Actor John Cusack says he’s proud of his Irish roots. Really.

The Irish Independent asked the Illinois native about his background, and he replied that he always “felt” Irish. How so?

"Just Irish relatives and Irish s*** in Chicago. We knew all the poets and all the stuff. There's a big Irish community there,” he replied.

One might have expected a more nuanced answer from an actor who prides himself on making career choices based on what he wants as opposed to following the money trail! Actually, Cusack was granting interviews to promote his big new studio release “2012” which opens this weekend, and big things – i.e., the sound of ka-ching at the cash registers – are expected for this film, so we could be reading plenty more about Cusack in the days to come.

He’s been a frequent visitor to Ireland, and was there in the summer with members of his family to celebrate his mother’s birthday. They toured all over the country, from Kerry to Dublin to Galway and everywhere between.

"My family was in a van and we had a couple of bikes, so we had a little caravan going to different places in our family's past," he said.

Hopefully he didn’t encounter any s*** like he did in Chi Town growing up!