Age, Biography and Wiki
Kieran Culkin (born September 30, 1982) is an American actor best known for his versatile performances in film, television, and theater. He is the younger brother of actor Macaulay Culkin, but has managed to carve out his own respected career, starting as a child actor in the early 1990s and rising to prominence with roles in acclaimed indie films and major TV series like Succession.
Culkin made his debut alongside his brother in Home Alone (1990), where he played Fuller, the bed-wetting cousin. He later appeared in Father of the Bride (1991), with notable performances in independent films such as Igby Goes Down (2002), for which he received a Golden Globe nomination. His career has been marked by consistency and critical acclaim, culminating in major award wins for his work in Succession and A Real Pain.
| Occupation | Voice Actors |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 30 September 1982 |
| Age | 42 Years |
| Birth Place | New York City, U.S. |
| Horoscope | Libra |
| Country | U.S |
Height, Weight & Measurements
- Height: Approximately 5'6" (168 cm)[Note: Wikipedia and major sources do not list official height, but consensus from media reports is 5'6".]
- Weight: Not publicly available
- Measurements: Not publicly available
| Height | 168 cm |
| Weight | |
| Body Measurements | |
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Dating & Relationship Status
Kieran Culkin is married to Jazz Charton, a former child model and actress. The couple began dating in 2012, engaged in 2017, and tied the knot in 2019. They have two children together. Culkin tends to keep his personal life relatively private, but his marriage and family life are well-documented by entertainment media.
He was the fourth of seven children born to Christopher "Kit" Culkin and Patricia Brentrup. His father is a former stage actor, and his mother, a native of North Dakota, worked as a road traffic controller in Sundance, Wyoming. Culkin was raised Roman Catholic with his six siblings: Shane (b. 1976), Dakota (1978–2008), Macaulay (b. 1980), Quinn (b. 1984), Christian (b. 1987), and Rory (b. 1989). He had a half-sister, Jennifer Adamson (1970–2000), from his father's previous relationship. Actress Bonnie Bedelia is his paternal aunt. Culkin has German, Irish, and Norwegian ancestry.
For the first nine years of his life, Culkin and his family lived in a railroad apartment in Yorkville and struggled financially. The tenement was "barely suitable for a couple," Culkin explained to Vanity Fair. "It was just a hallway, and there were no separating doors, except for the bathroom, which didn't have a lock. [His parents] raised seven kids in that apartment—for years! They just kept bringing babies home to this little space." Because his father served as a sacristan at the St. Joseph's Church of Yorkville, Culkin attended its Catholic school for free until the third grade. He then studied theater, film and television at the Professional Children's School, but dropped out during his senior year of high school.
Culkin was "loved unconditionally" by his mother, and considers her to be his only parent. He was neglected by his father throughout his childhood and only remembers him as being a "constant, unwelcome presence" in the household. Brentrup handled all of the children's necessities while balancing night shifts as a telephone operator for a theatrical casting agency. According to the family's longtime talent manager, Emily Gerson Saines, Brentrup maintained "strong family values, like the family having a meal together, the Christmas tree, Thanksgiving. These are all important things to [Brentrup], and she instilled that in her kids." After living together for more than twenty years, Culkin's parents separated in March 1995. Brentrup was awarded sole custody of five of their seven children following a two-year, highly publicized custody battle. Culkin maintained a "great" relationship with his mother, but has been estranged from his father since.
Culkin was raised as a performer and started acting at the age of two. Some of his earliest memories involve being led by his father's hand into Central Park and posing for headshots. His career began when a stage manager who worked for the Light Opera of Manhattan, an off-Broadway repertory theatre, heard the company needed some children for their productions. The manager relayed the message to Culkin's parents, who offered their children with no hesitation. Culkin started auditioning for roles with his older siblings when he was six years old. His first professional gig was through a television commercial based on learning disabilities; he was repeatedly berated by the unnamed director in a failed attempt to make him method act.
In 1991, Culkin had minor roles in the romantic comedies Only the Lonely, which received mixed reviews, and Father of the Bride, which earned positive reviews. He was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor Co-Starring in a Motion Picture for his performance in the latter. Culkin reprised his role as Fuller McCallister in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), the poorly received sequel to Home Alone. His later appearances in Nowhere to Run (1993), My Summer Story (1994), and Father of the Bride Part II (1995) also received negative-to-mixed reviews.
Set during the COVID-19 pandemic, Culkin reunited with the Father of the Bride cast for its legacy-sequel short film (2020). He played a supporting role in Steven Soderbergh's crime thriller No Sudden Move (2021), and hosted the November 6, 2021 episode of the variety series Saturday Night Live; marking thirty years since his brother Macaulay anchored. In 2022, Culkin narrated the documentary miniseries Gaming Wall Street and joined the adult animated sitcom Solar Opposites as a recurring character. He returned to his role as Wallace Wells for the anime series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (2023).
Culkin has a complicated relationship with celebrity culture, having been exposed to his brother Macaulay's fame at a young age. He mistrusted mainstream media outlets following the release of Home Alone because of how the press treated his family. During his parents' separation and subsequent custody battle in 1995, a 13-year-old Culkin delivered a handwritten note to the New York Supreme Court requesting to bar the media from entering the courtroom. His plea to "spare [his] family from any further embarrassment" was denied by a judge. As of 2023, Culkin refuses to speak to Access Hollywood and the New York Post due to their respective coverage of his family.
Journalists have written about Culkin's charismatic and "chaotic" personality. The Daily Telegraph 's Teo van den Broeke called him "Hollywood's most likeable rascal", while Charlotte Edwardes of The Guardian dubbed him a Manic Pixie Dream Guy. His awards acceptance speeches attracted significant media attention, especially pertaining to an in-joke with his wife about wanting more children. Culkin has also been labeled as a style icon, with his incorporation of accessories listed as his trademark feature. Fashion critics noticed his recurring motif of wearing an assortment of rings, nail polishes and friendship bracelets on his right arm, drawing comparisons to musicians Lenny Kravitz and Taylor Swift. In March 2023, Culkin starred in COS' spring–summer campaign and became a brand ambassador for Zegna. He also developed a creative partnership with Dior.
In 2005, Culkin briefly dated his After Ashley co-star Anna Paquin. He was in a relationship with his Paper Man co-star Emma Stone from 2009 to 2011. They remained good friends following their split and continued to work together on Movie 43 and A Real Pain. In 2012, Culkin met British advertising specialist Jazz Charton. They eloped on June 22, 2013, during a cross-country road trip in Iowa. The couple have two children together: a daughter born in September 2019, and a son born in August 2021. Culkin's Succession co-star Sarah Snook is the godmother to their son. The family resides in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
Culkin became friends with singer Michael Jackson around the time Home Alone was released. He frequently visited his residence, Neverland Ranch, with his siblings. During the 2003 television program Living with Michael Jackson, the singer defended his practice of inviting children into his bedroom by telling British journalist Martin Bashir that "many children," including Culkin, had slept in the same bed as him. The program triggered an investigation and Jackson was formally charged with seven counts of child molestation; he was later acquitted in a court of law in 2005. Culkin declined to speak about his relationship with Jackson in the wake of the documentary film Leaving Neverland (2019), due to its sensitive nature.
According to the review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, Culkin's most critically acclaimed films include Father of the Bride (1991), The Mighty (1998), The Cider House Rules (1999), The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002), Igby Goes Down (2002), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), Weiner-Dog (2016), Infinity Baby (2017), No Sudden Move (2021), and A Real Pain (2024).
| Parents | |
| Husband | Jazz Charton (m. June 22, 2013) |
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Net Worth and Salary
Kieran Culkin’s net worth in 2025 is estimated between $5 million and $15 million, depending on the source. Most publications agree that Culkin’s net worth falls between these figures, with some attributing his wealth primarily to his role in Succession, where he reportedly earned $100,000 per episode in the first two seasons and $350,000 per episode by Season 3. Across the series, this amounts to millions in salary alone.
- Net Worth (2025): $5–15 million
- Estimated Salary (Recent): Up to $350,000 per episode for Succession
Career, Business and Investments
Kieran Culkin’s career spans over three decades, beginning with Home Alone (1990). He gained wider recognition through independent films and critical darlings like Igby Goes Down (2002), for which he received a Golden Globe nomination. His role as Roman Roy in Succession brought him multiple awards, including a Golden Globe in 2025 and an Emmy.
Beyond acting, there is no public record of significant business ventures or investments. Culkin’s wealth is almost entirely derived from his acting career.
Culkin began his career as a child actor in off-Broadway theater productions. He made his feature film debut alongside his older brother, Macaulay, in the Christmas comedy Home Alone (1990). After achieving his breakthrough role as a sardonic teenager in the comedy-drama Igby Goes Down (2002), which earned him his first Golden Globe Award nomination, Culkin took a break from the screen due to personal conflicts. He returned to film six years later by playing Wallace Wells in the action comedy Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010). Culkin won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as a grief-stricken cousin in A Real Pain (2024).
On television, Culkin found a career resurgence with his portrayal of Roman Roy in the HBO drama series Succession (2018–2023), for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. His voice acting work includes roles in Solar Opposites (2022–present) and Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (2023). On stage, Culkin starred in the West End and Broadway productions of Kenneth Lonergan's This Is Our Youth. He also portrayed Richard Roma in the Broadway revival of David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross (2025).
Igby Goes Down was the first gig that profoundly impacted Culkin's personal life. He realized in the midst of the film's success that acting had become his career, which was "terrifying" because he was never granted the decision to pursue it. As he needed time to figure out whether he genuinely wanted to be an actor or not, he took a break from the film and television industries and only focused on the acting jobs that interested him the most.
Culkin mostly gravitated towards theatre during his hiatus, starting as a replacement for Jake Gyllenhaal in Kenneth Lonergan's West End production of This Is Our Youth (2002–2003) at the Garrick Theatre. The "dream play" was the second gig that deeply affected Culkin, as he spent eight years convincing Lonergan to let him play the co-lead role of Warren Straub. For Gina Gionfriddo's After Ashley (2005) at the Vineyard Theatre, he played a young man growing up in a dysfunctional family. The role won him an Obie Award for Distinguished Performance. In 2006, Culkin starred in Eric Bogosian's off-Broadway revival of SubUrbia, and made his on-Broadway debut by appearing in Julia Cho's one-act play First Tree in Antarctica. He reunited with Lonergan for The Starry Messenger (2009), a cosmic drama, at the Acorn Theatre. Culkin headlined multiple revival runs of This Is Our Youth as Dennis Ziegler for the Sydney Opera House, the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and the Cort Theatre.
Culkin's approach to acting is based on "bringing life to someone else, but also realizing that person is somewhere inside you." He is known for his "versatile and dynamic" performances, which often blends "impeccable" comedic timing with "surprising" depth and complexity. Alex Moreland of National World believed that Culkin's performance in the penultimate episode of Succession was the crowning moment of his career, "a remarkable achievement for the actor that stands head and shoulders above all the other remarkable achievements he's made so far on the show."
Social Network
Kieran Culkin is not known for having a prominent social media presence. As of 2025, he does not maintain verified public accounts on major platforms like Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, preferring to keep a low profile outside of his professional work.
Culkin alternated between lead roles in independent films and small parts in mainstream films as he entered adolescence. In 1996, he starred as a farm boy who overcomes his fear of animals in Bobby Roth's Amanda and was a guest caller on the fourth season of the television sitcom Frasier. He then starred as a boy suffering from Morquio syndrome in the coming-of-age film The Mighty (1998), which earned him a nomination for the Young Artist Award for Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film. Peter Chelsom, its director, was the first filmmaker that treated Culkin like a serious actor: "He talked to me like an adult. Before that, directors would just tell me what to do. I’d have no input. But [Chelsom] taught me how to study my lines and take them apart and how to dissect my character. I had no idea there was a real process to acting before that."
The 2024 Sundance Film Festival marked the release of Jesse Eisenberg's buddy comedy film A Real Pain, Culkin's first major project post-Succession. He played Benjamin "Benji" Kaplan, a free-spirited and mentally unstable drifter who travels to Poland with his cousin David (played by Eisenberg) to honor their late grandmother and connect with their Polish-Jewish heritage. Culkin's performance was highly praised by critics. Owen Gleiberman of Variety called it a "sensational piece of acting", while The Washington Post's Ty Burr found it "both liberating and touched by a deeper, more inarticulate sadness". Culkin earned several accolades for his work, including the Academy Award, the BAFTA Award, the Golden Globe Award, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Education
Details about Kieran Culkin’s formal education are not widely publicized. Like many child actors, his early years were spent focusing on his acting career rather than traditional schooling. He was homeschooled for part of his childhood, reflecting the demands of his schedule and the needs of his acting work.
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