Macaulay Culkin

Macaulay Culkin was paid $100,000 for the film that made him the most famous child in the world. That was Home Alone in 1990, and the same list says his first paid role, in Uncle Buck a year earlier, brought $40,000 [8]. Thirty-six years later he is 46, an actor, a podcast publisher and a father of two [1] [3] [6].

Born into a big New York family

Macaulay Carson Culkin was born on 26 August 1980 in New York City, the third of seven children [1] [3]. His brother is the actor Kieran Culkin, who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for A Real Pain; Macaulay said he cried watching the win from the crowd [14]. One of his sisters died in 2008, and his first son was later named after her [5].

He did not grow up in an ordinary childhood. At four he performed in an Off-Broadway play, trained at Balanchine's School of American Ballet, and appeared in many television commercials [1]. His stage debut is listed as 1984, in Bach Babies at Symphony Space in Manhattan [3]. His father, Kit, managed his early career [1].

How he got his break

The screen debut came in 1988 in the drama Rocket Gibraltar, in which he acted opposite Burt Lancaster [3] [1]. The next year he appeared in John Hughes's comedy Uncle Buck, and that role made him Hollywood's favorite child actor [1] [3].

Home Alone (1990) was the highest-grossing film of its year [1]. Culkin played an eight-year-old left behind when his family flies to Paris [3]. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for best actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy; the Golden Globes site lists the nomination under 1991 [2]. FOX 11 reports that he lost to Gerard Depardieu [3].

Timeline of the child-star years

• 1984: first stage role, in Bach Babies at Symphony Space in Manhattan [3].
• 1988: screen debut in Rocket Gibraltar [3].
• 1989: Uncle Buck [1].
• 1990: Home Alone [1].
• 1991: My Girl, a performance Biography.com says earned praise [1]. He won an American Comedy Award as funniest actor in a motion picture (leading role) and hosted Saturday Night Live [3].
• 1992: Home Alone 2: Lost in New York [1].
• 1993 and 1994: The Good Son and Richie Rich both underperformed, and his popularity faded [1].

The money followed the films. The Evening Standard, in a December 2023 piece republished by Yahoo News Canada, lists reported pay of $1 million for My Girl, $4.5 million for Home Alone 2 and $8 million for Richie Rich [8]. Those are reported figures, not contracts we have seen. VH1 once ranked him second on its list of the 100 greatest kid stars, behind Gary Coleman [3].

Years away and the return

After Richie Rich he largely left the screen. Biography.com says he returned in Party Monster (2003), followed by Saved! (2004) and Sex and Breakfast (2007) [1]. In 2006 he published an autobiography, Junior [8].

He was a close friend of Michael Jackson, defended him at the 2005 trial, and is godfather to two of Jackson's children [1]. People searching for "Macaulay Culkin Michael Jackson" are usually after that friendship. We report only these two public facts and nothing more about it.

Later screen work included the series Kings (2009), The Jim Gaffigan Show (2015 to 2016), American Horror Story: Double Feature (2021) and The Righteous Gemstones (2022) [3]. He appeared in Changeland, which Biography.com dates to 2018 [1]. Outside acting, he fronted the comedy rock band The Pizza Underground, which he launched in 2013 [8] [1]. Sources disagree on the end date: Biography.com says it dissolved in 2016, FOX 11 gives 2013 to 2018 [1] [3]. In 2017 he founded Bunny Ears, a satirical pop culture website and podcast, where he is publisher and CEO [3].

Best-known work

Year	Title	Role
1988	Rocket Gibraltar	Screen debut, opposite Burt Lancaster [3]
1989	Uncle Buck	Miles Russell [15]
1990	Home Alone	Kevin McCallister [15]
1991	My Girl	Thomas J. Sennett [15]
1992	Home Alone 2: Lost in New York	Kevin McCallister [15]
1993	The Good Son	Henry Evans [15]
1994	Richie Rich	Richard "Richie" Rich Jr. [15]
2003	Party Monster	Michael Alig [15]
2004	Saved!	Roland [15]
2021	American Horror Story: Double Feature	TV series [3]
2022	The Righteous Gemstones	TV series [3]
2024	Fallout (season 2, casting announced)	Recurring role [11]

Awards and honours

The Golden Globes list one nomination and no wins: best actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy, for Home Alone, filed under 1991 [2]. He won the 1991 American Comedy Award for funniest actor in a motion picture (leading role) [3]. On 1 December 2023 he received the 2,765th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6353 Hollywood Boulevard, a ceremony that honoured about 40 years of acting [3]. Catherine O'Hara, who played his mother in Home Alone and its sequel, and Natasha Lyonne spoke [3].

Net worth

Celebrity Net Worth puts his wealth at about $18 million, a figure reported by the Evening Standard in December 2023 [8]. This is an outside estimate, not an audited number, and other sites quote very different totals, so treat it as a rough guide.

Relationships

Culkin is engaged to the actress Brenda Song and, as far as reliable outlets report, they are not married. Hello! wrote in April 2026 that they have not married but have discussed eloping [6]. Some low-quality websites claim a wedding; we did not find one in the sources we trust.

How they met is told in two versions. Hello! says they first met in 2014 at Seth Green's home and were reunited in 2017 for the film Changeland [6]. Entertainment Tonight says they met on the set of Changeland in Thailand [5]. On 17 June 2026 Culkin posted a tribute marking nine years since "my life changed forever" [7]. Entertainment Tonight reported the engagement in January 2022, and Hello! says he proposed over Christmas 2021 [5] [6].

They have two sons. Dakota was born in April 2021 and Carson in December 2022 [6] [4]. Dakota is named after Culkin's sister, who died in 2008 [5]. The boys made their first public appearance at their father's Walk of Fame ceremony in December 2023, where he thanked Song and called her "my champion" [4]. In late 2025 Culkin said he has not told his sons that he played Kevin: "I try to keep the magic alive" [12].

Earlier relationships are public record. He married the actress Rachel Miner in June 1998, and a separation was reported in August 2000, when his spokesman called it temporary [9]. He dated Mila Kunis from 2002, and their split was reported in January 2011; her representative called it amicable [10] [1].

What he is doing now

In November 2024 TVLine reported, citing Deadline, that Culkin joined season 2 of Amazon's Fallout in a recurring role [11]. In July 2026 reports said Disney wanted a new Home Alone film with him. Culkin, 45 at the time, answered in an Instagram comment: "Y'all are out of your mind. My favorite part of HA is when I'm watching it with my kiddos" [13]. At a 2025 anniversary screening he had told Variety he "kind of had this idea" for a new film, in which Kevin is a widowed or divorced father raising a son [13]. That was a remark about an idea, not an announced project, and the July 2026 report came from a podcast host, not from Disney [13].