John Cusack became a bona fide movie star as a teen, but over time he has opted to live a quieter life.
Cusack made his film debut in 1983’s Class. One 12 months later, he appeared in Sixteen Candles alongside Molly Ringwald, Michael Schoeffling and Anthony Michael Hall. His performance led to him starring in Higher Off Dead, The Sure Thing and Say Anything.
While Cusack cemented himself as a teen idol within the ‘80s, the actor began to expand his horizons. He pursued roles in various genres including the crime thriller Grifters, black comedy Grosse Pointe Blank, romantic comedy Serendipity and more.
Cusack has appeared in fewer projects in recent times. His last film credit is for the film Fog of War, which was released in 2025. The next 12 months, Cusack explained why he stepped away from acting during a rare appearance at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2026.
“I desired to tell a story, but I didn’t need to negotiate telling a story,” he said while explaining his graphic novel Momo. “Whenever you ask any person to place $20 or $30 million right into a checking account [to finance a film], they need to have an opinion and so they’re afraid and all that stuff.”
Keep scrolling to see what Cusack has been as much as since stepping out of the highlight:
John Cusack Makes Rare Appearances at Screenings of His Past Movies
Every once in a blue moon, Cusack will make an appearance at a screening for considered one of his previous movies and do a Q&A for fans. In January 2026, the actor showed up for a showing of Serendipity on the Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall in Munhall, Pennsylvania, in addition to a screening for Say Anything in El Cajon, California. More recently, he attended a screening for Grosse Pointe Blank in Chicago back in June 2026.
John Cusack Wrote a Graphic Novel
During Comic Con 2026, Cusack proudly shared that he wrote a graphic novel titled Momo.
“I got this beautiful, wonderful artist, Ignacio [Noé], to do the illustrations,” he said on the time, per Variety. “No one edited anything I wrote or what he drew, and so, it’s really a chunk of labor done by two people. … It was just me and Ignacio’s story, and that doesn’t occur today. It’s an anti-algorithm thing, like, there’s no committee and there’s no computer up in Seattle that’s poll-testing it.”
John Cusack Is a Political Activist
Cusack identifies as a Democratic Socialist. He has been candid about being anti-war and speaking out against President Donald Trump. On his Instagram page, Cusack steadily collaborates with the Freedom of the Press Foundation to advocate for spreading the reality.
John Cusack Is Selective About His Projects
The actor candidly shared at a 2025 screening for Say Anything that he doesn’t enjoy how the movie industry has prioritized making sequels or reboots.
“I used to be lucky that I never had the will, or nobody asked me to do any sequels. There’s one which I feel can be interesting to do, which can be 1408,” Cusack quipped, per People. “Simply because … I feel today, you recognize, most movies suck. There’s still the horror psychological, you recognize, that Rod Serling kinda stuff. That’s still pretty pure. When you can pull off something like that, it’s fun.”