Kevin's older brother from Home Alone looks totally unrecognisable after quitting acting for new career
Rewatching Home Alone every Christmas nearly always leaves film viewers questioning how the outstanding child cast didn’t end up going on to become massive stars in their own right.
Ironically Macaulay Culkin’s real life brother Kieran, who has a small role as Kevin’s cousin in the film, is by far the most successful actor, an Oscar winner for A Real Pain and an Emmy winner for Succession.
Whilst Macaulay quit acting for a period, one of the actors who played his older brother Jeff in Home Alone actually left it behind totally except for one single background role, instead taking up a totally different Hollywood career.
Played by Michael C Maronna, if you don’t remember him as the McAllister brother who came out with the brutal line ‘Kevin, you’re such a disease’, you may recognise him from the pretty iconic 90s TV sitcom The Adventures of Pete and Pete. Maronna did keep acting for Home Alone even starring in one film where he appeared alongside some huge celebrity names before they were famous.
After Home Alone Maronna starred in a film alongside Jason Shwartzman, Jason Segel, and Jaime King before they were famous
Maronna had a big role in Slackers, a 2002 comedy film that also featured a raft of popular stars, even if it didn't exactly get the greatest reviews.
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Schwartzman was still new to Hollywood after his debut role starring in Wes Anderson’s Rushmore, whilst Jason Segel had made a name for himself in Freaks and Geeks but had yet to star in How I Met Your Mother, Knocked Up, or Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
Slackers was the last big role of Maronna’s career acting-wise though, appearing in small roles until he retired from acting in 2013.
The Home Alone star ended up dropping acting for another role in Hollywood though.
Maronna looks totally different as he now works in the electrical side of sets, working as a Best Boy on numerous TV and Film sets
Beyond a small role as ‘Neighbour’ in I Saw the TV Glow, he has mostly now worked as a behind-the-camera operator as a ‘Best Boy’, the primary assistant and second-in-command to the head of department, in his case for lighting and electric.
He has worked in this role across multiple projects including the Netflix Marvel TV shows such as Iron Fist, Luke Cage, and Jessica Jones, the third Men in Black movie, and Dickinson.
In addition to this he hosts a podcast with his former Adventures of Pete and Pete co-star Danny Tamberelli. Speaking to Rewind It Magazine in 2020 he said: “I was always interested in the technical aspects of film production and spent my whole life on sets, whether film, TV show, or commercials.”
He revealed that his first electric job was for the film Six Ways to Sunday, a 1997 Norman Reedus movie where Maronna auditioned for the lead role and ended up driving the electric truck.
Topics: Home Alone, TV and Film, Film, Nostalgia, Celebrity
Michael Slavin