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.

It took several weeks for the director Chris Columbus and his crew to find the McCallister house for "Home Alone."

Ultimately, they chose a house in Winnetka, Illinois, because they thought it was both warm and menacing.

"I took some pictures and sent them over to John, and I remember John saying: 'This is perfect. This is exactly how I imagined the house,'" he told Entertainment Weekly.

Though the film was ultimately produced by Hughes Entertainment and presented by 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers initially had rights to the project.

According to an article in Chicago magazine, a budget dispute occurred three weeks before the production of "Home Alone" was set to start.

"The question was, 'Do we lay everyone off?'" the associate producer Mark Radcliffe told the publication. "John [Hughes] said to just hold tight."

Luckily, 20th Century Fox acquired the rights to the film and production continued as planned.

Per Us Weekly, during a 2015 interview on "Watch What Happens Live," Catherine O'Hara told Andy Cohen that she and Culkin had a sweet interaction at an art event.

"I haven't seen him for years and years, but I saw him two years ago — a year and a half ago? — at a Martin Mull art opening, and he was coming out, and he went, 'Mommy!' And I said, 'Baby!'" she recalled.

She added that her husband made them take a picture and that she was happy to see him.

Forbes reported that until 2017, "Home Alone" had the highest single-territory total for a live-action comedy, with $285.7 million.

The film held this impressive record for 27 years, until the Chinese film "Never Say Die" surpassed it in 2017 (without accounting for inflation).

Regardless, "Home Alone" is still one of the highest-grossing live-action comedies in the US.

In his first acting credit, Culkin's younger brother Kieran appeared as Kevin's cousin, Fuller, in "Home Alone."

The brothers appeared together on-screen again in "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York."

John Hughes, who also wrote 1980s blockbusters like "The Breakfast Club," "Pretty in Pink," and "Sixteen Candles," crafted the first draft of the screenplay for "Home Alone" in just nine days.

According to the same Chicago magazine article — which was written by his son, James — the film was written after a family trip to Europe in response to his father's severe traveler's anxiety.

"I was going away on vacation,'" Hughes told Time magazine in 1990, "and making a list of everything I didn't want to forget. I thought, 'Well, I'd better not forget my kids.' Then I thought, 'What if I left my 10-year-old son at home? What would he do?'"

In a 2018 interview with Ellen DeGeneres, Culkin said he couldn't watch "Home Alone" without remembering a bunch of personal context. 

"When I'm watching it, I'm seeing like — I'm remembering that day on set. You know, like, how I was hiding my Pepsi behind the couch," he said. "I can't watch it the same way other people can."

In the same interview, he referred to the film as "background radiation at Christmastime."

Columbus was originally working on "Christmas Vacation" — which was also written by Hughes — but he eventually called the writer to tell him he couldn't work with the actor Chevy Chase.

"John was very understanding. About two weeks later, I got two scripts at my in-laws' house in River Forest. One was 'Home Alone,' with a note from John asking if I wanted to direct," he told the publication. "I thought, 'Wow, this guy is really supporting me when no one else in Hollywood was going to.'"

Columbus told Business Insider's Jason Guerrasio in 2020 that the legendary comedic actor John Candy came on set ready to improvise.

"He was on the movie for only one day, but it resulted in so much great improvisation. None of that stuff was in the script," he said. "The funeral-parlor story, that was all improvised at 4:30 in the morning. We could barely keep a straight face on set just listening to John."

Beyond Candy's cameo, Hughes didn't allow for a ton of improvisation or tweaks to his script, but Columbus had a sweet vision for the character of Old Man Marley that he was able to sneak into the film.

Though the scene in the church was always in the script, the director added to the conversation between Kevin and Marley. 

"I added the moment when Marley talked about not being able to see his granddaughter. I also added the very end of the movie when Kevin sees that Marley is reunited with his granddaughter," Columbus told BI. "That is probably my proudest addition to the movie."

Before Joe Pesci took on the role of Harry in "Home Alone," the production team had its eyes on Robert De Niro.

However, Columbus said, the actor never seriously considered taking the role. 

"It was talked about a little internally, but when Pesci said yes, I was stunned," he told BI.

Kevin's reaction to putting on aftershave is arguably one of the best-known scenes of the film — and it's since become one of the most iconic moments in movie history.

However, Culkin apparently didn't do it the way Columbus told him to. 

"If you put something on your face that burns, most people move their hands right away. So my direction to him was when you pat your face, move your hands and scream. And I think it was the first take, he kept his hands on his cheeks," the director told BI.

He added, "It's funny, the iconic moment from 'Home Alone' was an accident."

When "Home Alone" came out in 1990, CGI wasn't the norm on film sets. Since the movie was already working on a tight budget, the production team had to get creative with special effects. 

During the scene in which Kevin shoots Marv in the head with a BB gun, the pellet is actually animated. 

"We paid a guy living in his mother's basement in Chicago $600 to hand-paint that BB going into Marv's head. So that was an animated effect. A guy with a paintbrush in a basement for six frames hand-painted a BB," Columbus told  BI.

He continued: "This was an $18 million film, so, for our budget, I'm pretty happy how it turned out."

Kevin uses a black-and-white movie called "Angels With Filthy Souls" to aid in his defense plan against the Wet Bandits, and many people — including Seth Rogen and Chris Evans — were shocked when they learned it wasn't a real film. 

The scene was created specifically for "Home Alone," but there's a reason it looks so real. 

"'Home Alone' is one of the last films shot with an old carbon-arc lighting system that was popular back in the 1940s through 1960s for Technicolor films," Columbus told BI.

He explained that they used the same technique for "Angels With Filthy Souls."

"That richness of black and white made it look like a movie from that era, and I think that's why some people think it's a real movie," he added.

A year before "Home Alone," Culkin starred alongside Candy in Hughes' "Uncle Buck."

After watching the actor play Miles Russell, Hughes was inspired to write a film with a young boy at its helm.

Once the idea started taking shape, he thought Culkin would be great in the role. 

The production team shared stories about working at New Trier Township High School in Winnetka, Illinois.

Hughes liked to make his movies in the Chicagoland area, so they set up their production offices in the same building where some of his other classics, such as "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "Uncle Buck," were shot.

They also ended up building the interior sets for the McCallisters' house in the school's gym, and they inventively built the set for the Murphys' house — which floods at the end of the film — in the swimming pool.

Candy filmed all his scenes during one 23-hour day on set, but he didn't get much in return as far as compensation.

The actor did the cameo as a favor to Hughes, and he received "scale" pay — the minimum pay rate that a studio agrees to.

In the end, Candy ended up making less than Danny Warhol (aka Dan Charles Zukoski), who played the pizza boy.

"Home Alone" was shot in Chicago in February, and the crew was hoping for snow.

Fake snow can eat away at a budget, so when a snowstorm rolled in on the second day on set, everyone jumped at the chance to film the "money shot" where Kevin wakes up on Christmas morning and reunites with his family.

To enhance the natural flurries, the crew used potato flakes to make it look as if snow was blowing around — which was said to be effective but left them with a whole heap of rotting starch when the snow melted a few days later.

Though Culkin, Pesci, and Daniel Stern weren't responsible for all of the falls and hits their characters took throughout the film, their stunt doubles did them for real. 

They didn't use any special-effect tricks, and there weren't any pads built into the ground, so the film crew was under a lot of pressure to get the shots right on the first take. 

Pesci's stunt double for the film, Troy Brown, said on the docuseries that for his first fall on the icy stairs, he "just launched myself as far and as high as I could." 

The film's wild stunts had a long-lasting impact.

"Now when someone does a fall where they get a lot of air, and they fall on their back, they'd call it the 'Home Alone,'" the director of photography Julio Macat said on an episode of "The Movies That Made Us."

"Home Alone" was only the third feature-length film that Columbus directed, but he's since gone on to direct popular movies like "Mrs. Doubtfire," "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," and "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets."

In addition to taking on some fantasy classics, Columbus directed Netflix's "The Christmas Chronicles 2" (2020), marking his return to holiday films.

An earlier version of this story was published in November 2018, and it was most recently updated on December 11, 2024.

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Before they head to France without him, Kevin's siblings and cousins are constantly teasing and mocking him.

While he's going around trying to figure out what to pack in his suitcase, one of his sisters tells him that he's "what the French call les incompétents."

Linnie was probably just brushing up on her basic French before their trip to Paris, but since "les incompétents" just translates to "the incompetent ones" it's not as impressive as she makes it seem — even if it does confuse Kevin. 

Like writer John Hughes' "The Breakfast Club," "Sixteen Candles," and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Home Alone" is set in the Chicagoland area. 

It's clear from the mention of a Chicago airport and the Chicago Bulls decor in Buzz's room.

The night before Kevin's family leaves for their trip, everyone is busy finishing up packing, eating dinner, and finalizing their plans — which results in a lot of chaos. 

After Kevin spills a bunch of milk, Mr. McCallister jumps to clean up the mess and wipe down the passports and plane tickets that are piled on the table. 

As he throws away a bundle of napkins, he accidentally picks up and tosses one of the passports. A shot of the garbage can also shows that he threw away an American Airlines booklet that most likely contained a plane ticket. 

If we assume it was Kevin's passport and ticket, this clever detail helps to explain why no one realized he didn't get on the plane.

Before loading up into the vans to go to the airport, Kevin's oldest cousin takes a quick head count of her siblings and cousins.

In the rush of trying to get to the airport on time, she accidentally counts a neighbor boy — who is curiously climbing through the van — which brings her total to the correct number even though Kevin is still sleeping in the attic. 

After the McCallisters board their plane, Kevin's mom is struck with the feeling that she forgot something.

After a moment of thought, Mr. McCallister tries to calm her nerves by saying he forgot to shut the garage door — which turns out to be true. 

There are plants throughout Kevin's house, including in the dining room and kitchen.

However, no one ever comes by the house to water them, which seems like something the family should've planned for before they left for the trip.

If they had hired a neighbor to look after their plants, they might have been able to help Kevin when he got left home alone. 

While looking through his family's belongings, Kevin finds a Playboy magazine in Buzz's room.

He opens it to a page in the middle before throwing it on the floor behind him. Judging by the way it lands, though, it seems like the rest of the pages were stuck together.

A 2017 Bustle article said the prop was a real edition of Playboy from 1989, so the crew may have taped everything else so that Macaulay Culkin (who played Kevin) wouldn't see any inappropriate content while they filmed the scene.

In certain kitchen shots, there's a decorated gingerbread house visible on the counter.

Like the plants, this seems like an odd thing to leave unattended while going on a long trip.

Kate, Kevin's mom, also made a point of asking people to finish the milk the night before, so it wasn't like she was oblivious to the perishable food in her house. 

Throughout "Home Alone," Kevin watches a black-and-white film called "Angels With Filthy Souls" and later uses it as part of his defense plan against the Wet Bandits. 

Although it looks pretty realistic and its lines have since become famous, the movie isn't real. The scenes were made specifically for "Home Alone."

After realizing he's home alone, Kevin runs around the house doing whatever he wants, including jumping up and down on his parents' bed while eating popcorn.

Later, when he hides under their bed when a police officer knocks on the door, there's popcorn on the floor from his earlier antics.

When Kevin first goes down into his basement, he walks past a couple of mannequins as well as other storage items. 

These later prove useful when he rigs them up near the windows to trick the Wet Bandits into thinking there are adults in the house.

Marv and Harry, the robbers who try to break into Kevin's house throughout the movie, go by the nickname the Wet Bandits.

Marv explains at one point that the name fits their signature move of flooding the houses that they steal from, but the nickname can also be a reference to the fact that they drive around in a plumbing van.

When Kevin showers and styles his hair in the bathroom, there are at least 20 visible light- and dark-green towels all around the room.

Seeing as there were just a bunch of people in the house, it makes sense that there are multiple used towels hanging to dry. But there are also a number of clean towels stacked on the shelves.

The McCallister's house is fairly large, so this probably isn't the only bathroom, making the sheer number of towels even more absurd.  

The airport-shuttle driver, police officer, and pizza deliverer all knock over the statue next to the McCallister's driveway.

The pizza boy even drives into it a second time when he brings Kevin a pizza. 

"Home Alone" has a PG-rating, but one of the robbers can be heard cursing during a scene. 

When Marv loses his shoe in the dog door, he says "shit" in a low voice. It's even confirmed in the movie's subtitles.

The pizzeria featured multiple times in the film is called Little Nero's.

It isn't a real restaurant, but it seems to be a spin on the popular pizza chain, Little Caesars. 

Like Julius Caesar, Nero was a Roman political head, and both the fictional and real pizza chains feature Roman mascots. 

There's also a legend that Nero fiddled while Rome burned, making the pizzeria's tagline — "No Fiddlin' Around" — a clever joke.

The plans and traps that Kevin arranges to outsmart the robbers throughout the movie are pretty brilliant.

But despite how clever he is, Kevin stills misspells "ornaments" on his battle plan — which is a helpful reminder that the character is, in fact, only 8.

One of the many traps Kevin sets for the robbers includes placing ornaments under a window so that Marv will step on them when he tries to break in.

The decorations on the tree seem to be shaped like candy canes, presents, and 2-D stars. However, the ornaments that Marv steps on are more colorful and shaped much differently. 

The ornaments on the floor were reportedly made of candy to help prevent any serious injuries, and actor Daniel Stern (who played Marv) wore rubber feet just in case. 

Old Man Marley scares Kevin at the beginning of the film, especially when he walks up behind him at the drugstore and places a bloody, bandaged hand on the counter. 

Throughout the movie, though, Kevin interacts with him and learns that the rumors about him aren't true. He also finds out that Mr. Marley is estranged from his son and granddaughter — a plotline that director Chris Columbus added to the film. 

When Kevin and Mr. Marley talk in the church, the heavy, white bandage on his hand has been replaced with a smaller, tan one. At the end of the film, when he patches up his relationship with his son, his hand is completely healed. 

This story was originally published on December, 14, 2020, and most recently updated on December 6, 2024. 

Read More:

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• 19 of Netflix's original holiday movies, ranked from worst to best