Kieran Culkin has won the best supporting actor Oscar in Hollywood for his work in A Real Pain.
Culkin, 42, was the favourite for the prize, having taken almost all of the equivalent awards in the run-up to the Oscars, including a Golden Globe, Bafta and Screen Actors Guild award.
Culkin plays Benji in Jesse Eisenberg’s comedy drama, the charismatic yet troubled cousin of Eisenberg’s David, who accompanies him on a tour of their Jewish heritage in Poland.
In a typically relaxed and irreverent acceptance speech, Culkin thanked Robert Downey Jr for presenting him with the award, and shouted out his Succession co-star, Jeremy Strong, saying he thought he was “fucking great” in The Apprentice.
He went on to thank his agent of 30 years, as well as Eisenberg, calling him “a genius”, as well as his mother and stepfather “for trying to raise me. You’re really good people and you gave it your best shot.”
He finished by recalling how, when accepting an Emmy last year, he said on the podium that his wife, Jazz Charton, had said she would give him a third child if he won.
On the way back to their car that night, said Culkin, she’d said that if he won an Oscar, she’d give him a fourth child. “I held my hand out and she shook it,” he continued, calling Charton “the love of my life … ye of little faith”.
“No pressure,” he concluded, “but let’s get cracking on those kids.”
In his five-star review of the A Real Pain, the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw praised the “superb comic moments which [Culkin] conjures from serious situations”.
Culkin, the brother of Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin, rose to fame as the star of quirky comedy Igby Goes Down more than 20 years ago. He gained international acclaim as the immature Roman Roy in the hit TV show Succession, for which he won numerous awards, including a Golden Globe, Emmy and Screen Actors Guild award.
The 97th Academy Awards are taking place in Hollywood.
Read more about the 2025 Oscars:
Anora takes home best picture Oscar
Adrien Brody and Mikey Madison win best acting prizes
Kieran Culkin and Zoe Saldaña win supporting awards
Anora’s Sean Baker wins for directing, editing and screenplay
