Macaulay Carson Culkin (born August 26, 1980) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Kevin McCallister in Home Alone and the title character of Richie Rich. At the height of his fame he was regarded as the most successful child actor since Shirley Temple. He was ranked # 2 in both VH1 and E!'s list of the "100 Greatest Kid-Stars" and "50 Greatest Child Stars".

Culkin was born and raised in the Yorkville area of Manhattan, New York, the son of Patricia Brentrup and Kit Culkin, a former stage actor with a long career on Broadway. Culkin was the couple's third of seven children; he has four brothers: Shane (born 1976), Kieran (born 1982), Christian (born 1987) and Rory (born 1989), and two sisters: Dakota (1979-2008) and Quinn (born 1984). Culkin is the nephew of actress Bonnie Bedelia, who is his father's sister. During Culkin's early childhood, the family lived in a small apartment; his mother was a telephone operator and his father worked as a sacristan at a local Catholic church. Culkin was raised an Irish Catholic and attended a Catholic school (St. Joseph's School of Yorkville) before moving on to Professional Children's School. Culkin also studied ballet at the School of American Ballet.

Culkin began acting at the age of four, appearing in a stage production of Bach Babies at the New York Philharmonic. He continued appearing in roles on stage, television, and in films throughout the 1980s. Notable parts in this period included an episode of the popular action series The Equalizer in which he played the victim of a kidnapping. He also appeared in the movie Uncle Buck in which his character probed John Candy's title character over his background on the basis that "I'm a kid - that's my job".