Two-time Academy Award-nominated actress Joan Cusack is a member of an acting family with an actor/director father, Dick, and siblings, Ann and John Cusack. Cusack got her start on Saturday Night Live but left after one season on the show (85-86). Known for her unique comedic cadence and emphatic delivery, Cusack has starred in some of the most celebrated movies in cinematic history. The actress has also joined her brother on the silver screen in ten movies from 1983-2008.

In addition to her extensive screen work, Cusack appeared in the Showtime series Shameless from 2011-15. She was nominated five times for the Primetime Emmy Award for her performance as Sheila Jackson, winning in 2015. While she is frequently cast in comedy roles, Cusack has dabbled in darkness, which diversified an already remarkable acting portfolio. From her awkward, braces-with-headgear festooned teenager attempting to drink from a fountain in Sixteen Candles to the toy cowgirl Jessie from the Toy Story film franchise, audiences love Cusack. Here are a few of her considerable contributions to film.

10 'Grosse Pointe Blank' (1997)

Director: George Armitage

Martin Blank (John Cusack) is a professional assassin who works alone. His assistant Marcella (Joan Cusack) informs Martin about an invitation to his 10-year high school reunion in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, near Detroit, home of his latest target. After a botched hit and refusal to join fellow hitman Grocer's (Dan Aykroyd) assassin's union, Blank becomes a target. Back in his hometown, Blank reacquaints himself with former high school sweetheart Debi (Minnie Driver), and the pair attend the reunion as their lives intersect in explosive and revelatory ways.

Grosse Pointe Blank is a refreshing spin on a reunion story, with a screenplay co-written by John Cusack. The movie blends action, comedy, and romance with palatable delight despite random acts of violence. Critics and audiences responded favorably, and the film became a favorite among fans of the Cusack siblings. As Blank's assistant, Joan's role is brief but memorable. Her character Marcella, equipped with a hands-free headset, is Blank's eyes and ears, on call to supply critical information and field calls to procure arms and ammunition with unwavering determination. The conversational rhythm of the real-life brother and sister team (Joan compliments and keeps pace with John's trademark rapid exchange rate of speech) is something to behold.

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9 'Welcome to Me' (2014)

Director: Shira Piven

Alice Klieg (Kristen Wiig) wins an obscene amount of money playing the lottery and decides to spend her winnings on a television show starring herself. She pitches the idea (with her briefcase full of money) to an infomercial channel known for selling products, not people. The studio's owners, brothers Gabe (James Marsden) and Rich (Wes Bentley) need the money, so the production crew is instructed to meet Alice's every whim. Before long, at-home viewers and staff of the show discover Alice is off her medication and has fired her therapist, Dr. Moffat (Tim Robbins), who was treating her for Borderline Personality Disorder. The show must go on because Alice is paying the bills, but instead of producing a spectacle, they create something endearing and nuanced.

Welcome to Me is the performance Wiig fans should look to if they search for a concise example of her versatile talent. The movie earned a positive Rotten Tomatoes score of 74%, with many critics praising the film for being simultaneously disturbing and moving. In the movie, Cusack is the director of The Alice Klieg Show, the woman behind the curtain, prompting the sometimes aloof host from the production booth. It's no easy feat to be noticed or remarkable in a movie featuring one dominant character. Still, Cusack implemented an assortment of expressions mirroring the uncertain course of the unscripted show. To wordlessly articulate emotions​​​​​ is a skill; what Cusack does is mastery.

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8 'Arlington Road' (1999)

Director: Mark Pellington

Widowed professor Michael Faraday (Jeff Bridges) lost his FBI agent wife to an act of terrorism and is trying to move on with his son and new girlfriend, Brooke (Hope Davis). Faraday makes friends with neighbors Oliver Lang (Tim Robbins) and Cheryl (Cusack), but stories and facts presented in conversation with the couple raise his suspicions. Mysterious blueprints, aliases, and uncanny coincidences collectively point to Lang's involvement in a terrorist organization. Desperate to prove his theory and warn the U.S. government, Faraday consults with his wife's former partner at the FBI. Lang's strategic movements place him one step ahead of Faraday in a race against time in this high-octane thriller.

Critics and audiences either loved or hated Arlington Road upon its release, with some praising the movie's paranoia-inducing premise while others faulted its inconceivable ending. Supporting cast member Cusack contributes to the chaos by breaking bad and weaponizing her infectious grin, using it instead to elicit sinister chills and general unease. As Oliver's wife Cheryl, Cusack appears like a clown in a sewer drain: the context is jarring, making facial expressions previously reserved for fun unsettling. Casting props ahoy, because whoever decided to cast comedians as villains opened a portal for Robin Williams and Steve Carell to follow suit, respectively (see One Hour Photo, Insomnia, and Foxcatcher). Versatility? Check.

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7 'Broadcast News' (1987)

Director: James L. Brooks

Broadcast News follows the lives of ambitious workaholic news producer Jane Craig (Holly Hunter), her best friend and colleague, reporter Aaron Altman (Albert Brooks), and recent news station hire Tom Grunick (William Hurt). Though they all work under one roof, the cutthroat world of journalism breeds competition and advancement, making interoffice connections difficult. Jane is interested in Tom, but Aaron secretly loves Jane, complicating an already hectic office setting. Ultimately, the overachieving trio must choose between love or promotion as their respective careers threaten to divert them.

Unsurprisingly, the film was nominated for seven Academy Awards and appears on many "best of" all-time movie lists. Hunter's (incredible) feisty performance, Hurt's understated methods, and Albert Brooks's scene-stealing flop sweat and general greatness are reason enough to watch this classic. Relative unknown Cusack, cast as production assistant Blair Litton, is credited with one of the most iconic scenes in the movie. Tape in hand, Cusack races to the control room to deliver the next news story before the current segment ends. In a frantic sprint wearing a skirt, she dodges office obstacles, including filing cabinets, babies, and water fountains, in one of the funniest scenes printed on film.

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6 'Toys' (1992)

Director: Barry Levinson

Toy maker Kenneth Zevo has died, leaving his beloved toy factory to his brother, Lieutenant General Leland Zevo (Michael Gambon), to the shock of Zevo's son and lifelong toy apprentice, Leslie (Robin Williams). Lt. Zeno plans to mass-produce tiny "war toys" to be sold to the military and deployed on the battlefield via remote control. Leslie vows to stop his uncle and recruits a new love interest, Gwen (Robin Wright), and his sister Alsatia (Cusack) to help. A mele pitting vintage wind-ups against artillery-powered war toys ensues, and Lt. Zeno's son, Patrick (LL Cool J), is forced to choose between his allegiance to his father or the legacy of the toy factory.

The art direction and surrealist landscape of the toy factory, grounds, and costuming are stunning, an unfortunate effort considering how few people saw it. Contributing to its marketing woes, an early trailer featured a bubbly Williams (akin to the energy audiences enjoyed in the 1991 films Hook and Aladdin) when the actor/comedian is significantly more subdued in the movie. Moving past the critical fog and lackluster ticket sales, fans of Williams and Cusack shouldn't put this toy away. Toys is creepy and decidedly not for young children. An advantage to watching the film is its plastic wigged, paper-doll adorned, mayonnaise or applesauce sandwich-eating robot played with unnerving splendor by Cusack. Fans familiar with the movie know that Williams might've been the draw, but Cusack was the reward. Musical numbers and an inexplicable PG-13 rating for the win!

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5 'Working Girl' (1988)

Director: Mike Nichols

Tess McGill (Melanie Griffith) is a recent business school graduate (night school edition) who has quit her previous Wall Street job as a secretary. She is hired as an administrative assistant in Mergers and Acquisitions under associate Katharine Parker (Sigourney Weaver), a serious businesswoman with "serious hair" and an authoritative voice. Katharine takes a skiing trip and asks Tess to house-sit, but the lure of access to the business world proves too great. With the help of her friend Cyn (Cusack), Tess gets into Katharine's wardrobe and professional contacts for a bit of covert serious businesswoman cosplay.

From the moment Working Girl begins, viewers can't look away. The opening sequence features Carly Simon's award-winning anthem (and powerful earworm), "Let the River Run." The camera pans from the Statue of Liberty to Griffith's massive blonde coif blowing in the wind produced by the Staten Island Ferry. It is a strong start, but it gets better. The movie has everything: plentiful shoulder pads, gravity-resistant hair, Sigourney Weaver, and women making boss moves. Working Girl was immensely successful, garnering six Academy Award Nominations, including a Best Supporting Actress duel betwixt Weaver and Cusack. Cusack would go on to reprise her role as the quirky best friend in future films, but Cyn's one-liners, eye-shadow game, and hair magnificence are the benchmark.

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4 'Toy Story 2' (1999)

Director: John Lasseter

After sustaining a ripped arm, Woody (Tom Hanks) shares a shelf with a broken toy penguin, Wheezy, who is brought to Andy's mom's (Laurie Metcalf) garage sale. Woody rescues Wheezy but is grabbed by a toy collector, Al McWhiggin (perpetual villain, Wayne Knight). At McWhiggin's house, Woody learns he originated from a vintage TV show featuring other cast members collectively known as The Roundup Gang. He is introduced to Bullseye, Stinky Pete (Kelsey Grammer), and Jessie (Cusack), a cowgirl, who informs Woody of McWhiggin's plan to sell them to a museum in Japan. Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) recruits Andy's other toys for a Woody rescue mission, but Woody is torn after Jessie's compelling argument in favor of Japan.

John Lasseter began working on Toy Story 2 with a small animation crew with a direct-to-video release in mind. After screening finished story reels, Disney executives decided the movie was too good to forego a wide release -- they weren't wrong. The sequel to the beloved 1995 animated hit arrived in theaters in 1999 and amassed a $487 million worldwide box office bonanza. Part of the sequel's charm was the addition of new toys like Cusack's Jessie doll, conjured by Lasseter following his wife's request for a female character with more dimension than Bo Peep. Though Jessie's backstory (which unravels while Sarah McLachlan channels her painfully depressing ASPCA commercial energy) is devastating, audiences were delighted Cusack saddled up and joined in.

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3 'School of Rock' (2003)

Director: Richard Linklater

Desperate for rent money after he's fired from his rock band, Dewey Finn (Jack Black) impersonates his roommate Ned Schneebly (Mike White) by posing as a substitute teacher at a local prep school. His dream of entering the "Battle of the Bands" competition is out of reach, but Dewey discovers musical talent among the young students he's pretending to teach. Despite lacking experience or instruction, Dewey empowers the youth through music while evading and concealing their educational divergence from Principal Rosalie "Roz" Mullins (Cusack). As the students become fully realized, confident musicians, seeds of possibility germinate, and personal growth blooms.

Written by the exceptionally talented White (also Ned Schneebly in the film), directed by legendary director Richard Linklater, and co-starring a necktie-clad Cusack, the movie was destined to become a classic. Critics and audiences loved it, and the box office totals quadrupled the original budget, which left the door open for a sequel (in 2023, Black stated a sequel was "in the works"). In the interim, School of Rock has become a hit Broadway musical and a television series. Cusack fans relished her performance as "Roz," the repressed rock and roll-loving headmaster who undergoes a metamorphosis. It's best experienced with the volume way up.

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2 'In and Out' (1997)

Director: Frank Oz

The movie opens as actor Cameron Drake (Matt Dillon) wins an Academy Award for portraying a gay soldier in To Serve and Protect. During Cameron's acceptance speech, he credits former English teacher Howard Brackett (Kevin Kline) as inspiration for the performance, unwittingly outing him on national television. Howard's fiancée Emily (Cusack), the woman patiently waiting to consummate their relationship after years of friendship and long walks, is furious, confused, and sad. The media is alerted to the small-town hysteria Drake's acceptance speech caused, prompting the arrival of a gay reporter, Peter Malloy (Tom Selleck), who challenges Howard to reveal his truth.

In and Out is rife with gay stereotypes; some heavy-handed, others riotously accurate, resulting in a funny, mainstream offering palatable for viewers circa 1997. The movie was critically and commercially successful; however, most of the accolades were directed towards Cusack, who received another Academy Award nomination for her performance as Emily. Her depiction of the heartbroken, starving bride-not-to-be was a scene-stealing triumph worthy of an Oscar (sadly, Cusack lost the award to Kim Basinger for L.A. Confidential). Audiences remember Emily, her wedding called off, sitting in her wedding gown at a bar when she is rebuffed again by a gay man and screams the line, "IS EVERYBODY GAY?!?" Some of Cusack's finest work.

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1 'The Addams Family Values' (1993)

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld

The Addams Family is back and is growing in numbers. Morticia (Anjelica Huston) gives birth to baby Pubert, and Fester (Christopher Lloyd) has a new love interest, the children's nanny, Debbie Jellinsky (Cusack). Debbie is hired so Morticia can resume her deviant delights to children Wednesday (Christina Ricci) and Pugsley's (Jimmy Workman) chagrin. The Addams' offspring are hip to Debbie's transparent ploy to marry Fester for his money and threaten to expose her. They are strategically sent to summer camp at Debbie's insistence and to their parents' horror. Meanwhile, Fester becomes further possessed by Debbie's seductive courtship and remains unfazed even after she attempts to murder him.

The sequel to The Addams Family garnered more favorable reviews than its predecessor, possibly attributed to the addition of comedic legends Carol Kane and Cusack to its cast. The existing Addams' members continued to deliver, embodying the classic characters' spirit and essence with the finesse of a seasoned pathologist. Throughout her career, Cusack has played a kaleidoscope of characters, but Debbie is the icon who birthed memes and cult reverence. The joy gifted to fans equals the force used when Debbie throws a radio into Fester's bubble bath. Cusack's entire body of work is worth consumption; these entries are the icing on a ridiculously rich, layered cake.

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Next: The 10 Best 'Quirky Best Friends' in Movies, Ranked