Macaulay Culkin

Macaulay Culkin, one of the most famous American child stars, was born
on August 26, 1980 in New York City, New York, USA, as the third of seven
children of his father
Kit Culkin (a former stage
and child actor and also Macaulay's former manager) and mother
Patricia Brentrup. He is the brother of Shane Culkin, Dakota Culkin, Kieran Culkin, Quinn Culkin, Christian Culkin, and Rory Culkin, most of whom have also acted. Macaulay's mother,
who is from North Dakota, is of German and Norwegian descent.
Macaulay's father, from Manhattan, has Irish, German, English,
Swiss-German, and French ancestry."Mack", as he's known to his close friends and family, first came into
showbiz at the age of 4, appearing in a string of Off-Broadway shows
such as the New York City Ballet's The Nutcracker and, by 8 years-old,
the films
Rocket Gibraltar (1988) and
See You in the Morning (1989),
which included him in the rare company of kids who have received rave
reviews from The New Yorker and The New York Times.By the age of 9, the young actor had nearly upstaged star
John Candy in
Uncle Buck (1989) (his deadpan
interrogation of Candy was Buck's funniest scene). Then, in 1990,
writer John Hughes turned his
finished Home Alone (1990) script over
to director Chris Columbus with a
suggestion to consider Culkin for the lead. Though Macaulay was the
first kid Columbus saw, he was skeptical about having him in the lead
and saw over 200 other possible actors and he admitted that no one came
as close to being as good as Culkin. By the callback interview, Mack
had memorized two scenes, and Columbus was sure he found his "Kevin
McCallister". The movie grossed more than $285 million in the US alone,
becoming one of the highest grossing movies of all time and making
Macaulay Culkin one of the biggest movie stars of the time.His next big project was My Girl (1991)
in which he played "Thomas J. Sennett", a boy who seems to be allergic
to everything. Despite some controversy over the ending, the film was
released anyway and proved to be another hit film for Mack (and
featured his very first kiss). In 1992 came
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992),
which grossed more than $172 million in the US alone. In 1993 came
The Good Son (1993), which was the
first role to depart from his cute kid comedies. He played a murderous
little demon named Henry. He got the role when his powerhouse
negotiator/manager/father Kit Culkin said that he would pull Mack out
of
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)
unless he was given the psychotic boy lead in
The Good Son (1993). He was also
given a salary of $5 million for the film.In 1994, at the age of 14, came a string of duds,
The Pagemaster (1994),
Getting Even with Dad (1994)
and Richie Rich (1994). He was paid
$8 million for the last two, the highest salary ever paid for a child
star. Many people believed Mack had lost his touch, though, because he
was no longer that cute tiny kid they saw in
Home Alone (1990). In 1995 his
parents, who were never married, separated and started a greedy legal
battle over the custody of their kids and Mack's fortune. In 1996, the
young actor had reportedly said he wouldn't accept any roles until his
parents settled their custody dispute. That case would not be resolved
until April 1997 when Kit Culkin relinquished control to Brentrup.In 1998, Macaulay married actress
Rachel Miner, but separated in 2000
because Rachel wanted to start a family and Mack wanted to get back
into acting. There has been a gap of eight years since 1994's
Richie Rich (1994), and although he
made a
'comeback' on stage in 2001, appearing in a London production of
"Madame Melville", and also portrayed
Michael Alig
in Party Monster (2003); with an
estimated fortune of $17 million he clearly never has to work again -
if the roles don't appeal to him.