Kieran Culkin (born September 30, 1982, New York City, New York, U.S.) is an American actor known for portraying distasteful yet sympathetic characters, such as Igby Slocumb in the movie Igby Goes Down (2002) and Dennis Ziegler in the Broadway play This Is Our Youth (2014). The brother of famed child actor Macaulay Culkin, Kieran gained mainstream success playing Roman Roy on the hit HBO television series Succession (2018–23), for which he was nominated for multiple Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy awards, winning the Golden Globe for best performance by a male actor in a drama series in 2024.
Culkin grew up alongside his six siblings in the Yorkville neighborhood of Manhattan. His father, Christopher (“Kit”) Culkin, was a former Broadway stage actor who pushed his children to go into acting during their childhood. At the age of 8, Culkin had his film debut with a supporting role in Home Alone (1990) alongside his brother Macaulay, who starred in the massive box-office success. As a child, Kieran Culkin took on roles in comedies including Father of the Bride (1991) and Only the Lonely (1991), often alongside one or two of his siblings. The Culkin children achieved varying levels of success over the courses of their acting careers: Macaulay became one of the most famous child stars of all time after his iconic role in Home Alone, while brother Rory received praise for his supporting roles in Kenneth Lonergan’s You Can Count on Me (2000) and M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs (2002).
In 1995 Culkin’s parents separated, leading to a combative custody battle over their children. The court case, drawn out over the course of two years, was complicated by the fact that the two parents were comanagers of their children’s lucrative careers. The custody battle ended when Kit Culkin conceded, granting custody of the minors to their mother, Patricia Brentrup. Although Kieran Culkin said his experiences with his father were not as bad as those detailed by his brother Macaulay, who had described Kit Culkin as physically and mentally abusive, he did not see his father for 17 years after his parents’ separation.
Despite this personal turmoil, Culkin’s acting career continued apace, with appearances in films such as Music of the Heart (1999) and The Cider House Rules (1999). His breakout role came as Igby Slocumb, a rebellious high-school dropout, in Igby Goes Down. Culkin’s performance earned him much attention and praise, as well as a Golden Globe nomination for best actor in a musical or comedy. He then stepped away from the spotlight and took on a series of supporting roles, such as in the Off-Broadway play After Ashley (2005) and the critically praised films Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) and Margaret (2011).
In 2013 Culkin married Jazz Charton, with whom he would later have two children. The following year, he made his Broadway debut as the charismatic drug dealer Dennis Ziegler in This Is Our Youth. Culkin’s most significant role to date came when he joined the cast of Succession, an HBO television series about the Roy siblings, who scheme and maneuver to take over their father’s multimedia business empire. Succession quickly became a massive cultural touchstone, enjoying both popular and critical success. Among the most-praised aspects of the show were the nuanced performances of its cast, including Culkin as Roman Roy, a snarky, immature elitist whose abrasive behavior serves as a mask for the wounded psyche of a man dealing with decades of emotional and physical abuse by his father. This layered performance earned Culkin the best reviews of his career and resulted in Golden Globe (2019, 2020, and 2022) and Emmy (2020 and 2022) nominations for best supporting actor in a drama series and a 2023 Emmy nomination for outstanding lead actor in a drama. In 2024 Culkin won the Golden Globe for best performance by a male actor in a drama series.