Macaulay Culkin Biography

Macaulay Carson Culkin (born August 26, 1980) is an American actor and musician. He became famous as a child actor for his role as Kevin McCallister in the family comedy Home Alone (1990) and its sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). He is also known for his roles in Uncle Buck (1989), My Girl (1991), The Good Son (1993), The Pagemaster (1994), Richie Rich (1994), Party Monster (2003), and the music video for Michael Jackson's "Black or White". At the height of his fame, he was regarded as the most successful child actor since Shirley Temple. Culkin ranked at number two on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Kid-Stars" and E!'s list of the "50 Greatest Child Stars".

Early life

Culkin was born in New York City. His father, Christopher Cornelius "Kit" Culkin, is a former actor known for his productions on Broadway and is the brother of actress Bonnie Bedelia. His mother is Patricia Brentrup, who never married Culkin. He was raised Roman Catholic, and attended a Catholic school (St. Joseph's School of Yorkville) for five years before moving on to Professional Children's School. He also studied ballet at the School of American Ballet.

Culkin was the third of seven children, five boys and two girls: Shane (born 1976), Dakota (1979-2008), Kieran (born 1982), Quinn (born 1984), Christian (born 1987), and Rory (born 1989). During Culkin's early childhood, the family lived in a small apartment; his mother was a telephone operator and his father worked as a sacristan at a local Catholic church.

Career

Culkin began acting at the age of four. Early roles saw him appearing in a stage production of Bach Babies at the New York Philharmonic. He continued appearing in roles on stage, television, and films throughout the 1980s. Notable parts in this period included an episode of the popular action series The Equalizer, in which he played a kidnapping victim, and in the TV movie The Midnight Hour. In 1989, he starred in Uncle Buck with John Candy.

Culkin rose to international fame with his lead role as Kevin McCallister in the blockbuster film Home Alone (1990), where he was reunited with Uncle Buck writer and director John Hughes and Uncle Buck co-star John Candy. He reprised the role of Kevin in the 1992 sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Culkin also starred in a Saturday morning cartoon entitled Wish Kid and hosted Saturday Night Live in late 1991. Despite the huge success of Uncle Buck, Home Alone, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York and My Girl, other films Culkin acted in, such as The Good Son, only did reasonably well (although he was nominated for MTV Movie Award in the category for Best Villain for his performance in the film). Getting Even with Dad, The Pagemaster, and Richie Rich, all released in 1994, were only mildly successful at the box office. He also appeared in a filmed version of The Nutcracker as the title role in 1993, which was staged by Peter Martins from the 1954 George Balanchine New York City Ballet version of the work. He appeared in the 1998 music video for the song "Sunday" by the rock band Sonic Youth.

After several years of inactivity, Culkin returned to acting, in 2000, with a role in the play Madame Melville, which was staged in London's West End. In the spring of 2003, he made a guest appearance on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace. His role as Karen Walker's deceptively immature divorce lawyer won him favorable reviews. Culkin headed back into motion pictures in 2003 with Party Monster, in which he played a role very different from those he was known for, that of party promoter Michael Alig, a drug user and murderer. He quickly followed that with a supporting part in Saved!, as a cynical wheelchair-bound, non-Christian student in a conservative Christian high school. Though Saved! only had modest success at the box office, Culkin received positive reviews for his role in the film and its implications for a career as an adult actor. Culkin began doing voice-over work, with appearances in Seth Green's Robot Chicken. In 2006, he published an experimental, semi-autobiographical novel, Junior, which featured details about Culkin's stardom and his shaky relationship with his father. Culkin starred in Sex and Breakfast, a dark comedy written and directed by Miles Brandman. Alexis Dziena, Kuno Becker and Eliza Dushku also star in this story of a couple whose therapist recommends they engage in group sex. Shooting for the film, Culkin's first since Saved!, took place in September 2006. The film opened in Los Angeles on November 30, 2007 and was released on DVD on January 22, 2008 by First Look Pictures. Culkin's next project was a role in the thirteen-episode NBC television series Kings as Andrew Cross.

In 2009, Culkin appeared in a UK-based commercial for Aviva Insurance (formerly Norwich Union) to help promote their company's rebranding. Culkin stared into the camera stating, "Remember me." On August 17, 2009, Culkin made a brief cameo appearance on WWE Raw at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri, following a "falls count anywhere" match between Hornswoggle and Chavo Guerrero, in which Guerrero was defeated by the classic Home Alone gag of rigging a swinging paint can to hit him upon opening a door. Culkin appeared in the doorway and said, "That's not funny." In February 2010, Culkin appeared in an episode of Poppy de Villeneuve's online series for The New York Times, The Park. On March 7 of the same year, he appeared alongside actors Matthew Broderick, Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Anthony Michael Hall, and Jon Cryer in a tribute to the late John Hughes. In April 2011, Culkin was featured in musician Adam Green's experimental film "The Wrong Ferarri", which was entirely shot on an iPhone. In the same month, he also appeared in the music video for Stamp Your Name On It performed by Green's former bandmate Jack Dishel/Only Son. In September 2012, he appeared in a video on YouTube explaining how he turned his apartment in New York into a painting workshop.

The Pizza Underground

See The Pizza Underground for more information

In December 2013, a viral video of Culkin eating a cheese pizza was uploaded to YouTube. He was parodying Andy Warhol consuming a Burger King Whopper in Jrgen Leth's documentary 66 Scenes from America. Culkin was promoting the debut of his New York-based, pizza-themed comedy rock band the Pizza Underground. Their tour began in Brooklyn on January 24, 2014. In late May 2014, Culkin stormed off stage at Rock City during his kazoo solo after fans began booing and throwing pints of beer at the band. They subsequently cancelled the remaining U.K. shows, though they claimed the cancellation had nothing to do with the Rock City performance.

Personal life

Relationships

Culkin stated in a May 27, 2004, interview on Larry King Live that he tends to refrain from disclosing aspects of his personal life, though he discussed his life as a child actor, the conflict in his family life (including his estrangement from his father), and how he retired from acting at age 14. Culkin married actress Rachel Miner in 1998, but the couple separated in 2000 and divorced in 2002.

Culkin began dating actress Mila Kunis in May 2002. By 2006, he was residing in New York, and Kunis was in Los Angeles. On January 3, 2011, Kunis's publicist confirmed reports that Culkin and Kunis had ended their relationship several months previously, saying, "The split was amicable, and they remain close friends."

Culkin has been dating former All My Children actress Jordan Lane Price since November 2013.

Legal issues

On September 17, 2004, Culkin was arrested in Oklahoma City for the possession of of marijuana and two controlled substances, of Alprazolam and of Clonazepam, for which he was briefly jailed, then released on a $4,000 bail. After being arraigned in court for misdemeanor drug offenses, he pleaded not guilty at the trial (October 15, 2004, to June 9, 2005), then later reversed the plea to guilty. He received three one-year suspended prison sentences and was ordered to pay $540 in fees.

Friendship with Michael Jackson

Around the time of the first Home Alone movie, Culkin became close friends with pop singer Michael Jackson, making an appearance in Jackson's "Black or White" music video. After sexual abuse allegations involving Michael Jackson, Culkin spoke at Jackson's trial, and reported he had slept in Jackson's bedroom on countless occasions but also stated that Jackson's bedroom was arranged over two stories and that Jackson had never sexually molested him or touched him in improper ways. Culkin referred to the allegations as "absolutely ridiculous". Culkin attended Jackson's burial on September 3, 2009.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Rocket Gibraltar	Cy Blue Black
1989	See You in the Morning	Billy Livingstone
1989	Uncle Buck	Miles Russell
1990	Jacob's Ladder	Gabe Singer	Uncredited
1990	Home Alone	Kevin McCallister	American Comedy Award for Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Emerging Actor Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1991	Only the Lonely	Billy Muldoon
1991	My Girl	Thomas J. Sennett	MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss Nominated - MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo
1992	Home Alone 2: Lost in New York	Kevin McCallister
1993	Dangerous: The Short Films	Himself	Seen in Black or White
1993	The Good Son	Henry Evans	Nominated - MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
1993	The Nutcracker	The Nutcracker Prince
1994	Getting Even with Dad	Timmy Gleason	Nominated - Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor Nominated - Stinkers Bad Movie Awards for Worst Actor
1994	The Pagemaster	Richard Tyler	Nominated - Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor Nominated - Stinkers Bad Movie Awards for Worst Actor
1994	Richie Rich	Richard "Richie" Rich Jr.	Nominated - Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor Nominated - Stinkers Bad Movie Awards for Worst Actor
2003	Party Monster	Michael Alig
2004	Saved!	Roland
2007	Sex and Breakfast	James Fitz
2011	The Wrong Ferarri	Himself
2015	Adam Green's Aladdin	Ralph
2016	Zoolander No. 2	Himself	Cameo

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	The Midnight Hour	Halloween Kid	TV movie
1988	The Equalizer	Paul Gephardt	Episode: "Something Green"
1991	Wish Kid	Nicholas McClary	Voice
1991	Saturday Night Live	Host	Episode: "Macaulay Culkin/Tin Machine"
1994	Frasier	Elliot	Voice Episode: "Seat of Power"
2003	Will & Grace	Jason "JT" Towne	Episode: "May Divorce Be with You"
2004	Foster Hall	Clark Hall	TV movie
2009	Kings	Andrew Cross	Episodes: "Judgment Day" "The Sabbath Queen" "Pilgrimage" "The New King: Part One" "The New King: Part Two"
2005-2010	Robot Chicken	Bastian Bux Kevin McCallister Billy Kid (voice)	Episodes: "Junk in the Trunk" "Badunkadunk" "That Hurts Me" "Dragon Nuts" "Robot Chicken's DP Christmas Special"
2015	The Jim Gaffigan Show	Himself	Episodes: "Super Great Daddy Day" "Go Shorty, It's Your Birthday" "My Friend the Priest"