American actor Macaulay Culkin was widely popular for his iconic role as a child in the movie Home Alone.
Macaulay Culkin was only 10 years old when he starred in the hit film Home Alone as Kevin McCallister and became a Hollywood superstar. After this, he starred in the sequel Home Alone 2: Lost In Hollywood, years after the first film’s success. The actor had been on screen since the age of four.
Read more below about Macaulay Culkin’s role in one of the highest grossing movies of all time.
Acting From Childhood
Culkin was born in New York in 1980 to father Christopher Cornelius “Kit” Culkin, who had also been a Broadway actor, and mother Patricia Brentrup.
He went to a Catholic school along with his six siblings before attending Professional Children’s School, an institute tailored to children working in entertainment while managing school.
Culkin had been a child actor regularized with having an onscreen presence since he was just 4 years old.
The child actor first played in a theater production, in the New York Philharmonic’s rendition of Bach Babies.
Throughout the 1980s, he featured in many television shows and movies. He built up a stage presence at a very young age, playing roles such as Cy Blue Black in Rocket Gibraltar and Paul Gephardt in The Equalizer.
After gaining experience through playing various television and big-screen movie roles, he was asked to play the lead role of Kevin McCallister in Home Alone at the age of 10.
This would be his breakthrough role, as the film became an iconic movie in American history.
Starring in Home Alone
Director John Hughes had previously worked with Culkin on the movie Uncle Buck. Recognizing his talent, Hughes was quick to cast him on the commercial success.
The Christmas comedy film’s plot revolves around eight-year-old Kevin McCallister whose family accidentally leaves him at home when they go on Christmas vacation to Paris.
The young boy has to defend his home for two days from a pair of burglars named “Wet Bandits” who target vacant homes in the neighborhood.
While his parents are attempting to return home from Paris upon realizing that they’ve left their son behind, Kevin sets up various booby traps to deter the robbers in a funny sequence of events.
John Hughes, who wrote the script, explained how he coined the idea in a Time interview.
He said, “I was going away on vacation, and making a list of everything I didn’t want to forget. I thought, ‘well, I’d better not forget my kids.’ Then I thought, ‘what if I left my 10-year-old son at home?’”
The 20th Century Fox production grossed over $450 million, becoming the highest grossing live-action comedy at the time, but Culkin was only paid $110,000.
The film won two Golden Globe Awards as well as being nominated for an Academy Award.
Culkin was nominated for a Golden Globe award for his role in the movie.
He won the Young Artist Award for best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film, and the American Comedy Award.
After his huge success, Culkin was reportedly offered $4.5 million to work on the second home alone movie titled Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.
This was also a commercial hit, grossing over $350 million worldwide.
There was a third movie in the franchise titled Home Alone 3, but it did not include the original cast.
Subsequent Success
Culkin went on to capitalize off his success and feature in many films after the Home Alone franchise.
He starred in movies such as Richie Rich and The Pagemaster.
In 1994, Culkin took a break from acting till 1998 because he wanted the experience of living a normal life, telling Time magazine “I was just hoping to disappear.”
After this, he made a quiet return to the entertainment industry, and experimented with various endeavors including music and web content.