Kevin, played by Culkin, is the bratty youngest kid of the McCallister family, who, after being left home by mistake when his family rushes off on a flight to Paris, learns to appreciate them.

His mea culpa occurs after he spends days alone, having to fend for himself. Oh, and he also has to ward off burglars Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern), known as the Wet Bandits.

The performance by Culkin, who was 10 at the time of filming, was so good it would define his career.

Culkin, 44, had unbelievable fame through most of his childhood due to "Home Alone" and its sequel, "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York." He continued to be one of the top child actors in Hollywood with movies such as "My Girl" and "The Good Son."

His fame was also heightened due to his friendship with Michael Jackson. Culkin even starred in his 1991 music video for "Black and White."

In 2005, at Jackson's trial for sexual child abuse, Culkin testified that he slept in the same bed with Jackson, but was never molested by the pop star, per Vanity Fair.

In 1994, he took a pause from acting and wasn't seen on screen again until 2003 when he made a guest appearance on "Will and Grace."

Since then, he's occasionally appeared on TV, even parodying himself in "Home Alone" for a Google Assistant commercial in 2018. Since 2019, he's appeared in episodes of shows such as "Dollface," "American Horror Story," "The Righteous Gemstones," and will appear in the second season of "Fallout."

He also is the cofounder of the pizza-themed comedy rock band Pizza Underground and the CEO of a satirical pop-culture website and podcast called Bunny Ears.

In terms of his personal life, Culkin has been in a relationship with fellow former child star Brenda Song since 2018. They have two children.

Pesci starred as Harry, a burglar obsessed with the McCallister house.

Pesci's Harry is the perfect villain for a kid-friendly movie. One-half of the "Wet Bandits" (because they flood the houses they steal from), Harry thinks he's got all the angles figured out. That includes how to do the big score of robbing a block of big fancy houses as their owners are all away for Christmas.

But Harry, with his shiny gold tooth, didn't count on Kevin to ruin his plans to rob the McCallister house, which he's always had his eye on.

When "Home Alone" came out, Pesci was known best for his tough guy roles in Martin Scorsese movies such as "Raging Bull" and "Goodfellas," which opened the same year as "Home Alone" and would earn Pesci an Oscar.

Pesci's silly performance as Harry showed a different side of the actor and led to more comedic movies, such as "My Cousin Vinny," and playing the bumbling sidekick to Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in the "Lethal Weapon" movies.

Since "Lethal Weapon 4" in 1998, Pesci, 81, has appeared in fewer movies. In 2019, he teamed up with Scorsese once more for the director's Netflix epic "The Irishman." Four years later, in 2023, he had a main role in the Peacock series "Bupkis," which was loosely based on the life of its star, Pete Davidson.

Stern played Marv, the other half of the "Wet Bandits."

Stern's Marv is so memorable because he plays perfectly across from Pesci's Harry.

Though Harry is the leader, Marv thinks he's his intellectual equal (though what neither of them know is that they are both idiots) which leads to great comedic moments as the two try to outsmart Kevin.

And then there's Stern's physical comedy, which is the secret sauce of this movie.

Stern has been a Hollywood fixture going all the way back to his first movie, 1979's "Breaking Away." But around the time of the "Home Alone" release, Stern was at the height of his fame.

He was the narrator of the hit TV show "The Wonder Years," and a year after "Home Alone," he starred in another hit comedy, "City Slickers."

Most recently, the 67-year-old starred in the Hulu series "Shrill" and the Apple TV+ series "For All Mankind."

O'Hara played Kevin's mom, Kate, who, after realizing he's home alone, travels back to be with him.

Kate, along with her husband Peter (John Heard), are definitely up there as a pair of the worst parents in movie history.

Not only do they not double-check the head count to make sure all the kids are with them as they rush to their flight to Paris in the first "Home Alone," but they also lose track of Kevin again in the sequel, "Lost in New York."

O'Hara, 70, has gone on to have an incredible career playing a wide range of characters.

For years, she was best known for her work on Christopher Guest mockumentaries, such as "Best in Show" and "A Mighty Wind." She also frequently collaborated with Tim Burton, with voice roles in "A Nightmare Before Christmas," "Beetlejuice," and "Frankenweenie."

More recently, she's found huge acclaim for her role on the hit TV show "Schitt's Creek." At the 2020 Emmys, she won for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series for her performance in the final season.

Since "Schitt's Creek" wrapped, she's busier than ever. Since 2020, O'Hara has appeared in "Elemental," "Pain Hustlers," "Argylle," "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice," and "The Wild Robot." In 2025, she's joining the cast of "The Last of Us."

Heartwarmingly, O'Hara was on hand to help present her on-screen son, Macaulay Culkin, with his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in February 2024. He even called her "mama," and she called him "darling baby."

Ratray played Kevin's older brother Buzz, who loved to bully and scare his younger sibling. In other words, the perfect evil older brother.

With no care at all for Kevin, he spends most of the beginning of the movie teasing, tormenting, and scaring his younger brother.

Buzz even tells Kevin that their neighbor Old Man Marley kills people with his shovel, which turns out not to be true.

As an adult, Ratray, 47, starred in Alexander Payne's "Nebraska" and has worked multiple times with Steven Soderbergh ("Side Effects," "Mosaic," "Kimi"). He also had a cameo role in the Disney+ sequel to "Home Alone," "Home Sweet Home Alone" as an older Buzz — he's a police officer now.

However, Ratray has also experienced legal troubles. In 2021, he was arrested in Oklahoma while attending a fan convention for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend, per Deadline. In 2024, he pleaded guilty to two counts of domestic violence, People reported.

After his arrest in 2021, another woman came forward accusing Ratray of raping her in 2017. CNN reported in 2022 that the NYPD was investigating the case. Ratray denied the accusations in a call with the outlet. He did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

In one of the first roles of her career, Davis plays the French airport ticket agent who has to give the McCallisters the bad news that there are no flights back to Chicago.

Though she has a great French accent, Davis is not French — she's from New Jersey.

Since her small role in "Home Alone," Davis, 60, has built a successful acting career.

She's best known for her dramatic work in movies such as "About Schmidt" and "American Splendor." Davis also played Tony Stark's mother, Maria, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

In 2022, she was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding guest actress in a dramatic series for her performance as Sandi Furness in "Succession."

This year, she had a guest role in the Apple TV+ thriller miniseries "Before," which starred Billy Crystal and Rosie Perez.

Culkin played Fuller, Kevin's youngest cousin.

Fuller is best known as the family bedwetter (and the character tasked with shameless product placement as he sips a can of Pepsi at the dinner table).

Unlike his brother, Macaulay, Kieran didn't experience the early pressure of superstardom, making it possible to steadily build a career in Hollywood — though he did appear in "Father of the Bride" and "She's All That" while he was still a kid.

Along with scoring great roles in movies such as "Igby Goes Down" and "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," he found his stride playing the despicable (and somehow lovable) Roman Roy in "Succession."

He received four Golden Globe nominations in a row for playing Roman, winning on his fourth try for the final season. He also received three Emmy nominations, winning for the final season as well.

In 2024, he co-starred in the dramedy "A Royal Pain" alongside Jesse Eisenberg as a pair of cousins trekking through Poland on a Holocaust tour. He's receiving plenty of buzz for his portrayal of Benji.

Old Man Marley, Kevin's creepy-looking neighbor who Buzz says is a killer but turns out to be a nice grandpa, was played by character actor Roberts Blossom.

Having close to 60 roles over his career, including "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "The Last Temptation of Christ," Blossom will forever be known for his role in "Home Alone."

Blossom died at the age of 87 in 2011, per the Los Angeles Times.

John Heard played Kevin's dad, Peter, who stays back with the family in Paris when Kate returns to Kevin.

Heard starred in countless hit movies, including "Big" and "Awakenings," and TV shows. He earned an Emmy nomination for his role as Detective Vin Makazian on "The Sopranos."

Heard died in 2017 at the age of 71, according to The New York Times.

John Candy was good friends with "Home Alone" producer John Hughes, so he agreed to do a cameo in the movie.

In it he plays Gus Polinski, "the polka king of the Midwest," who helps Kate get back to Kevin by driving her home.

Director Chris Columbus told Business Insider in 2020 that most of the lines Candy said as Gus were improvised. Candy's contribution led to some of the funniest moments in the movie.

Candy was an established star when he showed up on "Home Alone." He had already starred in hits such as "Splash," "Trains, Plains, and Automobiles," "Spaceballs," and "Uncle Buck."

Candy died in 1994 at the age of 43.