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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Andrew Anthony

How Kieran Culkin came out of his brother’s shadow to become a mercurial, Bafta-nominated king of sarcasm

Absurdish sensibility … Kieran Culkin in New York last year.
Absurdish sensibility … Kieran Culkin in New York last year. Photograph: Jake Chessum/The Guardian

On Sunday evening, Kieran Culkin is up for the best supporting actor award at the Baftas. If he wins, he will probably give one of his startled, free-wheeling and characteristically funny speeches, though by now he may struggle to express surprise, given his extended run of triumphs at these events.

In 2024, he picked up a Golden Globe for best actor in a television drama series for his performance as Roman Roy in Jesse Armstrong’s Succession. Last month, he nabbed the Golden Globe for best supporting actor for his role as Benji Kaplan in Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain (he seems to respond well to direction from men called Jesse), which also landed him the four major American film critics awards, made him an odds-on favourite for an Oscar next month, and accounts for his Bafta nomination.

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