Born as Joan Mary Cusack Burke in October 1962, the New York. City native Is known for far more than being the sister of the 2012 actor, John Cusack. Often portrayed as gregarious and sometimes vindictive, she is best known for her comedic role on the comedy sketch, Saturday Night Live, which also gave rise to the acting careers of other comedians such as Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, and Jim Carrey. Other roles that bought her recognition were The Adams Family Values, Working Girl, Grosse Pointe Blank, High Fidelity, and In and Out. To date, Joan Cusack has been featured in over 80 movies and has received an Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress twice, as well as the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2015. According to Celebrity Net Worth, with a standing net worth of $20 million, here is how Joan Cusack amassed her $20 million net worth as a television and film actress.

 

Entering The Family Business

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It’s really no coincidence that both of Joan’s siblings, John Cusack and Ann Cusack, are both in the entertainment business. And that’s likely due to the fact that they had the best of both worlds – their mother, Ann Paula “Nancy” Cusack was a political activist and their father, Dick Cusack, was an actor and filmmaker. It’s clear that the apple didn’t fall too far from m the tree. Her acting debut came in 1980 with her role in the movie, Cutting Loose, starring John Walcutt and Phil Catalli. In the same year, she was also featured in the family comedy-drama, My Bodyguard, which starred Adam Baldwin, Matt Dillon, and Martin Mull, grossing $22.5 million on a $3 million budget.

As her career progressed into the ’80s, she went on to be featured in the 1983 comedy-drama, Class, co-starring with her brother John, Rob Lowe, and Jacqueline Bisset, peaking at $21.6 million at the box office. During this time, Joan acted in a number of movies beside her brother, John, including films like Sixteen Candles (1984) starring Molly Ringwald, the same year in the comedy-drama Grandview U.S.A. alongside Jamie Lee Curtis and Patrick Swayze, Broadcast News (1987) which grossed $67.3 million, and Say Anything...(1989), with John Cusack as the lead actor opposite Ione Skye. During this these years, she also joined the cast of the comedy sketch, Saturday Night Live, where she appeared on the show for 17 episodes where she enacted celebrity impersonations of Queen Elizabeth II, Brooke Shields, and Jane Fonda.

Once her stint on SNL was over, Joan returned to focus more intently on her film career. Towards the end of the 1980s, she also starred in the crime-comedy, Married to The Mob (1988), starring Alec Baldwin, and Working Girl (1988) starring Harrison Ford, for which she received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

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On The Road To Success

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Her time as a comedian on SNL would prove to be an asset in future film ventures. Joan entered the 1990s with a bang, beginning with the crime comedy, My Blue Heaven, where she shared the screen with Steve Martin and Rick Moranis, enjoying the spoils of $23.6 million at the box office. Her next movie, Toys (1992) featured her among an eccentric cast of actors, including Robin Williams, Michael Gambon, Robin Wright, Jamie Foxx, and LL Cool J. By 1993, she would appear in one of her biggest, most renowned, and darkest roles in Adams Family Values as Debbie Jillinsky, a serial killer gold digger who marries Fester (Christopher Lloyd), then tries to kill him. The Addams Family Values was a success, grossing $111 million at the global box office.

Following her shocking portrayal in Addams Family Values, Joan’s next role was quite the opposite. In 1995, the romantic comedy Nine Months was released to a critical and unfavorable response, however, Joan’s character as mother and wife to Marty Dwyer (Tom Arnold) coupled with Hugh Grant and Julianne Moore ensured financial success, grossing $138.5 million at the box office. Subsequently, in 1997 she again starred beside John Cusack in the black comedy crime film, Grosse Pointe Blank, alongside Minnie Driver and Dan Aykroyd. Then, in 1997 she again assumed the role of the wife of Howard Brackett (Kevin Kline) in the controversial comedy, In and Out, which grossed $63.8 million worldwide.

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Regarded as the most lucrative movie franchise of her career, the Cradle Will Rock actress lent her voice to the Pixar Studios computer-animated film, Toy Story 2. From its inception in 1995, the movie’s lead characters, namely Woody (Tom Hanks) and Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) were an instant hit deserving of a sequel. That sequel came in 1999, and so did the introduction of Joan’s character, Jessie, who was reprised in all remaining films. Toy Story 2 grossed $497.4 million at the box office. The other two movies in the animation franchise, Toy Story 3 (2010) and Toy Story 4 (2019), exceeded each other and tossed $1.067 billion and $1.073 billion, respectively.

 

21st Century Gains

Still, on the high from her selection for the Academy Awards for Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for 1999’s Runaway Bride, Joan stepped into the new millennium with her role in the romantic drama, Where the Heart Is, featuring Natalie Portman and Ashley Judd. The same year, she also starred in High Fidelity opposite her brother, Lisa Bonet and Jack Black. A few of her most rewarding films during that time, critically and financially, including It’s A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002) starring David Arquette and Whoopi Goldberg; Looney Toons: Back In Action (2002) which grossed $68.5 million globally; Raising Helen (2004) starring Kate Hudson; The School of Rock (2003) alongside Jack Black and Sarah Silvermann, which grossed a healthy $131.3 million; the computer-animater science fiction drama, Chicken Little (2005) which grossed $314.4 million; My Sister’s Keeper starring Cameron Diaz, which raked in $92 million, and Confessions of A Shopaholic (2009) starring beside Isla Fisher and grossing over $108 million worldwide.

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Also, during this season of her career, she also made television appearances, such as on Law and Order: Special Victim’s Unit in 2010 and on the Showtime series, Shameless, where she reprised her role as Sheila Jackson for 44 episodes, making her the candidate for many Primetime Emmy Nominations, in which she took home one. She would also appear in the season finale of The Office in 2013.

A few of her more recent films include The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) starring Emma Watson which peaked at $33.3 million; The End of The Tour (2015) with Jesse Eisenberg; also in 2015, Freaks of Nature, starring Vanessa Hudgens and Jonah Hill; Snatched (2017) alongside Goldie Dawn and Any Schumer, and the family comedy, Instant Family (2018) starring Mark Wahlberg, Rose Byrne, and Octavia Spencer. Also in 2017, she appeared in four episodes of the Netflix series, A Series of Unfortunate Events, where she played the role of Justice Strauss and starred beside Neil Patrick Harris and Malina Weissman.

Real Estate Money

The many decades of her exceptional acting have afforded Joan Cusack a more-than-comfortable lifestyle. Her first home purchase was in 1998 when she paid $905,000 for a 7-bedroom mansion in Ravenswood, Chicago. She later sold this property for a whopping $4.66 million. Then, in 2007, she purchased an 8,000 square foot mansion in Golden Coast, Chicago with her husband, Richard Burke for $5.3 million, equipped with an indoor pool, six-bedroom, 6.5 bathrooms. Cusack continues to work as an actress and fans look forward to seeing more of her, John, and Ann Cusack on the big screen.

READ NEXT: The 13 Highest-Grossing John Cusack Movies, Ranked

Sources: washingtonpost.com, rogerebert.com, celebritynetworth.com 

 

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