John Paul Cusack is an American actor. Cusack began acting in films during the 1980s, starring in coming-of-age dramedies such as Sixteen Candles (1984), Better Off Dead (1985), The Sure Thing (1985), Stand by Me (1986), and Say Anything... (1989). He then started appearing in independent films such as Eight Men Out (1988), The Grifters (1990), True Colors (1991), and Money for Nothing (1993). Cusack began appearing as a leading man in such films as Bullets Over Broadway (1994), Con Air (1997), Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), The Thin Red Line (1998), Being John Malkovich (1999), High Fidelity (2000), America's Sweethearts (2001), Max (2002), and Runaway Jury (2003). He also starred in films such as The Ice Harvest (2005), The Contract (2006), 1408 (2007), War, Inc. (2008), Hot Tub Time Machine (2010), The Raven (2012), The Frozen Ground (2013), and Dragon Blade (2015).

Sixteen Candles is a 1984 American coming-of-age comedy film starring Molly Ringwald, Michael Schoeffling, and Anthony Michael Hall. Written and directed by John Hughes in his directorial debut, it was the first in a string of films Hughes would direct, centering on teenage life. The film received positive reviews from critics and was a box-office success, earning $23.6 million against a $6.5 million budget, and launched Ringwald to fame.