Kieran Culkin

Kieran Kyle Culkin (born September 30, 1982) is an American actor. Culkin starred as Roman Roy in the HBO television series Succession from 2018 to 2023, for which he won a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award.

He began his career as a child actor in Home Alone (1990), Father of the Bride (1991), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), The Mighty (1998), and The Cider House Rules (1999). He achieved a career breakthrough after starring in the film Igby Goes Down (2002), for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe. He appeared in the films Margaret (2011), Wiener-Dog (2016), and No Sudden Move (2021), and played Wallace Wells in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) and Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (2023). He made his Broadway debut in the 24 Hour Plays in 2006. He returned to Broadway in the 2014 revival of Kenneth Lonergan's play This Is Our Youth.

Early life
Kieran Kyle Culkin was born on September 30, 1982, in New York City to Christopher Cornelius "Kit" Culkin, a former Broadway stage actor, and Patricia Brentrup, a native of North Dakota who met Kit in 1974 while working as a road traffic controller in Sundance, Wyoming. The couple relocated to Kit's native New York City, and had seven children: Shane (b. 1976), Dakota (1978–2008), Macaulay (b. 1980), Kieran (b. 1982), Quinn (b. 1984), Christian (b. 1987), and Rory (b. 1989). He also had a paternal half-sister, Jennifer (b. 1970), who died in 2000. Culkin's paternal aunt is actress Bonnie Bedelia.

He spent his early life in the Yorkville neighborhood of Manhattan, where he resided with his parents and siblings. In his early childhood, the family struggled financially; his mother worked as a telephone operator, while his father served as a sacristan at a local Catholic church. In September 1995, Culkin's parents separated, and he has been estranged from his father since.

Career
Culkin's first film role was a small part alongside his brother Macaulay in Home Alone (1990), as cousin Fuller McCallister. He continued acting as a child and teenager, mainly working in comedies, including Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Father of the Bride (1991), and its sequel, Father of the Bride Part II (1995).

As a teenager, he alternated between lead roles in independent films and small parts in mainstream films. He appeared in the Academy Award-nominated film Music of the Heart (1999), played the title role in the film Igby Goes Down (2002), for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, and played the lead role in The Mighty (1998) as Kevin Dillon.

From 2018 to 2023, he was one of the ensemble main cast members in the HBO series Succession, portraying immature and entitled COO Roman Roy. In 2018, 2020, and 2021, he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film for performance on the show. Culkin's performance on the fourth season of the series received multiple accolades, which include the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama as well as the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, where he was nominated alongside his Succession castmates Jeremy Strong and Brian Cox.

Culkin acted in Jesse Eisenberg's film A Real Pain which premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The comedy-drama revolves around a two cousins reuniting after their grandmother's death and end up going on a Holocaust tour in Poland. Owen Gleiberman of Variety praised Culkin's performance writing, "He’s doing a sensational piece of acting as a compulsive wiseacre addicted to the ways of one-upmanship".

Personal life
Culkin married Jazz Charton on June 8, 2013. They have two children, a daughter born September 2019 and a son born August 2021.