Kieran Culkin facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Kieran Culkin
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Culkin in 2024
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Kieran Kyle Culkin
September 30, 1982 New York City, U.S.
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| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1988–present |
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Works
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Full list |
| Spouse(s) |
Jazz Charton
(m. 2013) |
| Children | 2 |
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| Awards | Full list |
Kieran Kyle Culkin (born September 30, 1982) is an American actor. He is known for playing interesting characters in movies and TV shows. Kieran has won many important awards, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards.
Kieran started acting as a child in theater plays. He first appeared in a movie with his older brother, Macaulay Culkin, in the Christmas comedy Home Alone (1990). He also returned for the sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). Kieran had different roles in the Father of the Bride movies (1991–2020). His first main role was in the movie The Mighty (1998). He also appeared in popular films like She's All That and The Cider House Rules (both 1999). He played a clever but sarcastic teenager in Igby Goes Down (2002), which earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination.
After this, Kieran took a break from movies to think about his career. He started working with writer Kenneth Lonergan in 2002, acting in plays like This Is Our Youth in London and on Broadway. He also played Wallace Wells in the action comedy Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010). Kieran became very famous for his role as Roman Roy in the HBO drama series Succession (2018–2023). For this role, he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. He also won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the comedy film A Real Pain (2024).
Contents
Early Life and Family Background
Kieran Kyle Culkin was born on September 30, 1982, in Manhattan, New York City. He was the fourth of seven children. His father, Kit Culkin, was a former stage actor, and his mother, Patricia Brentrup, was from North Dakota. His parents met in 1974. Kieran was raised Catholic and has some Irish family roots.
He has six siblings: Shane (born 1976), Dakota (1978–2008), Macaulay Culkin (born 1980), Quinn (born 1984), Christian (born 1987), and Rory Culkin (born 1989). His half-sister, Jennifer Adamson (1970–2000), was also part of the family. The actress Bonnie Bedelia is his aunt.
For the first nine years of his life, Kieran and his family lived in a small apartment in Yorkville. It was a very small space for so many people. Kieran explained to Vanity Fair that it was "barely suitable for a couple." His parents raised seven kids in that tiny apartment for years. Because his father worked at St. Joseph's Church, Kieran went to its Catholic school for free until third grade. He later studied acting at the Professional Children's School but left before finishing.
Kieran felt "loved unconditionally" by his mother. He sees her as his main parent. He remembers his father as being distant during his childhood. His mother worked night shifts as a telephone operator to support the family. She made sure the family had meals together and celebrated holidays. Kieran's parents separated in March 1995. After a two-year court case, his mother was given full care of five of their seven children. Kieran has a great relationship with his mother but has not been close to his father since then.
Acting Career Highlights
Starting Out: 1988–1995
Kieran grew up around acting and started performing at age two. Some of his first memories are posing for photos for auditions. His career began when a neighbor, who worked for a theater company, said they needed children for a play. Kieran's parents were happy to offer their kids. He started auditioning with his older siblings when he was six. His first professional job was a TV commercial.
At age seven, Kieran made his first movie appearance as Fuller McCallister. He played the youngest cousin of Kevin McCallister (played by his brother Macaulay Culkin) in the Christmas comedy Home Alone (1990). He said he had "no idea" what the movie was about while filming. The filmmakers just told him to "Drink this Coke, wear the glasses, say the thing you memorized, look cute, and go home." Home Alone became a huge success and is now a classic Christmas movie.
In 1991, Kieran had small roles in the romantic comedies Only the Lonely and Father of the Bride. He was nominated for a Young Artist Award for his role in Father of the Bride. He played Fuller McCallister again in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). His later movies included Nowhere to Run (1993), My Summer Story (1994), and Father of the Bride Part II (1995).
Breakthrough with Igby Goes Down: 1996–2002
As Kieran grew older, he acted in both independent films and bigger mainstream movies. In 1996, he starred in Amanda and was a guest voice on the TV show Frasier. He was nominated for a Young Artist Award for his role in The Mighty (1998). In this film, he played a boy with a rare health condition.
The next year, Kieran appeared in Music of the Heart, a movie about a violinist. He also had supporting roles in the teen comedy She's All That, which made over $100 million, and the drama The Cider House Rules. In 2000, Kieran returned to the stage in an off-Broadway play called The Moment When.
Kieran had his first regular TV role in the short-lived sitcom Go Fish (2001). The next year, he appeared in two new director's films. These were The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys and Igby Goes Down. In Igby Goes Down, he played a rebellious and clever teenager named Jason "Igby" Slocumb Jr. Critics praised his performance in Igby Goes Down. For this role, Kieran won the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award.
Taking a Break and Theatre Work: 2003–2017
Igby Goes Down made Kieran realize that acting was becoming his career. This felt "terrifying" because he had never really decided to pursue it. He needed time to figure out if he truly wanted to be an actor. So, he took a break from movies and TV, focusing only on acting jobs that truly interested him.
During this break, Kieran mostly worked in theater. He started by replacing another actor in the play This Is Our Youth (2002–2003) in London. This play was very important to him. He spent eight years trying to convince the writer, Kenneth Lonergan, to let him play the role of Warren Straub. For the play After Ashley (2005), he played a young man dealing with his parents. This role won him an Obie Award. In 2006, Kieran acted in the play SubUrbia and made his Broadway debut in First Tree in Antarctica. He worked with Kenneth Lonergan again in The Starry Messenger (2009). Kieran also performed in several revivals of This Is Our Youth in different cities.
Kieran slowly returned to movies with Lymelife (2008), a teen comedy. His next movie was Paper Man (2009). In Edgar Wright's action comedy Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), Kieran played Wallace Wells, the main character's "cool gay roommate." Many people said he was one of the best parts of the movie. Kieran had a small role in the drama Margaret (2011). He then appeared in the comedies Movie 43 (2013) and Quitters (2015). On TV, he had a guest role in the crime drama series Fargo (2015). The next year, he was part of the cast of Wiener-Dog (2016). While filming the comedy Infinity Baby (2017), Kieran felt more comfortable with acting and decided it was what he wanted to do.
Succession and A Real Pain: 2018–Present
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From 2018 to 2023, Kieran Culkin became very well-known for his main role as Roman Roy in the HBO series Succession. Roman Roy is a media executive who is sometimes immature and irresponsible. Kieran says this series helped him decide that he truly wanted to be an actor. His acting in Succession, especially in the final season, received great praise. He won many awards for it, including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, the Golden Globe Award, and two Critics' Choice Television Awards.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kieran reunited with the Father of the Bride cast for a short film (2020). He played a supporting role in the crime thriller No Sudden Move (2021). He also hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live on November 6, 2021, thirty years after his brother Macaulay hosted. In 2022, Kieran narrated the documentary series Gaming Wall Street and joined the animated sitcom Solar Opposites as a main character. He returned to his role as Wallace Wells for the animated series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (2023).
In 2024, the film A Real Pain was released at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. This was Kieran's first big project after Succession. He played Benjamin "Benji" Kaplan, a free-spirited cousin who travels to Poland with his cousin David (played by Jesse Eisenberg). They go to honor their late grandmother and learn about their family history. Critics highly praised Kieran's performance. Owen Gleiberman of Variety called it "sensational acting." Kieran won several awards for his work, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role.
Kieran will next return to the stage in the Broadway play Glengarry Glen Ross.
Personal Life and Hobbies
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Kieran has a complex relationship with being famous. He saw his brother Macaulay become very famous at a young age. He did not trust news outlets after Home Alone because of how they treated his family. In 1995, when his parents were separating, 13-year-old Kieran wrote a note to the court. He asked for the media to be kept out of the courtroom to "spare [his] family from any further embarrassment." The judge did not agree. Even today, Kieran avoids speaking to certain news companies because of how they covered his family.
In 2012, Kieran met Jazz Charton, who works in advertising. They got married on June 22, 2013, while on a road trip in Iowa. The couple has two children: a daughter born in September 2019, and a son born in August 2021. Kieran's Succession co-star Sarah Snook is the godmother to their son. As of 2023, the family lives in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
Two of Kieran's biggest hobbies are playing old video games and watching professional wrestling. His She's All That co-star Freddie Prinze Jr. said Kieran knows everything about wrestling. Kieran has attended many WrestleMania events, which are big wrestling shows.
Acting Credits and Awards Summary
According to the website Rotten Tomatoes, some of Kieran Culkin's most praised films include Father of the Bride (1991), The Mighty (1998), The Cider House Rules (1999), The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002), Igby Goes Down (2002), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), Wiener-Dog (2016), Infinity Baby (2017), No Sudden Move (2021), and A Real Pain (2024).
Kieran won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in A Real Pain. He has also been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards for his work in Succession. He won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. He earned two Golden Globe Awards: one for Best Actor in a Television Series – Drama for Succession and another for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture for A Real Pain. His performance in A Real Pain also earned him the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role. He is one of only a few actors to win the "Big Four" film critics awards for a supporting role.
See also
In Spanish: Kieran Culkin para niños
