Born September 30, 1982 in New York, New York, Kieran Culkin is the son of former child actor Kit Culkin and Patricia Brentrup who never married despite having seven children: Shane (born 1976), Dakota (1978), Macauley (1980), Kieran, Quinn (1984), Christian (1987), and Rory (1989). Dakota passed away in 2008. The others are still alive.
Kieran and all six siblings have pursued acting but only Kieran, older brother Macauley, and younger brother Rory have had serious careers. Father Kit and mother Patricia split in the 1990s as Macauley’s career was taking off. Actress Bonnie Bedelia is Kit’s sister.
Both Macauley and Kieran made their film debuts in Chris Columbus’ 1990 film, Home Alone, which made him an overnight sensation. Kieran had the smaller part of Macauley’s cousin. Their second film was Columbus’ 1991 film, Only the Lonely in which they played John Candy’s nephews and Maureen O’Hara’s grandchildren. Later that year Kieran played Steve Martin and Diane Keaton’s son in Charles Shyer’s remake of Father of the Bride in the role Russ Tamblyn played in the 1950 original. In 1992 he reprised his role in Home Alone in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.
Following small roles in Nowhere to Run and My Summer Story, he reprised his role in Father of the Bride in 1995’s Father of the Bride II.
Kieran had his first lead role as a sensitive teenager who suffers from Morquio’s syndrome, which weakens his heart and stunts his growth in 1998’s The Mighty. Asked to tutor a fellow student who has dyslexia and towers above his classmates, the boys soon bond in one of the best reviewed films of the year.
Following The Mighty, Kieran had important roles in She’s All That, Music of the Heart, The Cider House Rules, and The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys. He had his first adult role in the acclaimed 2002 comedy-drama, Igby Goes Down for which he won a Satellite Award for Best Actor – Musical or Comedy as well as a Golden Globe nomination in the same category. The film also earned him several awards including a Critics Choice Award for Best Youth Performance.
Alternating between TV and film following the success of Igby Goes Down, Kieran has said “It’s easy to cash out and make a lot of bad movies. I’d rather be dirt-poor on the streets and have done good films.” He married wife Jazz Charlton in 2013. The couple has two children.
Kieran’s greatest success in recent years has been in the HBO series, Succession, for which he was nominated for an Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in 2020 and 2022 and Best Actor in 2023, winning for the latter. He was also nominated for a Golden Globe in support in 2019, 2020, and 2022, winning in lead in 2024.
In 2024, Kieran finally had another great role on screen in writer-director Jesse Eisenberg’s film, A Real Pain in which he and Eisenberg play cousins who tour modern day Poland in tribute to their late grandmother, a recently deceased holocaust survivor. For his performance, Culkin has won most of the year’s acting awards for Best Supporting Actor thus far. The poignant comedy has earned him his first Oscar nomination at 42.
ESSENTIAL FILMS
HOME ALONE (1990), directed by Chris Columbus
Both Kiernan and older brother Macauley Culkin made their film debuts in this hugely popular Christmas movie. Kieran’s part as Macaulay’s cousin was short, but nine-year-old Macauley was on screen for practically the entire film. Only allowed to work on-set five hours a day because of child labor laws. When he tired on-set, he would just lie down on the ground and sleep between takes. His stunt double was a very short 30-year-old man. Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern co-starred as the gangsters he outwits while John Heard and Catherine O’Hara played his parents. John Candy filmed his cameo in one day.
ONLY THE LONELY (1991), directed by Chris Columbus
John Candy had the film’s lead as a Chicago cop torn between loyalty to his domineering mother played by Maureen O’Hara in her first film in twenty years and Ally Sheedy as a shy funeral parlor worker. Candy and Sheedy are great, but the film belongs to O’Hara who was shockingly overlooked for a Best Supporting actress Oscar. Anthony Quinn in his sixth film with O’Hara plays her neighbor and potential paramour. Jim Balushi plays Candy’s partner. Kevin Dunn plays Candy’s brother whose two sons are played by Macauley and Kieran Culkin. This is the only film produced by John Hughes in which he didn’t write the screenplay.
THE MIGHTY (1998), directed by Peter Chelsom
Although Kieran Culkin and Eldon Henson have the majority of screen-time as the teenage heroes in the film, they are not listed in the top-billed cast which is given to Sharon Stone, followed in order by Gena Rowlands, Gillian Anderson, Harry Dean Stanton and then Culkin and Henson. A hit when it first came out, the film has kind of been forgotten coming from journeyman director Chelsom (Hear My Song, The Space Between Us) whereas had it been produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, this tearjerking comedy-drama might be revered with the same fondness accorded E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial.
IGBY GOES DOWN (2002), directed by Buzz Steers
Culkin’s first adult role gave him billing over Clare Danes, Jeff Goldblum, Amanda Peet, Ryan Phillipe, Bill Pullman, and Susan Sarandon which coincidentally in straight alphabetical order as well. Loosely based on J.D, Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, director Steers, making his film debut, was the nephew of author Gore Vidal who has a cameo in the film. Kieran’s brother Rory plays his character at 10. Critics were most impressed with Kieran’s performance and that of Susan Sarandon as his self-absorbed, schizophrenic mother, but Calie Danes as one of his girlfriends and Bill Pullman as his father also received strong praise.
A REAL PAIN (2024), directed by Jesse Eisenberg
Eisenberg’s lovely little film is a treasure worth waiting for. Both he and Kieran are perfectly cast as cousins reuniting for a tour of modern-day Poland aster the passing of their beloved grandmother who survived life in a concentration camp. The title refers to Kieran’s character who is both in real pain and a real pain himself at times. It’s a co-starring role rather than a true supporting one but no one minds that he is cleaning up all the supporting actor awards that are out there. He is the only acting nominee who is an odds-on favorite to win the Oscar in his category, an award that has been a long time in coming.
KIERAN CULKIN AND OSCAR
A Real Pain (2024) – nominated – Best Supporting Actor
