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Macaulay Culkin Returns to Golden Globes for First Time in 35 Years

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Inside the 2026 Golden Globes Gift Bags Worth Nearly $1 Million

Macaulay Culkin is home and not alone at the 2026 Golden Globes.

The Home Alone alum—who was joined by wife Brenda Song—was touched by the warm reception he received during the Jan. 11 award ceremony hosted by Nikki Glaser at the Beverly Hilton where he was presenting the award for Best Screenplay, Motion Picture.

“Wow, thanks guys,” Macaulay said to the crowd as he entered to thunderous applause. “It’s been 35 years since I’ve been to the Globes. Thanks for welcoming me back, that’s really nice of you guys.”

“I know it’s weird seeing me outside the holiday season,” the 45-year-old joked, “but shockingly I do exist all year round, I promise you.”

And as the former child actor explained, it made “a lot of sense” for him to be presenting the award for Best Screenplay—which went to Paul Thomas Anderson for One Battle After Another—as they are a medium he is intimately familiar with, quipping, “I’ve been reading screenplays basically since I learned to read.” (Click here for all the winners.)

Macaulay has been extremely candid about how he now approaches his acting career—which began when he was just 4 years old—sharing that he now appreciates taking breaks whenever he can.

“Technically, I’m retired right now,” he said on the SmartLess podcast in December. “I retire and then, if I find something I like, I unretire, do that, and I immediately retire afterwards.”

Macaulay joked, “Every gig is my last.”

Frazer Harrison/WireImage

“I quit for nearly a decade,” he shared. “Just went to high school, fell in love, got drunk for the first time, things like that.”

The Richie Rich star—who shares sons Dakota, 4, and Carson, 3, with Brenda—explained that after starring in the 1994 film, “I was in a position where I could just put my thumb up my butt and play video games all day long.”

The break also led him to the realization that acting was something he actually wanted to do and was passionate about, and not just a career his parents chose for him when he was a child. 

“I was kind of just drifting around, and tried to figure out what I wanted out of life and so forth,” he said. “This was a calling that found me. I didn’t find it. I wanted to explore that in a different way, on my terms.”

For a look at all the big winners at the 2026 Golden Globes, keep reading.

Best Male Actor – Motion Picture – Drama

Joel Edgerton—Train Dreams

Oscar Isaac—Frankenstein

Dwayne Johnson—The Smashing Machine

Michael B. Jordan—Sinners

Wagner Moura—The Secret Agent

Jeremy Allen White—Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere

Best Female Actor – Television – Drama

Kathy Bates—Matlock 

Britt Lower—Severance

Helen Mirran—Mobland

Bella Ramsey—The Last of Us

Keri Russell—The Diplomat

Rhea Seehorn—Pluribus

Best Female Actor – Motion Picture – Drama

Jessie Buckley—Hamnet

Jennifer Lawrence—Die My Love

Renate Reinsve—Sentimental Value

Julia Roberts—After the Hunt

Tessa Thompson—Hedda

Eva Victor—Sorry, Baby

Best Picture – Musical or Comedy

Marty Supreme

Bugonia 

Blue Moon

No Other Choice

Nouvelle Vague

One Battle After Another

Best Picture—Drama

Sentimental Value

Hamnet

Frankenstein

It Was Just an Accident

The Secret Agent

Sentimental Value

Sinners

Best Female Actor – Television – Musical/Comedy

Kristen Bell—Nobody Wants This

Ayo Edebiri—The Bear

Natasha Lyonne—Poker Face

Selena Gomez—Only Murders in the Building

Jenna Ortega—Wednesday

WINNER: Jean Smart—Hacks

Best Drama Series—Television

The Diplomat

The Pitt

Pluribus

Severance

Slow Horses

The White Lotus

Best Male Actor – Television – Limited Series, Anthology Series or Television Motion Picture

Jacob Elordi—The Narrow Road to the Deep North

Paul Giamatti—Black Mirror

WINNER: Stephen Graham—Adolescence

Charlie Hunnam—Monster: The Ed Gein Story

Jude Law—Black Rabbit

Matthew Rhys—The Beast in Me

Best Supporting Female Actor – Television

Erin Doherty—Adolescence

Carrie Coon—The White Lotus

Hannah Einbender—Hacks

Catherine O’Hara—The Studio

Parker Posey—The White Lotus

Aimee Lou Wood—The White Lotus

Best Male Actor – Television – Musical/Comedy

Adam Brody—Nobody Wants This

Steve Martin—Only Murders in the Building

Glen Powell—Chad Powers

WINNER: Seth Rogen—The Studio

Martin Short—Only Murders in the Building

Jeremy Allen White—The Bear

Best Supporting Male Actor—Motion Picture

Benecio del Toro—One Battle After Another

Jacob Elordi—Frankenstein

Paul Mescal—Hamnet

Sean Penn—One Battle After Another

Adam Sandler—Jay Kelly

WINNER: Stellan Skarsgard—Sentimental Value

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Drama

Sterling K. Brown—Paradise 

Diego Luna—Andor

Gary Oldman—Slow Horses 

Mark Ruffalo—Task

Adam Scott—Severance

WINNER: Noah Wyle—The Pitt

Best Male Actor – Motion Picture – Musical/Comedy

WINNER: Timothee Chalamet—Marty Supreme

George Clooney—Jay Kelly

Leonardo DiCaprio—One Battle After Another

Ethan Hawke—Blue Moon

Lee Byung-Hun—No Other Choice

Jesse Plemons—Bugonia

Best Supporting Male Actor – Television

WINNER: Owen Cooper—Adolescence

Billy Crudup—The Morning Show

Walton Goggins—The White Lotus

Jason Isaacs—The White Lotus

Tramell Tillman—Severance

Ashley Waters—Adolescence

Best Original Song—Motion Picture

“Dream as One”—Avatar: Fire and Ash; Miley Cyrus, Andrew Wyatt, Mark Ronson, Simon Franglen

WINNER: “Golden”—K:Pop Demon Hunters; Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo, Park Hong Jun, Kim Eun-jae (EJAE), Mark Sonnenblick

“I Lied to You”—Sinners; Raphael Saadiq, Ludwig Göransson

“No Place Like Home”—Wicked: For Good; Stephen Schwartz 

“The Girl in the Bubble”—Wicked: For Good; Stephen Scwartz 

“Train Dreams”—Train Dreams; Nick Cave, Bryce Dessner

Best Limited Series, Anthology Series or Television Motion Picture

Adolescence

All Her Fault

The Beast in Me

Black Mirror

Dying for Sex

The Girlfriend

Best Female Actor – Motion Picture – Musical/Comedy

WINNER: Rose Byrne—If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You

Cynthia Erivo—Wicked: For Good

Kate Hudson—Song Sung Blue

Chase Infiniti—One Battle After Another

Amanda Seyfried—The Testament of Ann Lee

Emma Stone—Bugonia

Best Female Actor – Television – Limited Series, Anthology Series or Television Motion Picture

Claire Danes—The Beast in Me

Rashida Jones—Black Mirror

Amanda Seyfried—Long Bright River

Sarah Snook—All Her Fault

WINNER: Michelle Williams—Dying for Sex

Robin Wright—The Girlfriend

Best Supporting Female Actor – Motion Picture

Emily Blunt—The Smashing Machine

Elle Fanning—Sentimental Value

Ariana Grande—Wicked: For Good

Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas—Sentimental Value

Amy Madigan—Weapons

WINNER: Teyana Taylor—One Battle After Another

Best Cinematic and Box Office Achievement

Avatar: Fire and Ash

F1

KPop Demon Hunters

Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning

WINNER: Sinners

Weapons 

Wicked: For Good

Zootopia 2

Best Animated Motion Picture

Arco

Demon Slayer: Kimestu No Yaiba Infinity Castle

Elio 

Little Amelie or The Character of the Rain

KPop Demon Hunters

Zootopia 2

Best Musical or Comedy Series—Television

Abbott Elementary

The Bear

Hacks

Nobody Wants This

Only Murders in the Building

The Studio

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Best Director – Motion Picture

WINNER: Paul Thomas Anderson—One Battle After Another

Ryan Coogler—Sinners

Guillermo del Toro—Frankenstein

Jafar Panahi—It Was an Accident

Joachim Trier—Sentimental Value

Chloe Zhao—Hamnet

Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture

WINNER: One Battle After Another—Paul Thomas Anderson

Marty Supreme—Josh Safdie, Ronald Bronstein 

Sinners—Ryan Coogler

It Was Just an Accident—Jafar Panahi 

Sentimental Value—Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier

Hamnet—Chloe Zhao, Maggie O’ Farrell

Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Best Podcast 

  • Armchair Expert With Dax Shepard
  • Call Her Daddy
  • WINNER: Good Hang With Amy Poehler
  • The Mel Robbins Podcast
  • SmartLess
  • Up First

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Best Stand-Up Comedy Performance 

  • Bill Maher, “Bill Maher: Is Anyone Else Seeing This?”
  • Brett Goldstein, “Brett Goldstein: The Second Best Night of Your Life”
  • Kevin Hart, “Kevin Hart: Acting My Age”
  • Kumail Nanjiani, “Kumail Nanjiani, Night Thoughts”
  • Ricky Gervais, “Ricky Gervais: Mortality”
  • Sarah Silverman, “Sarah Silverman: Postmortem”

Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for The Red Sea International Film Festival

Carol Burnett Award

Sarah Jessica Parker 

Photo by Matthew Taplinger/CBS via Getty Images

Cecil B. DeMille Award

Helen Mirren 

Read More

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