Kieran Culkin on being a child actor to starring in ‘Succession’ and hosting ‘SNL’

HBO’s dark comedy “Succession” continues to follow the super rich and deeply dysfunctional Roy family.

In the third season, the Roys are in danger of losing their grip on their media empire, Waystar Royco. As patriarch Logan Roy is forced to step out of the spotlight due to alleged criminal conduct, his youngest son Roman, played by Kieran Culkin, sees an opportunity to install himself in a leadership position.

Roman is somewhat feral and quite uncomfortable in his own skin. He’s definitely not a nice person, yet he has an emotional vulnerability, and of course a lacerating sense of humor.

Kieran Culkin comes from a show business family and started working on the stage and in movies as a kid. He had a small part in “Home Alone,” the movie that made his brother Macaulay famous, and he was in “Father of the Bride” and its sequel. As a teenager, he won critical praise and a golden globe nomination for his performance in the 2002 indie film “Igby Goes Down.”

Culkin tells KCRW about acting from an early age, facing his fears while fulfilling a dream as host of “Saturday Night Live,” and how he sometimes finds it hard to turn off that very edgy Roman Roy persona.