‘Succession’ Made Kieran Culkin Realize He Wanted to Be an Actor…29 Years After His First Role
Like many of his siblings, Kieran Culkin first rose to prominence as a child actor. Because he started so young, however, he didn’t make a conscious decision to be an actor. All that changed when he took a once-in-a-lifetime role on the HBO series Succession. Culkin explained that the part made him realize he wanted to be an actor, even though he’d already been acting for most of his life.
Kieran Culkin’s ‘Home Alone’ role came when he was 7 years old
Culkin’s first on-screen performance was minor. He played the Pepsi-guzzling cousin to brother Macauley Culkin’s character in Home Alone. While his role was minor, Culkin’s career flourished from there. He scored roles in Father of the Bride, Only the Lonely, and many more. By his 13th birthday, Culkin had appeared in seven films.
Still, Culkin says he managed to avoid the pitfalls of child stardom that he witnessed with his brother. Though Macauley Culkin was one of the most famous children in the world, his younger brother had a more normal childhood.
“I managed to avoid being a child star,” he told The Guardian. “I just did the thing and I was a kid. I went home, played video games.”
He loves acting in ‘Succession’
One factor that lends itself to the relative normalcy of Culkin’s childhood is that he didn’t consider himself an actor at first. His father pushed his children into show business early and without their input. Culkin’s father made his career choice for him.
While he worked steadily throughout his childhood and teenage years, Culkin stepped back from acting after one of his most acclaimed performances in 2002’s Igby Goes Down.
“I realized I’d been doing it for 14 years and I never once made the decision ‘Hey, I want to be an actor.’ So I flipped out and – you can check my IMDb – I didn’t work for years. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life,” he said.
There’s a six-year break between Igby Goes Down and Culkin’s next job in 2008’s Lymelife. Though he worked steadily over the next 10 years, he said he didn’t feel entirely comfortable acting until Succession.
“We were shooting last season when I came home one day and I said: ‘I think this is what I want to do.’ It took until I was 35 and I had been doing it for about 29 years for me to go, ‘Hey, I think I want to be an actor.’”
Kieran Culkin’s performance in ‘Succession’ is a fan-favorite
Succession viewers match Culkin’s enthusiasm for the role. The actor received several nominations for his performance as Roman Roy, including an Emmy and Golden Globes nod.
He also receives attention from viewers, who can’t turn away from his greasy character but feel no sympathy toward him.
“I’ve gotten weird things from people in the street,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “I think they hate my character. They obviously know that it’s fake so they want to be nice to me, but they can’t help themselves but call me an a——.”
