Hollywood Walk of Fame star honoring Macaulay Culkin unveiled

A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was unveiled Friday honoring Macaulay Culkin for a 40-year acting career, highlighted by “Home Alone.”

Catherine O’Hara, who played the mother of Culkin’s character in “Home Alone” and its 1992 sequel, “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York,” and Natasha Lyonné, a castmate of Culkin’s in the 2003 biographical crime drama “Party Monster,” were among those joining Culkin at the ceremony at 6353 Hollywood Blvd., between Ivar Avenue and Cahuenga Boulevard.

Also in attendance was Culkin’s partner, Brenda Song, best known for her roles on the Disney Channel comedies “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody” and “The Suite Life on Deck.”

“Thanks for all your kind words and your stories and stuff,” Culkin said. “You know, you made my kids’ dad, their papa, look good. And the most important thing to me is also that their papa understands that he wasn’t always papa. He used to be a kid too, you know?”

O’Hara hailed her on-screen son from the “Home Alone” films.

“Macaulay, congratulations,” she said. “You so deserve your star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. And thank you for including me, your fake mom who left you home alone not once but twice, to share in this happy occasion. I’m so proud of you.”

The star is the 2,765th since the completion of the Walk of Fame in 1961 with the initial 1,558 stars.

Born Aug. 26, 1980, in New York City, Culkin began his stage career in 1984 when he was 4 years old in the play “Bach Babies” at Manhattan’s Symphony Space. He made his screen debut in the 1988 drama “Rocket Gibraltar,” playing one of seven grandchildren of a retired screenwriter portrayed by Burt Lancaster.

Culkin portrayed one of three children babysat by their uncle, played by John Candy, in the 1989 comedy “Uncle Buck” when their parents were away. The film was directed by John Hughes, who wrote the screenplay for “Home Alone” and was its producer.

Culkin’s portrayal of an 8-year-old boy whose parents forget to take him on their Christmas vacation to Paris brought him a Golden Globe nomination in 1990 for best performance by an actor in a motion picture, comedy or musical, losing out to Gérard Depardieu, who portrayed a Frenchman who marries a horticulturalist (Andie MacDowell) so he can remain in the United States in “Green Card.”

The other nominees were Richard Gere, “Pretty Woman”; Patrick Swayze, “Ghost”; and Johnny Depp, “Edward Scissorhands.”

Culkin won the 1991 American Comedy Award for funniest leading-role actor in a motion picture.

Culkin’s performances in his two “Home Alone” films, “My Girl,” “The Good Son” and “Richie Rich,” prompted VH1 to place him second on its list of the 100 Greatest Kid Stars behind Gary Coleman.

Culkin’s television credits including hosting “Saturday Night Live” in 1991 when he was 11 years old; five of the 13 episodes of the 2009 NBC serial drama “Kings”; eight episodes of the 2015-16 TV Land comedy “The Jim Gaffigan Show,” making eight cameo appearances as himself holding different low-income jobs and appearing on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”; five episodes of the 2021 FX horror anthology, “American Horror Story: Double Feature”; and two 2022 episodes of the HBO black comedy crime series “The Righteous Gemstones.”

Culkin was the frontman for the 2013-18 comedy rock band The Pizza Underground.

Culkin also has been the publisher and CEO of Bunny Ears, a satirical pop culture website and podcast since he founded it in 2017.

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