What is Joan Cusack up to these days?
—Robert Robinson, Sonoma, Calif.
Cusack, 49, isn’t seen as much as heard these days. The Chicago, Ill.-based actress has been doing a lot of voice-over work lately, lending her off-screen talent to animated projects including Toy Story 3, Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil, Mars Needs Moms, Hawaiian Vacation, Small Fry and Arthur Christmas.
But she also can be seen in the Showtime series Shameless, playing Sheila, an agoraphobic germophobe who is the main love interest for William H. Macy’s character, Frank.
The two-time Oscar nominee and sister to actor John Cusack says she was attracted to the character because “it surprises me how brave she is given her limitations. She loves deeply and tries. Those are things that are always inspiring.”
But it was also the fact that Shameless only films 12 episodes a year that helped sell her on taking the role. “I have kids, but they are older now—11 and 14—and I am in a little part of the show, so I could come out for a few days and go back and it is okay. It is three months of disruption, but mostly it is not disruptive at all. Then I get to work and bring home the energy of doing something great.”
