John Paul Cusack was born on June 28, 1966 in Evanston. He comes from a family of actors and by the age of 12, had already compiled an impressive resume of film and stage roles. Cusack graduated from Evanston Township High School in 1984 and spent one year at New York University before dropping out.  Acting alongside Rob Lowe and Andrew McCarthy, he made his feature film debut in the 1983 movie Class. This role opened the door for numerous other roles in teen films, such as Better Off Dead, The Sure Thing, One Crazy Summer and Sixteen Candles. One of his more notable roles came as Lloyd Dobler, the hopeless adolescent in Say Anything.

Following this role, he directed and produced shows for a theater group in Chicago and co-wrote and starred in the film Grosse Pointe Blank. Breaking from his typical role selection, Cusack starred as a federal agent alongside Nicholas Cage and John Malkovich in the 1997 film Con Air.

As a way of further broadening his roles, he starred as the quirky puppeteer in Being John Malkovich and as a lonesome record store dealer in High Fidelity. Since 2000, Cusack has starred in a variety of movies including The Raven, Hot Tub Time Machine, 2012 and The Butler.

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View his IMDb profile
John Cusack’s Biography

Figures released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics last week place Illinois number two among states where businesses are being created the fastest. The study found the number of business startups in Illinois increased nearly 5 percent in the fourth quarter, beat only by Massachusetts who saw a 5.6 percent increase.

According to researchers, high-quality research universities, a large concentration of college-educated workers, existing tech-based companies and access to venture capital are keys to fostering the kind of climate needed to nurture business innovation and growth.

Oregon, Delaware and Georgia trailed Illinois to round out the top five states nationwide in creating businesses.

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Illinois among top states in creating businesses – Crain’s Chicago
Make room for another tech firm in River North – Crain’s Chicago

Garfield Park Conservatory, located on Chicago’s West Side, is one of the largest greenhouse conservatories in the country. Construction began in 1906 after three smaller greenhouses in Humboldt, Douglas and Garfield parks were demolished to create “the largest publicly owned conservatory under one roof in the world.”

The 14-acre conservatory, which is owned and operated by the Chicago Park District, attracts more than 100,000 visitors every year and includes nearly 10,000 different species of plants, including 600 cacti and succulent species as well as 150 species of ferns.

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Garfield Park Conservatory
Garfield Park Conservatory to reopen in full on earth Day - Chicago Tribune

Frances McDormand was born on June 23, 1957 in Chicago. During her childhood, she moved around continuously with her family until they settled in Pennsylvania. While in Pennsylvania, she became interested in acting and graduated as the only theatre major of her year from Bethany College in West Virginia. After college, she entered Yale Drama School.

When she finished school, she moved to New York looking for work and in 1982, she traveled to Trinidad to perform in a play. This is where she made contacts with Joel and Ethan Coen, who were casting their debut horror film, Blood Simple. McDormand won the lead in the film, which received good reviews and jump-started her career.

McDormand has appeared in many different films and received numerous awards. She has a total of 3 Oscars’ for movies Mississippi Burning, Fargo, and Almost Famous.

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Frances McDormand on IMDb
Frances McDormand – NY Times Biography

Famed movie critic Roger Ebert was born in Urbana 73 years ago this week. Ebert first began writing for the Chicago Sun-Times in 1966, quickly gaining attention and notoriety for his work.

Ebert won a Pulitzer Prize in 1975, becoming the first film critic to win the award. That same year, he teamed with Chicago Tribune movie critic Gene Siskel on a new television show called Opening Soon at a Theater Near You. The show, which would run in various forms until 2010, was broadcast in over 175 television markets.

Even with declining health, Ebert continued writing movie reviews for the Sun-Times. He was the first film critic to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was honored by the Director’s Guild of America with an Honorary Life Member Award in 2009.

Learn more:
RogerEbert.com
Roger Ebert – IMDb Profile
Roger Ebert’s Biography