High Fidelity, Martian ChildandWar, Inc.

In the 1989 teen dramaSay Anything…,John and Joan played siblings: She was the older sister with a young son, and he lived with them while finishing high school.

During an interview withCBS Newsin 2012, John opened up about what it was like working with his older sibling, and he jested that she rightfully takes the spotlight.

“I just give into the fact if I’m on screen with her she’s going to run me over, so the scene’s hers, so you just sort of give it to her because she’s the one with all the talent in the family,” he told the outlet.

“Then she just comes on the set and, like Wile E. Coyote, just runs you over, and you’re just like a flat pancake,” John continued. “And everyone’s really happy. It’s usually the funniest scenes in the movie.”

John has collaborated with his other siblings several times

Joan Cusack, her sons and sister arrive at the “Mars Needs Moms” Los Angeles Premiere at the El Capitan Theatre on March 6, 2011 in Hollywood, California.Barry King/FilmMagic

Barry King/FilmMagic

Although John and Joan might be the most recognized pair of siblings, the others have also worked with them at certain points in their careers.

Susie made her film debut in 1992’sHeroalongside Joan and also had a part inHigh Fidelitywith her and John. Even their father, Dick, appeared in movies with the siblings, includingClass, High FidelityandEight Men Out.

Bill is still active in theater

The Cusack family Dick, Susie, Joan, Bill, Ann, Nancy, John on April 12, 1999.Globe Photos/ZUMAPRESS/alamay

Globe Photos/ZUMAPRESS/alamay

When Bill and John were in their 20s, the brothers formed New Crime Productions, a small theatre group with friendsJeremy Pivenand Steve Pink.

“I don’t believe in denying an audience entertainment,” John told theChicago Readerin 1991. “We present more of a spectacle. We want theater to be fun and passionate.”

Bill had a role in the group’s production ofFear and Loathing in Las Vegasthat year. While the article credits John, Piven and Pink with starting the group, Bill’sHuffPost bioidentifies him as a founding member.

Bill is also a member of The Actors' Gang in Los Angeles. In 1999, he directed the group’s playUgly’s First World.According to his HuffPost bio, he now writes promotions for a cable network.

Ann performs with a band

Ann Cusack.Rob Latour/getty

Rob Latour/getty

When she’s not acting in projects likeMr. MercedesandBetter Call Saul,Ann sings with Ann Cusack & the Generation Jones Band.

They perform “original R & B and classic blues songs, with help from Big Mama Thornton, Little Milton, B.B. King, Koko Taylor, and Mighty Sam McClain to name a few,” according to the band’swebsite.

source: people.com