Kieran Culkin Secures Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

Kieran Culkin triumphed at the Academy Awards, clinching the Best Supporting Actor title for his portrayal in “A Real Pain.” Culkin’s character, a descendant of a Holocaust survivor, embarks on a family journey to Poland in this dramatic comedy of manners. At 42, this marks Culkin’s first Oscar nomination, and he was widely predicted to secure the award. His performance as the uninhibited and emotionally flaky Benji Kaplan, alongside his high-strung cousin played by Jesse Eisenberg, swept this award season with victories at the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. “A Real Pain,” also vying for Best Original Screenplay, was penned and directed by Eisenberg, marking another significant nomination for the film.

In the race for Best Supporting Actor, Culkin faced competition from Yura Borisov in the contemporary rags-to-riches tale “Anora”; Edward Norton as Pete Seeger in the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown”; Guy Pearce, playing a manipulative architect’s patron in “The Brutalist”; and Jeremy Strong, Culkin’s co-star from “Succession,” who portrayed Donald J. Trump’s advisor Roy Cohn in “The Apprentice.”

In a delightful and laid-back acceptance speech aimed at his wife, Jazz Charton, Culkin humorously recalled a personal anecdote they hadn’t revisited in years—his promise to ask for a fourth child if he ever won an Oscar. “Let’s get cracking on those kids,” he joked. Additionally, he expressed gratitude to his manager, his team, and his co-star Jesse Eisenberg. “Thank you for this, baby,” Culkin remarked. “You’re a genius. I’d never say that to your face. Thank you for this movie.”