Some child stars spend their adult lives running from the role that made them. Macaulay Culkin found a better trick: he walked away, let the world go on watching Home Alone every December without him, and then came back when it suited him, on his own terms and mostly to make jokes. When we first wrote this page, in April 2023, he was 42. He turned 46 on August 26, 2026, and this has been the busiest year he has had in decades.
Age and early years: a New York kid on stage at four
Culkin was born on August 26, 1980, in New York City, the third of seven children. He started acting at four, on stage and in commercials, long before Hollywood found him. That early start explains a lot. By the time most people pick a career, he had already had one and quit it.
Home Alone: the role that never left
Then came Kevin McCallister. Home Alone (1990) and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) made him the most famous child on the planet, alongside Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Heard and Catherine O’Hara as Kate, the mother who forgot him twice.
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This year that role turned sad. O’Hara died on January 30, 2026, at 71. Culkin wrote on Instagram: “Mama. I thought we had time.” And: “I love you. I’ll see you later.” In September, at the 78th Emmy Awards, he stood with her Schitt’s Creek children Dan Levy and Annie Murphy before the In Memoriam segment. “She may have forgotten me, twice, but we will always remember her,” he said, and then: “She was my mom. She was our mom.” My read: it was the best thing anyone said on that stage all night, and it took a joke to get there.
Kevin himself may not be finished. In July 2026, Matt Belloni of Puck reported on his podcast The Town that Disney had met with Culkin about a new Home Alone film. Disney has not confirmed anything. Culkin’s own pitch, from the 2025 anniversary tour, is a grown-up Kevin as a single dad: “My son won’t let me in,” he said. “The house is some sort of metaphor for our relationship.” Hollywood has made sequels out of much worse ideas, and few out of better ones.
A love story: Macaulay Culkin and Brenda Song
Culkin and Brenda Song met in 2013 and became a couple in 2017, after making the film Changeland together. Their son Dakota was born on April 5, 2021, named after Culkin’s late sister. A second son, Carson, followed in 2022. The engagement became public in January 2022, and neither of them has announced a wedding since. (Some outlets now call her his wife; the couple has not said so, so we won’t either.)
He is not shy about her in public. At his Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony on December 1, 2023, with both boys in the crowd, he told her: “You’re my champion. You’re the only person happier for me today than I am.” Then the punchline: “And after the birth of our two boys, you’ve become one of my three favorite people.” On June 17, 2026, he marked nine years together on Instagram: “It’s amazing to think that 1 in 5 days I’ve been alive I have had the honor of waking up next to the love of my life.” I like a man who does the maths for a love note.
Family matters: the Culkin siblings
His siblings, in order: Shane, Dakota, Macaulay, Kieran, Quinn, Christian and Rory. Dakota died in 2008. Kieran and Rory act, and Kieran is now the one with the Oscar: he won Best Supporting Actor for A Real Pain in March 2025. Macaulay said he watched only that category. “I cried,” he told reporters at the Vanity Fair party. “He was front row, aisle, closest to the stairs. There was no way he was not going to win.” For years people asked Kieran about his famous brother. The question now goes the other way, and I suspect both of them enjoy that.
Beyond Hollywood, and back again
@culkamania Tomorrow @lizzobeeating joins me on the @bunnyearspodcast to discuss friendship, juice, and the Minnesota Vikings…
For a long stretch Culkin did things on purpose small. He sang in the comedy band The Pizza Underground (2013 to 2016) and launched the satirical site and podcast Bunny Ears in 2018. In 2021 he joined American Horror Story: Double Feature, and from there the jobs got bigger. He voiced Cattrick Lynxley in Disney’s Zootopia 2 (2025), with Song as his on-screen sister, and joined season two of Amazon’s Fallout in a recurring role.
On January 11, 2026, he presented Best Screenplay at the Golden Globes, his first Globes in 35 years. “I know it’s weird seeing me outside the holiday season,” he told the room. In August he signed with CAA. And yet: “Technically, I’m retired right now,” he said on SmartLess. “Every gig is my last.” It’s the most relaxed career plan in Hollywood, and so far it works.
The holiday season will see him again, anyway. His live show, a Home Alone screening followed by a moderated interview, plays Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney from November 24, then Cerritos, California, on December 13, 2026.
My take
In 2023 we called him a former child star who had stepped back from the limelight. In 2026 that is out of date. He has the family, the sense of humor, a new agency and a Disney meeting he can take or leave. He walked away from Kevin once, and now he is the one choosing when to come home. Follow him at @culkamania.
Sources
- Macaulay Culkin on Instagram: 46th birthday, August 2026
- Macaulay Culkin on Instagram (@culkamania)
- The Hollywood Reporter: Culkin, Levy and Murphy’s tribute to Catherine O’Hara at the 2026 Emmys
- Variety: Culkin’s Instagram tribute to Catherine O’Hara (Jan. 31, 2026)
- E! News: Culkin returns to the Golden Globes after 35 years (Jan. 2026)
- TODAY: Culkin’s Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony and speech (Dec. 2023)
- iHeart: Culkin’s ninth-anniversary Instagram post (June 2026)
- Rolling Stone: Culkin on Kieran Culkin’s Oscar win
- Consequence: Disney met with Culkin about a new Home Alone film (July 2026)
- Deadline: Macaulay Culkin signs with CAA (Aug. 2026)
- TheWrap: Culkin and Song join Zootopia 2
- TVLine: Culkin joins Fallout season 2
- A Nostalgic Night with Macaulay Culkin: 2026 tour dates
