Macaulay Culkin Biography
Summary
"Macaulay Carson Culkin" (born August 26 1980) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Kevin McCallister in "Home Alone" and the title character of "Richie Rich". At the height of his fame he was regarded as the most successful child actor since Shirley Temple.
Biography
Early life
Culkin was born in New York City, New York to Christopher 'Kit' Culkin and Patricia Brentup. He was the couple's third child of seven children and he has four brothers Shane (b. 1976), Kieran (b. 1982), Christian (b. 1987) and Rory (b. 1989), and two sisters Dakota (b. 1979) and Quinn Culkin (b. 1984). Culkin is the nephew of actress Bonnie Bedelia, who is the sister of Kit Culkin.
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. His father was also a former stage actor with a long career on Broadway. Culkin was raised a Catholic and attended a Catholic school (St. Josephs) before moving on to Professional Children's School.
Culkin began acting at the age of four, appearing in a stage production of "Bach Babies" at the New York Philharmonic. He continued appearing in roles on stage, television, and in films throughout the 1980s.
Notable parts in this period included an episode of the popular action series "The Equalizer" in which he played a kidnap victim. He also appeared in the movie "Uncle Buck" in which he probed the title character, played by John Candy, over his background on the basis that 'I'm a kid - that's my job.'
Career
Culkin's rise to fame was kick-started, thanks to his lead role as Kevin McCallister in the blockbuster film "Home Alone" (1990), where he was reunited with "Uncle Buck"s writer and director John Hughes. He reprised the role of Kevin in the 1992 sequel "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York", which was also a success. Around this time, Culkin struck a friendship with pop legend Michael Jackson, making an appearance in the "Black or White" music video. Culkin also starred in a Saturday morning cartoon, entitled "Wish Kid" and hosted "Saturday Night Live" in late 1991.
Despite the mega success of "Home Alone" and its sequel, other films Culkin acted in, such as "The Good Son" (which co-starred Elijah Wood and Culkin's sister, Quinn Culkin) and "My Girl" only did reasonably well, while "Getting Even with Dad","Junior","Richie Rich","Jack" and "The Pagemaster" were all blockbusters at the box office, Which provided Culkin with the bulk of his personal fortune.
in 1994 that Culkin starred in turned out to be Number ones in the box-office creating a Hollywood record which still stands today ,But he suddenly dropped out of acting. Many people believed that it was because of his becoming too old to play 'childish' roles, as was the popular stereotype about him at the time.
After a period of inactivity, Culkin returned to acting in 1998 with a Guest role in NBC sitcome "Friends" as well as a role in the play "Madame Melville", which was staged in London's West End (... more) . In the spring of 2003, he made a guest appearance on the NBC sitcom "Will & Grace". His role as Karen Walker's immature divorce lawyer won him favorable reviews.
Culkin headed back into motion pictures in 2003 with "Party Monster", where he played fallen party promoter Michael Alig. His role in the film received much publicity thanks to the real-life Alig's drug addiction. Though not a huge hit, "Party Monster" developed a cult following and helped to restart his career.
In 2004, Culkin starred in "Saved!", alongside Jena Malone, Mandy Moore and Eva Amurri. In the film, he played a student who uses a wheelchair in a conservative Christian high school. Though "Saved!" only had modest success at the box office, Culkin received many positive reviews for his role in the film.
Culkin also recently started a career in voice over, with his appearances on Seth Green's "Robot Chicken". In 2006, he published an experimental, semi-autobiographical novel, "Junior".
Culkin stars in "Sex and Breakfast", a dark comedy written and directed by Miles Brandman, according to "Variety". Alexis Dziena, Kuno Becker and Eliza Dushku also star in this story of a couple whose therapist recommends group sex to them. Shooting for the film, Culkin's first since "Saved!", took place in September of 2006 and it is slated for release some time in 2008.
Culkin was in the music video for Sunday directed by Harmony Korine, song by Sonic Youth. He has now been in three FOX films, a few Warner Bros. films and will in the future be in a movie called Sex and Breakfast.
Private life
When Culkin was 10 years old, his parents had a custody battle to determine who gets half of his earnings, causing a media outcry. His father had been Culkin's manager.
He was married to Rachel Miner from 1998-2000.
In 2004, Culkin was arrested, briefly jailed and arraigned in court in Oklahoma for possession of marijuana (17.3g), a municipal charge of possession of marijuana and possession of controlled substances - Xanax (16mg) and Clonazepam (32mg). His extensive trial (15 October, 2004 - 09 June, 2005) saw him initially plead not guilty but later reverse his plea to guilty. His lawyers reached a plea bargain with the state of Oklahoma and he received three 1-year suspended prison terms, a probationary drug treatment program and a $540 fine.
In 2005, Culkin testified on behalf of Michael Jackson's defense during the pop singer's child molestation trial. On CNNs Larry King, he said that he had never been molested by Jackson, and said that he felt that the charges against Jackson were outrageous.
He is the godfather of two of Michael Jackson's children, Prince Michael and Paris.
Culkin has Made Special apperrances on The Simpsons, Family Guy and South Park Playing himself and was Mentioned on King of the hill without making an apperance
Culkin has been dating actress Mila Kunis since 2002. It has been rumored since early 2006 that they are planning to be wed.
According to the DVD commentary of the "Family Guy" movie (during the third part in which Kunis was a commentator), Kunis claims that one of the reasons her boyfriend likes her is because of her role on "Family Guy"; Culkin is a big fan of the show.
Culkin was ranked # 1 in VH1's list of the '100 Greatest Kid Stars'.
Culkin is noted as an avid professional wrestling fan and can be seen at WWE pay-per-view WrestleMania VII as a spectator.
Filmography
"Rocket Gibraltar" (1988) - Cy Blue Black
"See You in the Morning" (1988) - Billy Livingstone
"Uncle Buck" (1989) - Miles Russell
"Jacob's Ladder" (1989) - Gabe Singer
"Home Alone" (1990) - Kevin McCallister
"Only the Lonely" (1991) - Billy Muldoon
"My Girl" (1991) - Thomas Jane Sennett
"Home Alone 2: Lost in New York" (1992) - Kevin McCallister
"The Good Son" (1993) - Henry Evans
"The Nutcracker" (1993) - The Nutcracker Prince
"Getting Even with Dad" (1994) - Timmy Gleason
"The Pagemaster" (1994) - Richard Tyler
"Richie Rich" (1995) - Richie Rich
"Party Monster" (2003) - Michael Alig
"Saved!" (2004) - Roland
"Jerusalemski Sindrom" (2004) - John McGaughran
"Sex and Breakfast" (2008)Pre Production - James
Note: It is unclear wheather or not he will reprise his role as Kevin McCallister in Home Alone 5: Son Of Kevin or if the role will go to Charlie Sheen
External links
(... more) BBC News report on drug charges
(Oklahoma Court case file report)
(Oklahoma police report file) at thesmokinggun.com
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Macaulay Culkin.
