'Home Alone' star Culkin makes London debut

Culkin: Comeback after 'retirement' aged 14

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- "Home Alone" child star Macaulay Culkin has returned to acting after six years in obscurity, taking to the London stage in his signature role -- as a schoolboy.

Culkin, 20, who shot to fame in Hollywood children's movies to become the world's highest paid child actor, stars as a 15-year-old in "Madame Melville" at the Vaudeville Theatre.

Culkin "retired" at the age of 14 -- with an estimated fortune of more than $30 million from the "Home Alone" sequel and a handful of other children's films -- after an acrimonious split with his former manager, his father.

"I came to a point at high school when I decided I should get back into acting, only this time I have control. I didn't before," he told Reuters after the premiere on Wednesday.

The part of 15-year-old American student Carl, who finds himself taught the ways of the Kama Sutra in mid-1960s Paris by his 30-year-old language tutor, played by French actress Irene Jacob, is filled with resonances of Culkin's own life.

Like Carl, who proclaims ironically: "I am forever a boy of 15," Culkin -- who married at 17 and was separated two years later -- was also forced to mature before his years.

"I couldn't have picked anything more perfect for me than this role," he said. "Sure you can find parallels between mine and Carl's life."

Multi-millionaire Culkin denied he was looking for a springboard back into Hollywood as many perceived with Nicole Kidman's stage foray in "The Blue Room" and Kathleen Turner's acclaimed performance in the "The Graduate."

"I see this (play) as a quality piece of art. I'm not letting my career consume me. It's just another opportunity and I see it for what it is," Culkin said.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Culkin Family

Albemarle London Theatre Guide

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