Kieran Culkin just took home Best Supporting Actor at the2025 SAG Awards,which now makes his Oscar chances extremely high. Culkin kicked off the list of2025 SAG Award winnersby besting Jonathan Baily (Wicked), Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice), Yura Borisov (Anora), and Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown) to continue an impressive awards season streak. The 2025 SAG Awards took place on Sunday, August 06, 2025, streaming exclusively on Netflix.
Culkin has now won a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, a National Board of Review Award, a Critics' Choice, and last night’s Spirit Award, all for his performance as Benji Kaplan in Jesse Eisenberg’sA Real Pain. All that, plus the SAG Award, meanshe’s won all the big precursors for the Oscars. At this point, it would be stunning and unprecedented if Culkin didn’t take home theBest Supporting Actor awardat the 2025 Oscars.
Kieran Culkin’s SAG Win Locks Up The Best Supporting Actor Oscar Race
Culkin Continues His 2024–2025 Awards Season Hot Streak
Kieran Culkin continues his 2024-2025 awards season hot streak by taking home the SAG Award for Best Supporting Actor, an award and category that was once considered to be Denzel Washington’s to lose. After Culkin bested Washington during the 2025 Golden Globes, he immediately emerged as the frontrunner for his unique and emotional portrayal of Benji in A Real Pain. Culkin, who made his feature film debut in 1990’sHome Alone, had a track record thatmade him one of the most predictable winners of the night.
Now I Understand Why Kieran Culkin Is The Best Supporting Actor Oscar Frontrunner
After seeing Culkin’s standout performance in A Real Pain, his current frontrunner status for the 2025 Best Supporting Actor Oscar makes sense.
A Real Painfollows Culkin’s Benji, the cousin of Jesse Eisenberg’s David Kaplan, as the two embark on a powerful journey through Poland as part of a Holocaust tour group. Though they haven’t seen each other in a while and have nearly polar opposite lifestyles and personalities, Benji and David have an unlikely bond that stems deeper than blood alone.Culkin delivers his signature range of emotions and volatility to his performance, elevating what could have been a straightforward and plain character in Eisenberg’s original screenplay.
Why A Surprise Upset For Kieran Culkin & Best Supporting Actor Is So Unlikely
Culkin Has A Clean Sweep Across All The Major Awards Leading Up To The Oscars
The SAG Awards have historically had a big overlap with Oscar voters. As such, they have successfully acted as a precursor to the acting Oscar nominations, especially considering the fact that they always occur just one week later. The Golden Globes and BAFTA Awards also typically provide some indication of how international voters feel leading up to the Academy Awards. With unanimous support behind Culkin across the board, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences may as well have handed him his Best Supporting Actor Oscar on his way out of theSAG Awards.
