The Culkin family: who are Macaulay and Kieran's siblings?

When we hear the Culkin last name, the person that inevitably comes to mind is Macaulay Culkin. The New York actor became a mass phenomenon at just 10 years old. Years later, he lived a controversial and mediatic family drama, only to come out successfully and happily with a beautiful family of his own and a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

However, in the Culkin family, there's more than just Macaulay… What do we know about his parents and siblings?

The Culkin family began with the union —not marriage— of Christopher Cornelius Culkin, known as Kit Culkin, and Patricia Brentrup. Together, in a small New York apartment, raised their seven kids: five boys and two girls.

Kit Culkin was a frustrated stage actor —who even got to play with Laurence Olivier in the film 'Beckett'— and he ended up working as a sacristan in the local Catholic Church. In his childhood, as Macaulay explains, his dad was "cruel and violent" and jealous of him because "all he wanted to do in life, I did before turning 10." In his social media, the actor tends to remember his dad with little affection….

Their mother, Patricia Brentrup, worked as a telephone operator s and was the one who, after a hard legal battle and separating Kit, got custody of their children in 1997. In the picture we see her with one of Macaulay's brothers, Rory. (We'll read more about this star later!)

Macaulay is the third son of the family, but, as we have mentioned earlier, he is also the most famous one. He was born in New York in 1980, and after his studies in the St. Joseph’s Catholic School of Yorkville, entered the acting world at only 8 years old. His first roles were small parts in the 1988 movies 'Rocket Gibraltar' and 'See you in the morning', and the following year in 'Uncle Buck'.

At only 10 years old, Macaulay Culkin played Kevin McCallister in 'Home Alone' (1990), a Christmas family comedy —for many a cult film— that was a huge success and that would end up being a trilogy. For that role, Macaulay was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical and started accumulating a fortune that gave him the nickname 'Richie Rich'.

The success of 'Home Alone' brought him new roles really quickly. His most memorable ones were 'My Girl' where he played Thomas; and 'Richie Rich', where he got his nickname.

The huge amount of money Macaulay earned with his movies was the cause of serious conflicts with his parents. So much so, that the actor would end up taking his parents to court to stop them from controlling his fortune —calculated between 15 or 20 million dollars. Some tabloids even published that he had emancipated himself from his parents, but as he later confirmed, he had simply eliminated them from his trust fund.

When he shot 'Home Alone', the actor started a close friendship with Michael Jackson. We often saw Macaulay in Neverland and even participated in one of Jackson's music videos 'Black or White' (1991). They had such a strong relationship that the actor is the godfather of Michael Jackson's children: Paris, Prince, and Michael Jr. Culkin was one of the people who testified in Jackson's trial for child sexual abuse and became one of his defendants. As Macaulay told 'Esquire': "I never saw anything; he never did anything. "

Macaulay started having problems in his teenage years. After the legal battle against his parents to win control over his fortune, he entered a negative spiral that put him in the spotlight of the news media for his alleged drug abuse problem and his physical changes. He even was arrested in 2004 for marijuana possession and other substances, such as clonazepam pills.

The actor experienced an intense dating life. He had several partners and was married once in 1998. He and his bride were both 17. His marriage with the actress Rachel Miner ( picture) lasted two years. Then, he had a long relationship with the actress Mila Kunis and later, with the l actress, Brenda Song.

In recent years, Macaulay Culkin seems to have sorted his life out. His aspect has changed, he’s a social media influencer, and he has starred in new movies like 'Changeland' (2019), new TV shows like 'Dollface' and, more recently, ‘American Horror Story'.

LMacaulay is not the only actor in the family. All his siblings have flirted with acting and two of them are working as professional actors. That's Kieran Culkin's case. He was born in 1982 and also made an appearance in the 'Home Alone' movies. There, we saw him for the first time on screen.

Throughout his career, Kieran Culkin has surpassed Macaulay with fascinating roles. He has been in more than 20 TV and movie productions such as 'The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns' and 'The Cider House Rules' in 1999; 'Igby Goes Down' in 2002; or more recently in 'Scot Pilgrim vs. the World' in 2010, and 'Fargo' in 2015.

His biggest role for nowvis that of a spoiled and over-confident heir of the Roy media empire in the and in HBO hit series 'Succession' (2019-present).

Rory Culkin is the other actor in the family. He is one of the youngest siblings, born in 1989. Along with Macaulay, he was part of the movie 'Richie Rich' (1994). Before that, he did a photograph cameo in the movie 'The Good Son' (1993), which also starred his sister Quinn and his brother Macaulay.

Throughout the 2000s, Rory Culkin never stopped starring in movies. We can see him in 'Signs' (2002), 'The Chumscrubber' and 'Down in the Valley' (2005), 'Scream 4' (2011), 'Jack Goes Home' (2016), and in the series ‘Castle Rock’ —joining the cast in 2018.

Shane Culkin is the eldest sibling but also the least known among them. He was born in 1976 and, according to sites like IMBD, he appeared in the show 'Great Performances' in 1989 in which they televised theatrical plays. In his social media —not very curated — we can see some pictures of him, although there's not much relevant information.

Christian Culkin also dipped his feet in the acting world, starring in the 1994 movie 'My Summer Story'. However, since then, he hasn’t done anything related to acting. He now lives in New York and works as a contributing writer for 'The Waverly Press' and 'Lid Magazine'. In the picture, we can see him with his brother Kieran.

Like her brother Christian, Quinn Culkin, one of the girls of the family, also tried a career as an actress. She put her voice in the animated series 'Wish Kid' (1991) and appeared with her brothers Macaulay and Rory in the movie 'The Good Son' (1993). She also made a cameo in 'Home Alone' as a girl waiting at the airport when the McCallisters are leaving. Now, Quinn lives a private life away from acting and can be found on Facebook with her married name: Quinn Jonas. In the picture, we see her with her brother Kieran.

The other sister of the family was Dakota Culkin, the second oldest child. At 29 years old, her life abruptly ended when she was hit by a car. She was walking and accidentally tripped and fell on the road. She'd never tried acting and always stayed anonymous until her death. Macaulay remembered her on his Instagram account with this picture. It shows Quinn, Shane, and Macaulay.

But there was another sister, Jennifer Adamson, also known as Jennifer Culkin. She was the daughter of Kit Culkin but didn’t share the same mother as the rest of the siblings. Sadly, as it happened to Dakota, Jennifer also had a tragic ending, and in 2000 passed away following a drug overdose.

After them, the new Culkin generation is already here. In 2001, Macaulay and Brenda Song welcomed their first daughter, Dakota Song Culkin, named in honor of Macaulay's oldest sister. The other addition to the family is her cousin Kinsey Sioux, daughter of Kieran Culkin, and his wife, Jazz Charton, who was born in 2019.