Joan Cusack is a character actress loved by many. Is the term “character actress” demeaning towards her? Not at all. Joan Cusack has been in our lives for 5 decades and she has continued to give great performances whether the film was good or bad. She was born in New York City, but raised in Chicago; her father was Dick Cusack, a filmmaker, playwright, and actor and her mother was Ann Paula Cusack, a mathematics teacher and political activist. Cusack also comes from a well known group of sibling actors, her older sister Ann Cusack (A League of Their Own, The Informant!, and The Boys) and her younger brother John Cusack (The Sure Thing, Say Anything, and High Fidelity) one of her frequent collaborators. She got her start doing small speaking roles in My Bodyguard, Stars and Bars, and Sixteen Candles; she was later hired onto Saturday Night Live in its 11th season alongside some unconventional people such as: Robert Downey Jr., Randy Quaid, Anthony Michael Hall, Damon Wayans, Nora Dunn, and Terry Sweeney; a season that would infamously go down in history as one of the worst SNL seasons of all time, but it’s safe to say that all the casts members had fruitful careers. Post-SNL, she really broke through with massive hits such as: Working Girl, Broadcast News, In & Out, Addams Family Values, Toy Story 2, etc.  She has also garnered a lot of awards recognition for her onscreen work; she has 2 Oscar nominations, 5 Emmy nominations and 1 win (for her portrayal of Sheila in Shameless), 1 Golden Globe nomination, 4 American Comedy Award nominations and 1 win, plus much more. Although she is never truly the main character in anything she is in, audiences cannot help but be drawn to one of the most unique actresses the silver screen has ever had. These are the top 8 greatest Joan Cusack performances…

#8. Blair Litton in Broadcast News

No one…NO ONE, has ever…EVER ran to put a VHS tape into a VCR player faster than Joan did in James L. Brook’s sophomore feature Broadcast News. Cusack plays a small role in the film, yet she is incredibly memorable (as always).

#7. Marcella Mayes in Grosse Pointe Blank

To describe the plot of Grosse Pointe Blank is almost as complicated as trying to describe a personal feeling when looking at a Picasso; it is an action movie, a romantic comedy, a thriller, and a drama. Joan Cusack plays Marcella Mayes, the assistant to Martin Q. Blank (played by her younger brother John) an assassin who is tasked with a job in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. Marcella is his nosy, loud talking, supporting, and persistant assistant who wants him to attend his 10-year high school reunion. Cusack has some brief scenes, but she is incredibly memorable whether someone is sending the wrong amount of ammunition or burning down the office after Martin retires from being a stone-cold killer.

#6. Miss Lucinda Bond in Kit Kittredge: An American Girl

Every child of the 90s and early 00s are aware of American Girl Dolls and the massive impact they made on the world (in fact they made several movies about them). One of the movies was Kit Kittredge: An American Girl a story about a spunky pre-teen (Abigail Breslin) who lives during the Great Depression in a house full of boarders (played by Jane Krakowski, Gleanne Headly, Stanley Tucci, and Joan Cusack). Cusack plays Miss Lucinda Bond, a mobile librarian who is constantly running over things when she parks. Cusack plays Miss Bond with her classic mannerisms, while also putting incredible amounts of nuance in small moments; like when she gives Countee (Willow Smith) a book, or her fear of magic when Mr. Burke (Stanley Tucci) beckons her to levitate for his magic show. It is later discovered that Mr. Burke, his cousin, and she were all in cahoots to steal from Kit’s family and the other boarders; and she redeems herself by assisting Kit and her friends in turning Mr. Burke, his cousin, an herself in.

#5. Rosalie Mullins in School of Rock

In Richard Linklater’s 2003 classic, Joan Cusack plays Rosalie Mullins the principal of the Horace Green prep school. When Dewey Finn (Jack Black) steals his friends identity, teaches his class rock and roll to win the battle of the bands, all while sneaking around Principal Mullins. Cusack’s portrayal of Mullins is the most repressed performance of her entire career. Principal Mullins is a former Stevie Nicks party girl who has matured and somehow lost the fiery spark that she once had due to the environment she has been in for decades. She does stand by Dewey’s side, yet she still has to make a difficult decision to terminate him due to his identity theft and actions. Cusack puts nuance and her signature charm into a character that would really be unlikable if put into the wrong hands.

#4. Cynthia in Working Girl

“You need anything? Coffee? Tea? Me?” is a quote that is forever cemented in our vocabulary. Cusack plays Cynthia, the big-haired, big-personality, yet extremely supporting friend of Tess McGill (Melanie Griffith) in Mike Nichols’ Working Girl. When Tess’ boss Katharine Parker (Sigourney Weaver) gets injured in a skiing accident, Tess is in her stead while she is recovering, and Cynthia takes Tess’ place posing as her secretary. Cusack takes the prototype “romcom best friend” and elevates it in true Cusack fashion. Cynthia wants nothing but the best for Tess, whether it’s mending her relationship with Mick (Alec Baldwin), Tess’ cheating boyfriend, schmoozing Jack Trainer (Harrison Ford) to make Tess look like a powerhouse boss, or reminding Tess that she needs to keep her feet on the ground and not in the air. Cusack was nominated for her first Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, sadly losing out to Geena Davis for The Accidental Tourist. 

#3. Emily Montgomery in In & Out

This 1997 classic has everything: Joan Cusack, Kevin Kline, Barbra Streisand references, Joan Cusack, Debbie Reynolds, Wilford Brimley, Joan Cusack, Sean Hatosy from The Pitt, hot Matt Dillon, was Joan Cusack mentioned? Cusack plays Emily Montgomery, a teacher who is engaged to marry Howard Brackett (Kevin Kline) a college English professor who is “outed” on television when a former student Cameron Drake (Matt Dillon) wins his Oscar®. This causes both Emily and Howard to be in denial (neither of them noticing the glaring details that gave everything away). Later, Howard comes to the realization that he is gay, he comes out at the altar, and Emily storms out (shots are fired at Babs) saying “F*ck Barbra Streisand!!!”  After she is jilted, she goes to a bar meets Peter Malloy (Tom Selleck) a news reporter who is also gay, to which she storms out of the bar in true Emily Montgomery fashion and yells, “Is EVERYBODY Gay?!?!” Only for her to have a mental breakdown in the road and Cameron Drake (also a former student and possible crush) to come to her rescue. Joan Cusack was nominated for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, sadly losing to Kim Basinger for L.A. Confidential.

#2. Debbie Jellinsky in Addams Family Values

She might be the blackest of black widows, but she does it all in platinum blonde, stark white dresses, and high-heeled shoes. Joan Cusack plays Debbie Jellinsky, a black widow who has eyed Uncle Fester (Christopher Lloyd) as her next target, due to him being an heir to the Addams family fortune. To get to Fester, she poses as a babysitter and snags a job babysitting Gomez (Raul Julia) and Morticia’s (Anjelica Huston) baby; then she seduces Fester, marries him, and proceeds to attempt (and failing miserably) killing Fester in many gruesome ways. Cusack plays Debbie as a femme fatale that is both a seductress and comedienne. She has so many fantastic moments whether she is literally slurping Thing’s fingers, pretending to cry while slowly morphing into maniacal laughter, or being in a gay club while “Macho Man” is being played (the first of two occurances of this song being played in a movie with her, the second being In & Out). This is one of the funniest villainesss to ever be on screen and her chemistry with Christopher Lloyd is almost palpable to audiences.

#1. Jessie the cowgirl in the Toy Story franchise

In 1999 one of the greatest animated film characters (or film characters in general) was introduced to the world…Jessie the cowgirl in Toy Story 2. Jessie is a character that has evolved in every film in the Toy Story franchise. In Toy Story 2, she, Bullseye, Stinky Pete (Kelsey Grammer), and a reluctant Woody (Tom Hanks) are going to be shipped to Japan to be put in a toy museum. It is later discovered that she has abandonment issues (which is told in the heartbreaking song “When She Loved Me”), which is why she would rather choose the solace of a museum over being loved by a child; but when Stinky Pete plans on preventing Woody from being rescued, she and Bullseye decide to help Woody return to Andy (and in return Woody invites Jessie and Bullseye to stay). In Toy Story 3, she has a romance with Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) in both regular and Spanish mode (which has some swoon-worthy scenes in it); in Toy Story 4 she is given Woody’s badge, because he has recognized her loyalty, courage, and that every leader should possess. From what has been seen in Toy Story 5, Jessie is faced with her most formidable task yet…technology. A kid’s tablet named Lilypad (Greta Lee) is seen taking Bonnie away from the toys, which worries Jessie, and she calls Woody to return and help the toys win Bonnie’s attention back. This is Joan Cusack’s return to film in 7 years and she has been CRUSHING IT during the red carpets and press tours.