Macaulay Culkin’s Heartfelt Emmys Tribute to Catherine O’Hara Moved Everyone

Avatar photoHrvoje Milakovic
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Award show tributes can sometimes feel like mere formalities, with polished sentences read off a card before the broadcast moves on. However, every so often, one of these moments breaks through the usual polish and resonates with the room and everyone watching at home.

Monday night’s Emmy ceremony delivered just that kind of moment early in its In Memoriam segment. The tribute focused on Catherine O’Hara, the beloved comic actor who passed away on January 30 at the age of 71 after a brief illness, bringing together those who knew her not just as colleagues, but as family.

Macaulay Culkin took the stage alongside O’Hara’s ‘Schitt’s Creek’ co-stars Annie Murphy and Dan Levy to kick off the tribute. What followed was less a formal eulogy and more a son remembering his mother. Culkin portrayed Kevin McCallister opposite O’Hara’s frantic, endlessly searching Kate McCallister in both ‘Home Alone’ and its 1992 sequel, two holiday films that became generational classics.

Reflecting on how audiences often remember O’Hara’s character as the mom who kept losing track of her child, Culkin flipped the joke on its head before getting sincere. “You remember her as the forgetful mother, right? But I will never forget about her,” he said, listing the words he would use to describe her: encouraging, warm, funny, and above all, “Mama.”

Culkin emphasized that his bond with O’Hara went far beyond their shared screen time. “She wasn’t just a wife and mother to Bo, Matthew, and Luke; she was my mom. She was our mama — and by extension, she’s all of our mama,” he said, according to the AP’s coverage of the ceremony, urging viewers at home to call their own mothers that night.

He concluded his tribute with a line that resonated deeply with audiences. “She may have forgotten me twice, but we will always remember her,” Culkin said, referencing the two ‘Home Alone’ films in which her character famously left him behind before racing back to find him.

The moment carried extra significance given how visibly close the two remained over the years. O’Hara appeared alongside Culkin in 2023 when he received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Following her death, Culkin shared a personal tribute to her on social media, expressing his desire for more time to sit with her and share everything he still wanted to say.

O’Hara’s Emmy history spanned decades before her passing. She won her first Emmy in 1982 for writing on ‘SCTV Network,’ having been an original cast member on the sketch series in the late 1970s. She went on to guest star in shows like ‘Six Feet Under,’ ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm,’ and ’30 Rock’ in the years that followed.

Her most celebrated television role came later in her career when she was cast as Moira Rose on ‘Schitt’s Creek’ in 2015, a performance that earned her a second Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 2020. She was also nominated twice more in 2025 for her supporting role in ‘The Studio’ and a guest appearance on ‘The Last of Us,’ highlighting how active and beloved her work remained right up until the end.

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