Actor Kieran Culkin — whose career began in the “Home Alone” franchise in which he appeared as the younger cousin of his real life brother Macaulay Culkin — recently swept awards season with a Golden Globe, a New York Film Critics Circle award, a SAG award, and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in “A Real Pain.” He used his Oscars speech to remind his wife of their deal to have more children after he won.
“I love you, Jazz,” he said to his wife, Jazz Charton. “… I have to thank my wife Jazz for absolutely everything, for giving me my favorite people in the world. Please don’t play the music ’cause I wanna tell a really quick story about Jazz.”
He continued:
About a year ago, I was on the stage like this, and I very stupidly, publicly, said that I want a third kid from her because she said if I won the award … she would give me the kid. Turns out she said that ’cause she didn’t think I was gonna win….
After the show we’re walking through a parking lot… we’re trying to find her car … and she goes, ‘Oh, God, I did say that. I guess I owe you a third kid.’ And I turned to her and I said, ‘Really, I want four.’ And she turned me — I swear to God this happened. It was just over a year ago — she said, ‘I will give you four when you win an Oscar.’
I held my hand out, she shook it, and I have not brought it up once until just now. You remember that, honey? You do? Okay, then I just have this to say to you, Jazz, love of my life, ye of little faith. No pressure. I love you.
I’m really sorry I did this again. Let’s get cracking on those kids, whaddaya say? I love you.
The sweet speech was one of many in which Culkin has mentioned his love for his family and his desire for more children. The couple has two children currently, including five-year-old daughter Kinsey Sioux and three-year-old son Wilder Wolf.
In December, he told The New York Times of his family, “I took a shot at the most beautiful and charismatic person I’ve ever known, and she said yes to a date with me. Now I’m married to her, so I aimed pretty high there, and I ended up with my best friend and a great person. I have two beautiful kids, and I want to be the best dad ever, so I work really hard at that.”
It was in his January 2024 Emmys speech for his lead role in “Succession” that he thanked his mom for “giving me life” and also asked his wife for more children. “Thank you for sharing your life with me and giving me two amazing kids, Zissou and Wilder Wolf. I love you so many and so much. And Jazz, I want more. You said maybe if I win. I love you so much,” he told her with a smile.
Los Angeles, CA. March 2, 2025: Jazz Charton and Kieran Culkin on the red carpet at the 97th Academy Awards (Oscars) at the Dolby Theatre on March 2, 2025 in Los Angeles, CA. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
In 2023, he told Esquire that after his run in “Succession” ended, he didn’t want to have another job right away.
“I would like there to be nothing for a little while..,” he said. “I feel like what I’m supposed to do is be a stay-at-home dad. That’s where I feel like I’m the most me. And anything that takes me away from that is wrong.”
In fact, he nearly quit “A Real Pain” when the scheduling dates changed creating a gap in which he would be apart from his family for nearly a month.
“I was like, ‘I can’t be away from the family for that long,’ and I had a flip-out,” he told The New York Times.
His decision on whether or not to take on a project depends on his family life. “… I was in Warsaw and I asked for one less day of press so I could go home for a day. I was home for 32 hours — and I was sick the whole time, so the trip was pointless — but I just needed to be home and see the kids. The work is so I can be home, not so I can be at work,” he told The Times.
@varietymagazine Kieran Culkin reflects on how fatherhood has changed him. #ActorsOnActors ♬ original sound – Variety
“That’s why with this movie, I was like, ‘Why did I say yes to this? There’s no money here, I don’t see how this is going to benefit me or my family in any way.’ I don’t have the same mentality of when I was 26 and single, being like, ‘I’m going to Shreveport to do a movie for a few weeks, who cares?’ Now I have to go, ‘Where does it shoot and for how long? Can I bring the family? When, because are my kids going to be in school?’ All those things matter before I even start the conversation of will I do it or not.”
He added, “[T]he real stuff is me being home with my kids, when I’m reading them books and singing them songs until they go to sleep. That’s the whole point of life. The rest of it I’m doing so I can get back to that.”
In December, he told Variety magazine that when it comes to being a father, “nothing else matters.”
“When I look at my life before I had kids, I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, this was some guy who like, had hobbies and liked things. This isn’t a real person,'” he said. “… I’m a dad now, and that’s my only actual role in life is that, that’s real life, and all this is lovely, but I’m just trying to get home.”
