Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#272
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Joan Cusack represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 42 years in, and Joan is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Joan Cusack appears in 31 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Joan. Toy Story 5 is the clearest case: a film rated 8.2 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for animation, family, comedy. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Andrew Stanton, Josh Cooley, Sergio Pablos and others, Joan Cusack helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
Toy Story 5 (2026) as Jessie (voice) · Klaus (2019) as Mrs. Krum (voice) · Toy Story 3 (2010) as Jessie (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #272 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
31
1984–2026
Career length
42 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.2
Toy Story 5
Average Nutevio score
6.6
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.2
Klaus
Most frequent director
Andrew Stanton
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Andrew Stanton
Most common genre
Comedy
27 titles
Average runtime
1h 32m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.1
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
6.8
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
2010s
7.2 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. Toy Story 4, Klaus, Instant Family — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
7.2
Across 11 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
7.1
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1980s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Say Anything..., Working Girl, Sixteen Candles.
Most productive era
2010s
11 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.82 films | 6.72 films | 6.44 films | 7.13 films | — |
| Action | — | — | 5.51 film | — | — |
| Thriller | — | 7.01 film | 5.51 film | — | — |
| Comedy | 6.83 films | 6.74 films | 6.39 films | 7.29 films | 7.82 films |
| Crime | — | 7.01 film | — | — | — |
| Romance | 6.83 films | 5.71 film | 6.45 films | — | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1984Sixteen Candles
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Geek Girl #1.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2026Toy Story 5
8.2 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer. Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
2026Toy Story: 30 Years and Beyond - A Special Edition of 20/20
The current state of the argument, as Self.
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
31 of 31 films
as Jessie (voice)
Directed by Andrew Stanton
as Jessie (voice)
Directed by Lee Unkrich
as Mrs. Krum (voice)
Directed by Sergio Pablos
as Jessie (voice)
Directed by John Lasseter
as Jessie (Voice)
Directed by Unknown
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
Showing 24 of 34 titles · 34 total credits · active 1984–2026
Toy Story 5
2026 · Jessie (voice)
Toy Story: 30 Years and Beyond - A Special Edition of 20/20
2026 · Self
Toy Story 4
2019 · Jessie (voice)
Klaus
2019 · Mrs. Krum (voice)
Instant Family
2018 · Mrs. Howard
Homecoming
2018 · TV · Francine Bunda
A Series of Unfortunate Events
2017 · TV · Justice Strauss
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
2016 · Tilly
Welcome to Me
2015 · Dawn Hurley
Toy Story That Time Forgot
2014 · Jessie (voice)
Toy Story of Terror!
2013 · Jessie (Voice)
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
2012 · Dr. Burton
Mars Needs Moms
2011 · Mom (voice)
Hawaiian Vacation
2011 · Jessie (voice)
Shameless
2011 · TV · Sheila Jackson
Toy Story 3
2010 · Jessie (voice)
Confessions of a Shopaholic
2009 · Jane Bloomwood
War, Inc.
2008 · Marsha Dillon
Friends with Money
2006 · Franny
Chicken Little
2005 · Abby Mallard (voice)
Raising Helen
2004 · Jenny Portman
The School of Rock
2003 · Rosalie Mullins
Looney Tunes: Back in Action
2003 · Mother
Max & Ruby
2002 · TV
The defining work
#1
Jessie (voice)
Toy Story 5 (2026)
Performance score8.4
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Jessie (voice) gives Joan Cusack a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Jessie (voice)
Toy Story 3 (2010)
Performance score8.3
Toy Story 3 asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Jessie (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Mrs. Krum (voice)
Klaus (2019)
Performance score8.1
Klaus asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Mrs. Krum (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Jessie (voice)
Toy Story 2 (1999)
Performance score8.1
Toy Story 2 asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Jessie (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Jessie (voice)
Start here. Toy Story 5 is the clearest statement of what Joan Cusack does — accessible, 100 minutes, and rated 8.2 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Joan at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
Toy Story 2 (1999)
Keeps the comedy register of Toy Story 5 but asks for a colder reading of it.
Toy Story 3 (2010)
Keeps the comedy register of Toy Story 2 but asks for a colder reading of it.
Toy Story of Terror! (2013)
Keeps the comedy register of Toy Story 3 but asks for a colder reading of it.
Klaus (2019)
Keeps the comedy register of Toy Story of Terror! but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Stephen Frears
Director
2 films together
Notably High Fidelity
Andrew Stanton
Director
2 films together
Notably Toy Story 5
John Hughes
Director
1 film together
Notably Sixteen Candles
Mike Nichols
Director
1 film together
Notably Working Girl
Cameron Crowe
Director
1 film together
Notably Say Anything...
Barry Sonnenfeld
Director
1 film together
Notably Addams Family Values
Chris Columbus
Director
1 film together
Notably Nine Months
Mark Pellington
Director
1 film together
Notably Arlington Road
John Lasseter
Director
1 film together
Notably Toy Story 2
Matt Williams
Director
1 film together
Notably Where the Heart Is
Joe Dante
Director
1 film together
Notably Looney Tunes: Back in Action
Richard Linklater
Director
1 film together
Notably The School of Rock
Garry Marshall
Director
1 film together
Notably Raising Helen
Mark Dindal
Director
1 film together
Notably Chicken Little
Nicole Holofcener
Director
1 film together
Notably Friends with Money
P.J. Hogan
Director
1 film together
Notably Confessions of a Shopaholic
Lee Unkrich
Director
1 film together
Notably Toy Story 3
Simon Wells
Director
1 film together
Notably Mars Needs Moms
Stephen Chbosky
Director
1 film together
Notably The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Steve Purcell
Director
1 film together
Notably Toy Story That Time Forgot
Shira Piven
Director
1 film together
Notably Welcome to Me
Jorma Taccone
Director
1 film together
Notably Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
Sergio Pablos
Director
1 film together
Notably Klaus
Josh Cooley
Director
1 film together
Notably Toy Story 4
Tom Hanks
Actor
1 film together
Notably Toy Story 5
Tim Allen
Actor
1 film together
Notably Toy Story 5
Greta Lee
Actor
1 film together
Notably Toy Story 5
Conan O'Brien
Actor
1 film together
Notably Toy Story 5
Craig Robinson
Actor
1 film together
Notably Toy Story 5
Shelby Rabara
Actor
1 film together
Notably Toy Story 5
Tony Hale
Actor
1 film together
Notably Toy Story 5
Scarlett Spears
Actor
1 film together
Notably Toy Story 5
Jay Hernandez
Actor
1 film together
Notably Toy Story 5
Lori Alan
Actor
1 film together
Notably Toy Story 5
Bonnie Hunt
Actor
1 film together
Notably Toy Story 5
Kristen Schaal
Actor
1 film together
Notably Toy Story 5
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Andrew Stanton
Director
2 films together · 7.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Toy Story 5Stephen Frears
Director
2 films together · 6.7 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
High FidelitySergio Pablos
Director
1 film together · 8.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
KlausLee Unkrich
Director
1 film together · 8.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Toy Story 3Stephen Chbosky
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Perks of Being a WallflowerJohn Lasseter
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Toy Story 2Josh Cooley
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Toy Story 4Richard Linklater
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The School of RockSteve Purcell
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Toy Story That Time ForgotMatt Williams
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Where the Heart IsMark Pellington
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Arlington RoadBarry Sonnenfeld
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Addams Family ValuesCameron Crowe
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Say Anything...John Hughes
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Sixteen CandlesJorma Taccone
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Popstar: Never Stop Never StoppingMike Nichols
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Working GirlP.J. Hogan
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Confessions of a ShopaholicJoe Dante
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Looney Tunes: Back in ActionGarry Marshall
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Raising HelenSimon Wells
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mars Needs MomsShira Piven
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Welcome to MeMark Dindal
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Chicken LittleChris Columbus
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Nine MonthsNicole Holofcener
Director
1 film together · 5.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Friends with MoneySix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Toy Story 5
as Jessie (voice)
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Toy Story 5
as Jessie (voice)
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Toy Story 3
as Jessie (voice)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Instant Family
as Mrs. Howard
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Toy Story 5
as Jessie (voice)
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Joan Cusack has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
| Nutevio Performer Score | 7.5 | 8.6 |
|---|---|---|
| Career ranking | #630 of 681 | #9 of 681 |
| Awards on file | Unknown | 3 recorded |
| Oscar wins | Unknown | 2 |
| Oscar nominations | Unknown | 6 |
| Average Nutevio score | 8.2 | 8.6 |
| Genres | Animation, Family, Comedy | Animation, Family, Comedy, Drama |
| Directors | Andrew Stanton | Andrew Stanton, Frank Darabont |
| Performance DNA | Emotional range, Comedy, Quiet performance | Emotional range, Quiet performance, Screen presence |
| Career timeline | 2026–2026 | 1999–2026 |
| Most iconic role | Jessie (voice) — Toy Story 5 | Paul Edgecomb — The Green Mile |
| Most rewatchable film | Toy Story 5 | The Green Mile |
| Filmography | 1 catalogue film | 2 catalogue films |
Films together
Toy Story 5
Shared directors
andrew-stanton
Shared collections
Animation Movies, Comedy Movies
Collaborators in common
Andrew Stanton · Tim Allen · Greta Lee · Conan O'Brien · Craig Robinson · Shelby Rabara · Tony Hale · Scarlett Spears
Tom Hanks edges ahead here — a higher floor across a comparable body of work.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
42 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Comedy Legend
Awarded
27 catalogue titles in comedy, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
Toy Story 5
as Jessie (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Arlington Road
as Cheryl Lang
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
High Fidelity
as Liz
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Arlington Road
as Cheryl Lang
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Klaus
as Mrs. Krum (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
War, Inc.
as Marsha Dillon
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
High Fidelity
as Liz
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Toy Story 5
as Jessie (voice)
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
Across the library
Every Nutevio collection this name turns up in, and how high they rank there.
Collection footprint
Appears in 2 Nutevio collections
Keep reading
From the magazine
If you like this performer
Tom Hanks
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Bonnie Hunt
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Morgan Freeman
Built a career in the same territory: action and crime
Jamie Harris
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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