section_path: Career/1996–2002: Breakthrough with Igby Goes Down
section_name: 1996–2002: Breakthrough with Igby Goes Down
paragraph_text: 1996–2002: Breakthrough with Igby Goes Down
  
  Culkin alternated between lead roles in independent films and small parts in mainstream films as he entered adolescence. In 1996, he starred as a farm boy who overcomes his fear of animals in Bobby Roth 's Amanda and was a guest caller on the fourth season of the television sitcom Frasier. He then starred as a boy suffering from Morquio syndrome in the coming-of-age film The Mighty (1998), which earned him a nomination for the Young Artist Award for Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film. Peter Chelsom, its director, was the first filmmaker that treated Culkin like a serious actor: "He talked to me like an adult. Before that, directors would just tell me what to do. I’d have no input. But taught me how to study my lines and take them apart and how to dissect my character. I had no idea there was a real process to acting before that."
  
  The following year, Culkin appeared in Wes Craven 's Music of the Heart, a biographical film about violinist Roberta Guaspari. He also had supporting roles in the teen comedy She's All That, which grossed over $100 million worldwide against a production budget of $7–10 million, and Lasse Hallström 's drama The Cider House Rules, which grossed over $88 million worldwide. Culkin returned to the stage in 2000 with The Moment When, an off-Broadway romantic comedy play by James Lapine that explored the lives of New York City's arts-and-lits set. During a performance, he got his co-stars Arija Bareikis, Mark Ruffalo and Phyllis Newman high by swapping a prop joint for a real one.
  
  Culkin starred in his first regular role in a television series with the short-lived NBC sitcom Go Fish (2001). He appeared in two feature directorial debuts the following year: Peter Care 's The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys as a mischievous Catholic schoolboy and Burr Steers 's Igby Goes Down as the rebellious and sardonic teenager Jason "Igby" Slocumb Jr. Film critic Stephen Holden for The New York Times praised both comedy-dramas, but found Culkin's breakthrough performance in the latter to be "even richer" than the former. For his work on Igby Goes Down, Culkin won the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Actor/Actress and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.
  
  Culkin alternated between lead roles in independent films and small parts in mainstream films as he entered adolescence. In 1996, he starred as a farm boy who overcomes his fear of animals in Bobby Roth 's Amanda and was a guest caller on the fourth season of the television sitcom Frasier. He then starred as a boy suffering from Morquio syndrome in the coming-of-age film The Mighty (1998), which earned him a nomination for the Young Artist Award for Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film. Peter Chelsom, its director, was the first filmmaker that treated Culkin like a serious actor: "He talked to me like an adult. Before that, directors would just tell me what to do. I’d have no input. But taught me how to study my lines and take them apart and how to dissect my character. I had no idea there was a real process to acting before that."
  
  The following year, Culkin appeared in Wes Craven 's Music of the Heart, a biographical film about violinist Roberta Guaspari. He also had supporting roles in the teen comedy She's All That, which grossed over $100 million worldwide against a production budget of $7–10 million, and Lasse Hallström 's drama The Cider House Rules, which grossed over $88 million worldwide. Culkin returned to the stage in 2000 with The Moment When, an off-Broadway romantic comedy play by James Lapine that explored the lives of New York City's arts-and-lits set. During a performance, he got his co-stars Arija Bareikis, Mark Ruffalo and Phyllis Newman high by swapping a prop joint for a real one.
  
  Culkin starred in his first regular role in a television series with the short-lived NBC sitcom Go Fish (2001). He appeared in two feature directorial debuts the following year: Peter Care 's The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys as a mischievous Catholic schoolboy and Burr Steers 's Igby Goes Down as the rebellious and sardonic teenager Jason "Igby" Slocumb Jr. Film critic Stephen Holden for The New York Times praised both comedy-dramas, but found Culkin's breakthrough performance in the latter to be "even richer" than the former. For his work on Igby Goes Down, Culkin won the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Actor/Actress and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.