Macaulay Culkin

Macaulay Carson Culkin is a former child star best known for his role as Kevin McCallister in Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

Culkin was born on August 26, 1980 in New York City to Patricia Brentrup and Christopher 'Kit' Culkin. Culkin has six siblings, of which brothers Rory and Kieran are also actors. Culkin is the nephew of actress Bonnie Bedelia, his father's sister.

Culkin started his acting at the age of four when he appeared in a stage production of Bach Babies at the New York Philharmonic. He followed up with a small role in the 1985 TV movie, The Midnight Hour. In 1988, he appeared in as a kidnap victim in an episode of the popular action TV series, The Equalizer. In 1989, he appeared in his first big role, as a precocious young boy in film director John Hughes' Uncle Buck, a comedy starring John Candy. His memorable role included a scene in which he grilled John Candy's character with questions and said that he did so because "I'm a kid - that's my job."

John Hughes was so impressed with Culkin's performance in Uncle Buck that he later wrote Home Alone with Culkin in mind. Culkin appeared in Home Alone in 1990 as Kevin McCallister, a boy accidentally left at home by himself during his family's Christmas vacation. Culkin's Home Alone role made him an internationally known box office movie star. After Home Alone became a major box office hit, Culkin's became the highest-paid child actor in movie history, reportedly commanding up to $10 million per movie.

Culkin formed a friendship with singer Michael Jackson around the time that Home Alone hit the theaters. Culkin reportedly stayed over at Jackson's weirdo Neverland Ranch and later appeared in Jackson's video for the hit song Black or White. There were also rumors that Jackson, an accused pedophile, molested Culkin around this time. Culkin, however, later publicly denied these rumors when he testified at Jackson's child molestation trial in 2005.
In 1992, Culkin again struck box office gold when he reprised the Kevin McAllister role in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. However, Culkin was unable to carry success from the Home Alone movies into other roles. During the mid-1990s, Culkin appeared in moderately successful flicks, such as The Good Son, My Girl and appeared in the flops Getting Even with Dad, Richie Rich, and The Pagemaster. In 1994, Culkin mysteriously stopped acting.

Culkin's home life also experienced some major turmoil when his parents divorced and had a custody battle over him when he was a mere 15 years of age. His family life spilled over into the tabloids, which generally portrayed his father, his manager at the time, as being some kind of nut or psychopath.

Culkin got married at the young age of 18 in 1998 to actress Rachel Miner. It's unclear as to whether Culkin married at such a young age to get away from his parents or to remove the psychological stains inflicted by possibly having been molested by Michael Jackson. Regardless of the reason, the marriage was not meant to last and Culkin divorced two years later, in 2000.

Culkin has recently attempted to return to acting, but has been unable to come even close to his previous level of success. He has appeared in the crappy movies Party Monster (2003) and Saved! (2004). He is scheduled to appear in the 2008 film, Sex and Breakfast, which was actually filmed in 2006 but the release of which has already been pushed back for two years, presumably because it is so bad.

Part of the reason for lack of recent success is probably because Culkin, like many former child stars, was a cute kid who grew into a not-so-cute adult. He has morphed into a somewhat goofy-looking and androgynous young man and often has a brooding look on his face.

Despite his current appearance, he has somehow managed to attract women. I assumed that Culkin was gay until I discovered that he is apparently dating Mila Kunis, an actress from That 70s Show. They have supposedly been dating since 2002. It's unclear whether she's a beard or if the relationship is legit.

Culkin's lack of recent success may have led him to turn to drugs to find solace. In 2004, Culkin was arrested for possession of marijuana and two dangerous controlled substances (Xanax and sleeping pills). Here is his mugshot:

Macaulay Culkin, once the brightest child star in Hollywood, has seen his career blow in flames and apparently occasionally turns to drugs to escape reality. For this and the other reasons discussed above, Macaulay Culkin is one washed up celebrity!