Moment Succession star Kieran Culkin knew he wanted to be an actor

Kieran Culkin has been acting since he was a six years-old - but it was on the set of Succession he realised what he wanted to do with his life.

It took Kieran Culkin three decades in front of the camera to decide he liked being an actor.

The problem now for the 40-year-old is that the role that changed his mind – playing the cocky and blunt Roman Roy on award-winning TV drama Succession – is coming to an end.

The fourth and final season following the dysfunctional Roy family media empire premieres on Monday, with fans salivating about how the story will end and Culkin contemplating whether any other show will make him as happy.

The brother of fellow child star Macauley, Culkin’s first role was in Home Alone.

“I had been acting since I was six but it wasn’t really a choice,” Culkin says.

“I mean, I asked – I said ‘Hey, I want to be an actor – but I was f***ing six, what did I know? I was just doing it and then suddenly found myself with a career.”

Kieran Culkin, stars as Roman Roy on award-winning TV drama Succession. Supplied

Culkin quit acting for several years after a breakout performance in 2002 movie Igby Goes Down, and says he only began to enjoy his job when Succession started shooting.

“I was like, I’ve got it, I know I’m kind of late to this, I’m 36 or whatever and I’ve been doing this for like 30 years, but I think I want to be an actor,” he says.

In an interview, Culkin is both deeply contemplative and savagely funny, offering a glimpse of what has made the youngest Roy sibling one of Succession’s most intriguing characters.

Asked if he shares any characteristics with Roman, Culkin says dryly: “Height, weight, hair colour.”

Kieran Culkin and Sarah Snook as Roman and Shiv Roy.

But he adds that he always seeks out characters he has “connected to something in myself or my life”.

“There are aspects of my personality in (Roman) that are sort of turned up or whatever, but I do feel like we’re not thankfully at all the same,” he says.

“Sometimes people can confuse that.”

As a new parent – Culkin’s son and daughter have arrived since Succession started in 2018 – he firmly believes the Roy parents are to blame for the shortcomings of their children.

“They weren’t really properly raised … so if they’re not doing all that well in the world, even with all their money and all the privileges that they have, then I would put quite a lot of weight into that being on the parents,” Culkin said.

Kieran Culkin and Jazz Charton attend the HBO's "Succession" Season 4 Premiere. Picture: Getty

“Logan prioritised his business over his relationship with his kids, and look how that worked out. That is not me. I will be home with my kids instead of trying to make bucks … That said, I’d take the bucks.”

Scottish actor Brian Cox (who plays Logan) disagrees, saying the grumpy media mogul is “on a hiding to nothing with his children” who refuse to “take responsibility for who they are”.

Culkin also disputes Cox’s claim that he “felt nothing” when he filmed his final scene.

“He’s full of s*** … On the inside, he was holding in all them tears to get them out later, except they would probably come out in little fits of diabetic anger,” he laughs.

He says it was a “punch in the gut” when onscreen sibling Sarah Snook – the Australian actor who crashes his interview to mock him – said they would never be cast together again.

“She’s the most wonderful person that I know, and she’s also the most wonderful scene partner. That’s probably the hardest part that’s taken away from me,” he says.

“Everything else doesn’t feel real yet.”

The cast of Succession.

As the final season plays out on Binge and Foxtel, Culkin is slated to start on a new production in Poland.

“I’m worried that when I work on something else, the process is going to be completely different, I’m not going satisfied, and I’m going to be like, I don’t want to be a f***ing actor – I want to work on Succession,” he says.

Succession Season 4 will be available on Binge and Foxtel from Monday, March 27.

Originally published as Moment Succession star Kieran Culkin knew he wanted to be an actor