Kieran Culkin Misses His BAFTA Award Win Because He's in New York with a 'Family Member Who's Quite Sick'

Mar. 15, 2025

Kieran Culkin attends the New York premiere of ‘A Real Pain’ at Museum of Modern Art on Oct. 17, 2024 in New York City.Photo:John Lamparski/Getty

John Lamparski/Getty

Kieran Culkinhas picked up another award on his way to theOscars.

Winning this year’s supporting actorBritish Academy Film Awardprize for his work inA Real Pain, the actor, 42, missed the 78th annual BAFTAs ceremony on Sunday, Feb. 16 at London’s Royal Festival Hall due to a family illness.

Accepting the award on Culkin’s behalf at theDavid Tennant-hosted ceremony wasJesse Eisenberg, who directed, wrote and co-starred in the movie.

Jesse Eisenberg accepts the Supporting Actor Award, on behalf of Kieran Culkin for ‘A Real Pain’ on stage during the EE BAFTA Film Awards 2025 at The Royal Festival Hall on Feb. 16, 2025 in London.Stuart Wilson/BAFTA/Getty

Stuart Wilson/BAFTA/Getty

The filmmaker, who had previously won an award for best screenplay at the ceremony, said, “I know I just won an award, but this is also like the fifth award I’ve accepted on Kieran’s behalf… We have a similar life, but his is about 27% better than mine.”

Eisenberg added, “Kieran would love to be here. We spoke this morning. He’s in New York with a family member who’s quite sick, and he is so devoted as a family dad that he tried to drop out of my movie two weeks before we started shooting because he didn’t want to leave his kids.”

He continued to say of his costar, “He’s real, it’s beautiful and it’s admirable – his devotion to his family. He’s one of these lucky people who’s brilliantly talented, but who, for some random luck of the cosmos, has his priorities in order. So I’m so honored to accept this for him.”

Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg in ‘A Real Pain’.Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

In the running for BAFTA’s supporting film actor prize this year wereYura BorisovforAnora,Clarence MaclinforSing Sing,Edward NortonforA Complete Unknown,Guy PearceforThe BrutalistandJeremy StrongforThe Apprentice. All except Maclin are also nominated in the supporting actor category at the Academy Awards, to be held March 2.

Culkin’s win follows a streak that began witha winat this year’sGolden Globesand extended to the Feb. 7Critics Choice Awards. Hemissedthe latter due to rehearsing the revival of David Mamet’sGlengarry Glen Ross, in which he’ll star withBob Odenkirk, Michael McKean andBill Burr. Theproductionopens March 31 at NYC’s Palace Theatre.

InA Real Pain, Culkin and Eisenberg play cousins reconnecting on a tour through Poland to honor their family’s roots after their grandmother’s death.

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Yura Borisov in ‘Anora’.Neon

Neon

First-time BAFTA nominee Borisov, 32, a classically trained Moscow-born actor, plays henchman Igor in writer-directorSean Baker’sAnora. The indie filmmaker wrote the role for Borisov after seeing him in 2021’s award-winning Cannes Film Festival entryCompartment No. 6.

Clarence Maclin and Colman Domingo in ‘Sing Sing’.Dominic Leon/A24

Dominic Leon/A24

Maclin, 58, has earned critical praise for his supporting performance — as a version of himself — inSing Sing. The A24 drama starringColman Domingorecreates a real-life theater production fromRehabilitation Through the Artsthat took place at New York state’s Sing Sing Correctional Facility. The formerly incarcerated Maclin, an alum of the program, counts among his accolades his first BAFTA and Oscar nods as one of the movie’s adapted screenplay writers.

Edward Norton in ‘A Complete Unknown’.Searchlight Pictures

Searchlight Pictures

Pearce, 57, plays wealthy industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren in writer-director Brady Corbet’sThe Brutalist. The film, earning the Australian star his first BAFTA recognition, starsAdrien Brodyas László Tóth, a Hungarian-born Jewish architect who emigrates to the U.S. and begins working for Van Buren.

Guy Pearce in ‘The Brutalist’.A24

A24

Jeremy Strong and Sebastian Stan in ‘The Apprentice’.Pief Weyman, Courtesy of Briarcliff Entertainment, Rich Spirit

Pief Weyman, Courtesy of Briarcliff Entertainment, Rich Spirit

See PEOPLE’s full coverage of the 77thBritish Academy Film Awards, airing on BBC One in the UK and BritBox in North America.

source: people.com