Ethan Cutkosky

Biography

Ethan Cutkosky is an American TV/ Movie actor. He is popular for his role as Carl Gallagher in the Black Comedy/ Dramedy Shameless(2011-) and Barto in the supernatural horror movie Unborn(2009)

Some of his recent performances are- playing Caleb in the series "The Conners", Josh in Alex/ OCtober (2022), Henry Mesner in "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit"

Childhood- Family

Ethan Frances Cutkosky was born in Saint Charles, Illinois, United States on 19th August, 1999 to David Cutkosky(Father) a software engineer & Yvonne Cabrera Cutkosky(mother) a teacher, he grew up in Chicago, Illinois; studied in Chicago.

His Mother is of Mexican ancestry.

Education

• Bell-Graham Elementary School: He studied from the prep school located in St. Charles, Illinois, United States
• Thompson Middle School: Attended the Thompson Middle School situated in the St. Charles, Illinois.
• St. Charles East High School: He attended the public four-year high school located in St. Charles, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois.

Home Schooling: When he couldn't go to school he had a tutor who taught him 4 hours a day and some hours on the sets.

While he was shooting for Shameless, he'd go shoot for 6 straight months, the school would send him home work to do, once the shooting finished he'd go back to school. Emma Kenney, who played his sister in the series also had the same routine, so it became a routine, and helped. His parents were adamant that he finish schooling, [6]

Romance, Girlfriends

Until 2021, he had been in two serious relationships. One between 16-18 and another from 19-20. [6]

Brielle Barbusca

He was in relationship with Brielle Barbusca from 2015 to 2018. They were close friends for an year and half before that. They remain close friends after the breakup.

Image: Ethan Cutkosky with his girlfriend Brielle Barbusca

Career

The beginning: Ethan's acting/ modeling career began at the age of 4 in his hometown of Chicago. He was a hyper active child, his parents were just looking for something to engage in him, they tried photography which turned into modeling for commercials and then movies, TV series and so on.

His mom would take him to numerous auditions, things got bigger faster than they expected

I enjoyed being around cameras, talking to people, so that is really how it started.

He first appeared in an Ad for Walgreens. He has also appeared in Commercials for:

• American Family Insurance
• Alter Image Photography
• Black Box Studio
• Bright Start
• Devos Children Memorial Hospital
• Essanay Studios
• Houghton Mifflin Company
• McDonald's
• Power Point Presentations
• Print Ad Novo 7
• Quarasan Group
• Scott Foresman
• Z Group Films

Ethan's career in movies started at the age of 7 in Vince Vaughn's movie Fred Claus(2007) in the role of Carl. 

In the horror thriller 'The Unborn' written and directed by David S Goyer heappeared along with Odette Annable, Gary Oldman, Cam Gigandet and others. This is the stry of a young woman fighting the spirit that is slowly trying to take possession of her.

In the 2010 biographical legal drama 'Conviction' directed by Tony Goldwyn, he appeared in a small role of a neighbourhood kid. It had Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell, Minnie Driver featured in it.

Shameless

[Ethan Cutkosky in Shameless]

In the comedy drama series developed by John Wells, Ethan plays one of the main roles. He played arl Gallagher, the third Gallagher brother, he loves trouble making and has been to juvenilen prison as a teenager, eventually he grows up, he want sto help the poor, help make his town a better place to live, and becomes a policeman after witnessing a murder.

The story revolves around the poor and dysfunctional Gallagher family, headed by their father Frank Gallagher (William H. Macy), Other main characters in the show are: Sammi Gallagher (Emily Bergl), Fiona Gallagher (Emmy Rossum), Lip Gallagher (Jeremy Allen White),  Debbie Gallagher (Emma Kenney), and Liam Gallagher (Christian Isaiah), and Ian Gallagher (Cameron Monaghan)

The show ran for 10 years from January 2011 to April 2021. It had 11 seasons, Ethan appeared in all of the 134 episodes. In a few episodes when he was preparing for high school exams, he requested director John Wells to write him out of the script, that is when Carl was sent to military school.

He liked to involve with the creative side of the art, creators allowed him to shadow directors, he would be with the team from 6AM to 8AM. It helped him learn stuff about creating art, both on and off the lights.

Khaotic Collective: Ethan created his own fashion brand 'Khaotic Collective' in 2018

Ethan attended the Summer Camp Music Festival in 2017 for the first time, he made a promo for the 2018 edition of the festival.

In the crime series "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" as Henry Mesner in two episodes- "Born Psychopath" (S14E19), "Post-graduate Psychopath" (S22E14)

Music Career

In the Vic Mensa music video OMG of 2017, also featuring Push T, He apepared as Carl Gallagher, his character from Shameless. It was directed by Shomi Patwary.

Ethan has released quite a few singles over the years. Here is a list of them

In June of 2024, Ethan appeared in Isabel LaRosa's music video 'Favorite'.

Filmography

Movies List

TV Series List

Music Videos

Interesting Facts

• Pets: Ethan loves animals and has various pets, a black cat named 'Bear', crested gecko named 'Colby',  anoles, fire bellied toad among them.
• One Take Barto: Ethan got the nick name 'One Take Barto' for taking just one take in most scenes during the filming of the movie 'The Unborn' with Gary Oldman where he acted in the role of Barto
• Don't mess with the Ethan: Ethan has a black belt in the Martial art form- Taekwondo.
• Halloween is his favorite holiday, he likes to scare people & do characters that scare people.
• He tweeted #notmyrodrick showing his disappointment towards the change of actor in the new "Diary of a wimpy Kid" movie.
• He is interested in Metaphysics.
• Cub Scouts: He was a cub scouts member.
• Ethan is a very social person and favorite among friends. He is nice to people and doesn't realize who he should be with, sometimes his friends make sure he has the right company. [6]
• Rapper Lil Xan and Ethan Cutkosky have a strong resemblance to each other, In March of 2018, Ethan appeared on stage alongside Lil Xan. Lil Xan and Ethan are best friends. [3]
• Driving under the influence: Ethan was arrested for driving under the influence in Los Angles on 6th November 2017. in a podcast with Tana Mongeau, he shared that he had smoked 4 hours before and was sober at that time and one of his friends was smoking joint in the car, the media put him under wrong light, so much so that his relatives who red the articles were worried, it was an unnecessary headache which Ethan let die down.[1] [6]
• His father wouldn't let him watch Shameless episodes all by himself when he was young, he could watch most parts, but not all. [5]
• Played down the fame: When he was young and people came up to him after recognizing him from Shameless, he would say "No, that's not me.". His parents didn't like him to get the wrong kind of attention while growing up. [6]
• When he was shooting for Shameless, he denied roles in other works, he wanted to take school seriously and finish schooling the best way possible. [6]
• People criticized his parents when Ethan started in acting, they thought he would be exposed to drugs, alcohol, glamour way too early. Ethan's experience has been the opposite, kids are exposed to drugs in public high schools way more than on any film sets, where there are adults to advice him, keep him in checks and make sure he is responsible. [6]

Q & A

• Celebrity he has crush on?
  • Lily Collins (Emily in Paris)
• What was the craziest fan encounter he had?
  • A 14 year old girl and a mother once breached the place he was staying in. Security alerted him to stay indoors out of concern.
• Did he ever hooked up with anyone on shameless set?
  • No, he was still very young
• Who is his favorite sibling from Shameless?
  • He loves everyone from Shameless, he feels Emma Kenney from the show and he are closest, perhaps because they are almost of same age
• What does he look for in a girl?
  • He likes someone he can have a emotional connection with. (He doesn't have a clear cut physical shape)
• What are his favorite scene from Shameless?
  • Doing crazy stuff like- Blowing up a meth lab. Emotional scenes are also among his favorites.
• His favorite Shameless episode?
  • He doesn't have a particular favorite episode, but has many favorite moments. 

* All Q & A from [6]

Quotes

• I don't see myself as an actor, I want to go to work and come back to hang out with friends
• The way an individual can perceive one thing in so many ways is interesting
• S**t will still hit right at home even if you didn't know them
• Ignorant people are cute
• As long as we don't choose anything is possible
• Enter my mind you won't come out sane.
• One day I'm going to touch the sky
• Sorry. I’m a leader. Not a follower.
• You want to get lost? Come to my mind.
• Everything that I wanted to do and that I'm doing right now is because of Shameless, Shameless is always going to be our baby. [4]
• Most of the relationships I have had have been like high octane fuel, since a very young age... and then I'd be like 'I don't want a relationship'.. then I find somebody, and I'd be like 'this could be fun', and the all of a sudden, I'd be like' This is too much'. [6]
• There is no bone in me that would ever want to be rude to someone, because if I was, then I don't deserve to be what I'm doing. [6]
• I want to be able to talk about subjects that people don't talk about... like body image, mental health, even drug abuse. [6]

Sources

1. Ethan Cutkosky Wiki
2. IMDB Movies List
3. Ethan's bio on imdb
4. Ethan Cutkosky interview with EW
5. Ethan on Windy City Live
6. ETHAN CUTKOSKY IS SHAMELESS... CANCELLED  with Tana Mongeau