Alan Cumming
Encyclopedia
Alan Cumming, OBE
(born 27 January 1965) is a Scottish stage, television and film actor, singer, writer, director, producer and author. His roles have included the Emcee in Cabaret
, Boris Grishenko in GoldenEye
, Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler
in X2: X-Men United
, Mr. Elton in Emma
, and Fegan Floop in the Spy Kids
trilogy. He has also appeared in independent films like The Anniversary Party
, which he co-wrote, co-directed and co-starred in; and Ali Selim
's Sweet Land
, for which he won an Independent Spirit award as producer.
His London stage appearances include Hamlet
, the Maniac in Dario Fo
's Accidental Death of an Anarchist
, for which he received an Olivier award, the lead in Martin Sherman
's Bent
, and as Dionysus in The National Theatre of Scotland's The Bacchae
. On Broadway he has appeared as Mac the Knife in The Threepenny Opera
, the Emcee in Cabaret
, for which he won the Tony in 1998, and Design for Living
. Cumming also introduces Masterpiece Mystery! for PBS. He currently appears as a regular on The Good Wife, a role for which he was nominated for an Emmy.
He has also written a novel, Tommy's Tale, had a cable talk show ("Eavesdropping with Alan Cumming") and produced a line of perfumed products labelled "Cumming". He has contributed opinion pieces to many publications and performed a cabaret show I Bought A Blue Car Today. Retaining his British citizenship, Cumming also became a U.S. citizen in November 2008. He also starred as Gutsy Smurf in the 2011 film The Smurfs
.
, Cumming attended Monikie
Primary School and Carnoustie
High School and originally aspired to a career in veterinary medicine, but a personality clash with his biology teacher prevented him from taking a related elective and he subsequently set his sights on becoming an actor. Following graduation, he spent a year and a half employed as an editor and columnist for the Scottish pop magazine TOPS before entering the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
in Glasgow. On graduation from Drama school he married fellow student, Hilary Lyon; they divorced 8 years later and had no children.
's character, in Circle of Friends
, an Irish film released in 1995. In 1995 he played Boris Ivanovich Grishenko in the James Bond film GoldenEye
. Cumming co-wrote, co-directed, co-produced, and co-starred in the ensemble film The Anniversary Party
with friend and former Cabaret
co-star Jennifer Jason Leigh
, in 2001. The two starred in the movie as a Hollywood couple. Cumming starred in and directed Suffering Man's Charity, later released as Ghost Writer. He had prominent roles in the Spy Kids trilogy, X-Men 2
(as Nightcrawler
), and was in Spice World, as well as Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, Josie and the Pussycats and Son of the Mask, along with acting in the Flintstones movie Viva Rock Vegas. He played Saturninus in the 1999 Julie Taymor
film production of Titus
. Cumming played a psychotic ex-amusement park employee in David Munro's Full Grown Men
, which was shown in theaters throughout the U.S. in summer 2008.
In Gray Matters, a 2007 romantic comedy film directed by Sue Kramer, Cumming, plays cab driver Gordy who had a crush on Gray (Heather Graham). It premiered on October 21, 2006 at the Hamptons International Film Festival and had a U.S. theatrical release on February 23, 2007. In Burlesque
, Cumming played the host, Alexis. In 2010, Cumming will provide the voice of Adolf Hitler
in the film Jackboots on Whitehall
as well as co-star in "Boogie Woogie". During his career, Cumming has also directed two short films, Butter and Burn Your Phone. The latter began its life as a one-off drama on BBC Radio 4
. He most recently provided the voice of Scottish Smurf, Gutsy Smurf, in the live-action/CGI film adaptation of the Smurfs.
and Taggart
. His first major television role was in the Christmas 1991 comedy Bernard and the Genie
, a Richard Curtis
-scripted one-off show where he starred alongside Lenny Henry
and Rowan Atkinson
. Cumming starred as Sebastian Flight in the Scottish sitcom The High Life in 1994-5. The series was written by Cumming and co-star Forbes Masson
, continuing an acting-writing partnership the two had developed since their drama school days. Masson and Cumming also formed a cult Kelvinside musical double act "Victor and Barry
", which was filmed for an stv show and were nominated for a Perrier Award in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1988, toured Australia in 1989, playing the Sydney Opera House, released a record ("See Victor and Barry and Faint") but were killed off onstage at the London Palladium in the early 1990s.
as O the designer in the episode, 'The Real Me'. Also in 2001 Cumming starred in Spy Kids
. 2003 saw him playing a cameo role in the American sitcom Frasier
, playing Niles' yoga instructor. He also guest starred on 3rd Rock from the Sun
. In 2004, he starred in Showtime's Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical
in which he played the role of The Lecturer – a versatile character who narrates the story and transforms himself into several other minor characters. Shortly afterward, he had a short role in Richard Bell
's feature film Eighteen. In 2005 Alan played as Loki in Son of the Mask
. He appeared in BBC show, Shoebox Zoo
as the humble, kind-hearted Bruno.
Cumming played the role of Bill Blaikie, a gay drag queen party promoter hired by Kit Porter to manage her café cum nightclub, in season 3 of The L Word
. His character had an affair with Max, a transgendered female-to-male character in the show. He appeared in episodes 2 to 7, which originally aired on Showtime in 2006. In 2007, Cumming played Glitch/Ambrose, an inventor whose brain had been partially removed, in the TV miniseries, Tin Man
. He also provided the voice of Chuck Masters, a 50 year-old, paralyzed, HIV-positive gay man in Logo's
Rick and Steve, a stop animation sitcom created by Q. Allan Brocka
. He is also the host of the 2008–2010 seasons of the PBS Masterpiece Mystery!
series.
Cumming also appeared as the third celebrity hijacker in Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack
, giving the housemates a method acting
task in which they had to stay in character all day and then produce an improvised play. He plays Eli Gold on the CBS television show The Good Wife, becoming a series regular in the show's 2010–2011 season, and Desrae, a transvestite, on the British series The Runaway
. Cumming also hosted short-lived US cable television shows, "Eavesdropping with Alan Cumming," in which he interviewed female co-stars of his movie roles, and "Midnight Snack," where he and his dogs introduced cult movies. Cumming has also appeared on numerous US, UK and Australian talk shows.
's record-breaking revival (or reimagination) of the musical Cabaret
. He performed the role in London
's West End
opposite Jane Horrocks
as Sally Bowles. Cumming received an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. He transferred with the show to Broadway
where Cumming starred opposite Natasha Richardson
and both won Tony Award
s, Drama Desk Award
s and Outer Critics Circle Award
s for their hugely acclaimed performances. He recorded the song, "Baby, It's Cold Outside" with Liza Minnelli
for the Broadway Cares: Home for the Holidays album in 2001.
Other stage roles have included Otto in the 2001 Broadway production of Design for Living
by Noel Coward
, Valere in David Hirson's La Bete
, the title role in the 1993 English Touring Theatre
's Hamlet
(playing opposite his then-wife, Hilary Lyon, in the role of Ophelia), and The Madman in the 1990 Royal National Theatre
production of Accidental Death of an Anarchist
by Dario Fo
, for which he won an Olivier Award. In 2002, Cumming and then-boyfriend British director Nick Philippou formed the production company The Art Party. The company's first and only play was the first English production of Jean Genet
's play Elle, which Cumming had adapted from a literal translation by Terri Gordon. The company folded in 2003.
In 2006, Cumming returned to the stage, firstly performing in a poorly-received revival of the Bertolt Brecht
-Kurt Weill
musical The Threepenny Opera
opposite Cyndi Lauper
. They later performed at the Tony Awards. In late 2006, he appeared in the West End playing the lead role in Bent
, a play about homosexuals in Germany under the Nazis. In 2007 he took the lead role in the National Theatre of Scotland's production of The Bacchae
, which premiéred at the Edinburgh Festival
in August, transferring to the Lyric Theatre
in London and then to Lincoln Center, New York. Cumming performed alongside Dianne Wiest
in Classic Stage Company's production of Anton Chekhov
's The Seagull
, directed by Viacheslav Dolgachev. He was optioned to play the Green Goblin
in the new musical adaptation
of the Spider-Man
comics, but was replaced by Patrick Page
.
, published in 2002. He has also written articles for magazines, notably as a contributing editor for Marie Claire magazine, writing on the haute couture shows in Paris, as well as what it was like for him dressing as a woman for a day. Cumming recorded a duet of "Baby, It’s Cold Outside" with Liza Minnelli to raise money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and the September 11 Fund. In 2005 he released a fragance called "Cumming," and a related line of scented bath lotion and body wash. They were sold exclusively at Sephora (which did not renew its distribution agreement) and a website which he dismantled in 2009 because of hackers defrauding customers.
Cumming served as a delegate for the Creative Coalition
during the 2004 Democratic National Convention
in Boston. and contributed to If You Had Five Minutes with the President, a collection of 55+ essays by members or supporters of The Creative Coalition. He was subsequently widely quoted for stating that he wished to see Obama naked. On 1 September 2009, Cumming released his first solo album based around his one man show, I Bought a Blue Car Today
. On 13 September 2010 Cumming was featured in an episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, the BBC
series that explores the family background and ancestors of famous figures. He investigated his grandfather Thomas Darling, who he discovered had died playing russian roulette
while serving as a police officer in Malaya
.
Cumming lives in New York City with his partner (via UK civil partnership), graphic artist, Grant Shaffer, and their dogs, Honey and Leon. The couple dated for two years before entering into a civil partnership at the Old Royal Naval College Greenwich
on January 7, 2007. After his civil partnership, when asked if he was monogamous, he stated "I don’t believe that monogamy is feasible".
Once described as "a frolicky pansexual sex symbol for the new millennium", Cumming has stated that he considers himself bisexual, "although the pendulum has obviously swung". Prior to the civil union, Cumming dated both men and women. Previous relationships include a two-year relationship with actress Saffron Burrows
, a six-year relationship with theater director Nick Philippou, and a 1985 marriage to actress Hilary Lyon that lasted eight years.
He used to be a member of the Church of Scotland
until his mother received a letter from them saying they had "read something about me being an atheist and would I like to leave". He said he had attended out of tradition, but realized being a part of it was "only condoning and validating lots of things I disapprove of: oppression, guilt, shame, etc".
In a profile for The Times
, Cumming stated that he "would dearly like to adopt a child", but subsequently stated his life was "too hectic" for children.
Once he outed himself as bisexual in 1998, Cumming promoted LGBT
rights, emceeing and attending fundraisers for organizations such as the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and the Human Rights Campaign
(HRC), as well as several AIDS charities, including the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AMFAR) and Broadway Cares/Equity
Fights AIDS.
Cumming is a patron of NORM-UK
, an English-registered charity
concerned with foreskin
health and matters related to circumcision
; he has revealed that he is not circumcised. Referring to the high prevalence of routine infant circumcision in the United States, Cumming told The Sunday Times
in 2007: "I think it's insane that an entire nation is ignorant about a part of their body they have lost. ... The sanitation issue, especially, always comes up when I am in America. But you know what? I am very clean. I shower frequently. I am very proud of my foreskin. I believe it's there for a purpose. And I just want people to stop and think for a second before they decide to get a big bit of their newborn son's cock cut off."
In March 2005 Cumming received the Vito Russo
Award at the 16th Annual GLAAD Media Awards for outstanding contributions toward eliminating homophobia. In July of the same year he was also presented with the HRC
's Humanitarian Award in San Francisco, also for his LGBT public stance. In November 2006 Cumming received a Doctor of Arts
honorary degree from the University of Abertay Dundee
. He also is a patron of the Scottish Youth Theatre
, Scotland's National Theatre 'for and by' young people. Cumming was appointed an OBE in the 2009 Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to film, theatre and the arts and activism for LGBT rights. On November 7, 2008, Cumming became a dual-national and was sworn in as a citizen of the United States of America at a ceremony in New York City.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 27 January 1965) is a Scottish stage, television and film actor, singer, writer, director, producer and author. His roles have included the Emcee in Cabaret
Cabaret (musical)
Cabaret is a musical based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit and spawned a 1972 film as well as numerous subsequent productions....
, Boris Grishenko in GoldenEye
GoldenEye
GoldenEye is the seventeenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was directed by Martin Campbell and is the first film in the series not to take story elements from the works of novelist Ian Fleming...
, Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler
Nightcrawler (comics)
Nightcrawler is a fictional character, a comic book superhero in the Marvel Universe. He has been associated with both the X-Men and Excalibur, originally appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum, he debuted in Giant-Size X-Men #1...
in X2: X-Men United
X2 (film)
X2 is a 2003 superhero film based on the fictional characters the X-Men. Directed by Bryan Singer, it is the second film in the X-Men film series...
, Mr. Elton in Emma
Emma (1996 film)
Emma is a 1996 period film based on the novel of the same name by Jane Austen. Directed by Douglas McGrath, it stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeremy Northam, Toni Collette, and Ewan McGregor.- Synopsis :...
, and Fegan Floop in the Spy Kids
Spy Kids
The Spy Kids series is a series of family action adventure films written, produced and directed by Robert Rodriguez. The main plot follows the adventures of two Cortez children who become involved in their parents' espionage. The rest of their family are spies as well, including their estranged...
trilogy. He has also appeared in independent films like The Anniversary Party
The Anniversary Party
The Anniversary Party is a 2001 American comedy-drama film written, directed, produced by, and starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming.-Plot:...
, which he co-wrote, co-directed and co-starred in; and Ali Selim
Ali Selim
Ali Selim is an Arab-American advertising and independent film director. Over the past fifteen years he has directed over 850 television commercials, five half-hour documentaries and several music videos.-Early life:...
's Sweet Land
Sweet Land
Sweet Land is a 2005 American independent period drama film written and directed by Ali Selim. It is an adaptation of the 1989 short story "A Gravestone Made of Wheat" by Will Weaver...
, for which he won an Independent Spirit award as producer.
His London stage appearances include Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
, the Maniac in Dario Fo
Dario Fo
Dario Fo is an Italian satirist, playwright, theater director, actor and composer. His dramatic work employs comedic methods of the ancient Italian commedia dell'arte, a theatrical style popular with the working classes. He currently owns and operates a theatre company with his wife, actress...
's Accidental Death of an Anarchist
Accidental Death of an Anarchist
Accidental Death of an Anarchist is perhaps the best-known play by the Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo.- About the play :...
, for which he received an Olivier award, the lead in Martin Sherman
Martin Sherman
Martin Sherman is an American dramatist and screenwriter, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-nominated play Bent , which explores the persecution of homosexuals during the Holocaust...
's Bent
Bent (play)
Bent is a 1979 play by Martin Sherman. It revolves around the persecution of gays in Nazi Germany, and takes place during and after the Night of the Long Knives....
, and as Dionysus in The National Theatre of Scotland's The Bacchae
The Bacchae
The Bacchae is an ancient Greek tragedy by the Athenian playwright Euripides, during his final years in Macedon, at the court of Archelaus I of Macedon. It premiered posthumously at the Theatre of Dionysus in 405 BC as part of a tetralogy that also included Iphigeneia at Aulis, and which...
. On Broadway he has appeared as Mac the Knife in The Threepenny Opera
The Threepenny Opera
The Threepenny Opera is a musical by German dramatist Bertolt Brecht and composer Kurt Weill, in collaboration with translator Elisabeth Hauptmann and set designer Caspar Neher. It was adapted from an 18th-century English ballad opera, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, and offers a Marxist critique...
, the Emcee in Cabaret
Cabaret (musical)
Cabaret is a musical based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit and spawned a 1972 film as well as numerous subsequent productions....
, for which he won the Tony in 1998, and Design for Living
Design for Living
Design for Living is a comedy play written by Noël Coward in 1932. It concerns a trio of artistic characters, Gilda, Otto and Leo, and their complicated three-way relationship. Originally written to star Lynn Fontanne, Alfred Lunt and Coward, it was premiered on Broadway, partly because its risqué...
. Cumming also introduces Masterpiece Mystery! for PBS. He currently appears as a regular on The Good Wife, a role for which he was nominated for an Emmy.
He has also written a novel, Tommy's Tale, had a cable talk show ("Eavesdropping with Alan Cumming") and produced a line of perfumed products labelled "Cumming". He has contributed opinion pieces to many publications and performed a cabaret show I Bought A Blue Car Today. Retaining his British citizenship, Cumming also became a U.S. citizen in November 2008. He also starred as Gutsy Smurf in the 2011 film The Smurfs
The Smurfs (film)
The Smurfs is a 2011 American 3D family film based on The Smurfs comic book series created by Peyo and the 1980s animated TV series it spawned. It was directed by Raja Gosnell and stars Neil Patrick Harris, Hank Azaria, Jayma Mays, and Sofía Vergara. It is the first CGI/live-action hybrid film to...
.
Early life
Cumming was born in Aberfeldy, in Perthshire, Scotland, the son of Mary (née Darling), an insurance company secretary, and Alex Cumming, a forester. He has stated that his father was physically and emotionally abusive towards him. He has one older brother, Tom, and a niece and nephew. Brought up in AngusAngus
Angus is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland, a registration county and a lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross and Dundee City...
, Cumming attended Monikie
Monikie
Monikie is a village in Angus, Scotland, north-east of Dundee, and which takes its name from the civil parish of Monikie.-History:The village grew from small beginnings as just one of many hamlets. The other large village in the parish is Newbigging...
Primary School and Carnoustie
Carnoustie
Carnoustie is a town and former police burgh in the council area of Angus, Scotland. It is situated at the mouth of the Barry Burn on the North Sea coast...
High School and originally aspired to a career in veterinary medicine, but a personality clash with his biology teacher prevented him from taking a related elective and he subsequently set his sights on becoming an actor. Following graduation, he spent a year and a half employed as an editor and columnist for the Scottish pop magazine TOPS before entering the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is a conservatoire of music, drama, and dance in the centre of Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1845 as the Glasgow Educational Association, it is the busiest performing arts venue in Scotland...
in Glasgow. On graduation from Drama school he married fellow student, Hilary Lyon; they divorced 8 years later and had no children.
Film
Cumming played Sean Walsh, an unwanted suitor of Minnie DriverMinnie Driver
Minnie Driver is an English actress and singer-songwriter. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting, as well as for an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe for her work in the television series The Riches.- Early life...
's character, in Circle of Friends
Circle of Friends (1995 film)
Circle of Friends is a 1995 film directed by Irish filmmaker Pat O'Connor and based on the novel of the same name written by Maeve Binchy.-Plot:...
, an Irish film released in 1995. In 1995 he played Boris Ivanovich Grishenko in the James Bond film GoldenEye
GoldenEye
GoldenEye is the seventeenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was directed by Martin Campbell and is the first film in the series not to take story elements from the works of novelist Ian Fleming...
. Cumming co-wrote, co-directed, co-produced, and co-starred in the ensemble film The Anniversary Party
The Anniversary Party
The Anniversary Party is a 2001 American comedy-drama film written, directed, produced by, and starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming.-Plot:...
with friend and former Cabaret
Cabaret (musical)
Cabaret is a musical based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit and spawned a 1972 film as well as numerous subsequent productions....
co-star Jennifer Jason Leigh
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Jennifer Jason Leigh is an American film and stage actress, best known for her roles in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Single White Female, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Georgia and Short Cuts...
, in 2001. The two starred in the movie as a Hollywood couple. Cumming starred in and directed Suffering Man's Charity, later released as Ghost Writer. He had prominent roles in the Spy Kids trilogy, X-Men 2
X2 (film)
X2 is a 2003 superhero film based on the fictional characters the X-Men. Directed by Bryan Singer, it is the second film in the X-Men film series...
(as Nightcrawler
Nightcrawler (comics)
Nightcrawler is a fictional character, a comic book superhero in the Marvel Universe. He has been associated with both the X-Men and Excalibur, originally appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum, he debuted in Giant-Size X-Men #1...
), and was in Spice World, as well as Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, Josie and the Pussycats and Son of the Mask, along with acting in the Flintstones movie Viva Rock Vegas. He played Saturninus in the 1999 Julie Taymor
Julie Taymor
Julie Taymor is an American director of theater, opera and film. Taymor's work has received many accolades from critics, and she has earned two Tony Awards out of four nominations, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design, an Emmy Award and an Academy Award nomination for Original Song...
film production of Titus
Titus (film)
Titus is a 1999 film adaptation of Shakespeare's revenge tragedy Titus Andronicus, about the downfall of a Roman general. It was the first film of the play . The film was made by Overseas Filmgroup and Clear Blue Sky Productions and released by Fox Searchlight Pictures...
. Cumming played a psychotic ex-amusement park employee in David Munro's Full Grown Men
Full Grown Men
Full Grown Men is a 2006 American independent comedy film directed by David Munro and starring Matt McGrath, Judah Friedlander, Alan Cumming, Amy Sedaris, and Deborah Harry, is the bittersweet story of a thirtysomething man with family who grudgingly realizes it is time to trade adolescence for...
, which was shown in theaters throughout the U.S. in summer 2008.
In Gray Matters, a 2007 romantic comedy film directed by Sue Kramer, Cumming, plays cab driver Gordy who had a crush on Gray (Heather Graham). It premiered on October 21, 2006 at the Hamptons International Film Festival and had a U.S. theatrical release on February 23, 2007. In Burlesque
Burlesque (film)
Burlesque is a 2010 musical film directed and written by Steven Antin and starring Christina Aguilera and Cher. The film was released on November 24, 2010 in North America....
, Cumming played the host, Alexis. In 2010, Cumming will provide the voice of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
in the film Jackboots on Whitehall
Jackboots on Whitehall
Jackboots on Whitehall is a satirical film portraying an alternate history of the Second World War, in which Nazi Germany has seized London, causing the British to band together at Hadrian's Wall if they are to thwart the German invasion...
as well as co-star in "Boogie Woogie". During his career, Cumming has also directed two short films, Butter and Burn Your Phone. The latter began its life as a one-off drama on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
. He most recently provided the voice of Scottish Smurf, Gutsy Smurf, in the live-action/CGI film adaptation of the Smurfs.
United Kingdom
In the mid-1980s Cumming made brief appearances in Scottish television shows including Take The High RoadTake the High Road
Take the High Road was a Scottish soap opera produced by Scottish Television, and set in the fictional village of Glendarroch , and claims to have about 2 million fans, including the Queen Mother...
and Taggart
Taggart
Taggart is a Scottish detective television programme, created by Glenn Chandler, who has written many of the episodes, and made by STV Productions for the ITV network...
. His first major television role was in the Christmas 1991 comedy Bernard and the Genie
Bernard and the Genie
Bernard and the Genie is a seventy-minute British TV movie co-produced by Attaboy and Talkback for BBC Television. It was first shown on BBC1 on 23 November 1991...
, a Richard Curtis
Richard Curtis
Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis, CBE is a New Zealand-born British screenwriter, music producer, actor and film director, known primarily for romantic comedy films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones's Diary, Notting Hill, Love Actually and The Girl in the Café, as well as the hit...
-scripted one-off show where he starred alongside Lenny Henry
Lenny Henry
Lenworth George "Lenny" Henry, is a British actor, writer, comedian and occasional television presenter.- Early life :...
and Rowan Atkinson
Rowan Atkinson
Rowan Sebastian Atkinson is a British actor, comedian, and screenwriter. He is most famous for his work on the satirical sketch comedy show Not The Nine O'Clock News, and the sitcoms Blackadder, Mr. Bean and The Thin Blue Line...
. Cumming starred as Sebastian Flight in the Scottish sitcom The High Life in 1994-5. The series was written by Cumming and co-star Forbes Masson
Forbes Masson
Forbes Masson is a Scottish actor and writer. He is best known for his classical theatre roles and comedy partnership with Alan Cumming...
, continuing an acting-writing partnership the two had developed since their drama school days. Masson and Cumming also formed a cult Kelvinside musical double act "Victor and Barry
Victor and Barry
Victor Ignatius MacIlvaney and Barry Primrose McLeish were the creations of Forbes Masson and Alan Cumming.Victor and Barry are the slightly camp, Scottish founder members of the Kelvinside Young People’s Amateur Dramatic Art Society, of which they would share their reminiscences with audiences far...
", which was filmed for an stv show and were nominated for a Perrier Award in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1988, toured Australia in 1989, playing the Sydney Opera House, released a record ("See Victor and Barry and Faint") but were killed off onstage at the London Palladium in the early 1990s.
United States
In 2001, he guest starred in the HBO comedy Sex and the CitySex and the City
Sex and the City is an American television comedy-drama series created by Darren Star and produced by HBO. Broadcast from 1998 until 2004, the original run of the show had a total of ninety-four episodes...
as O the designer in the episode, 'The Real Me'. Also in 2001 Cumming starred in Spy Kids
Spy Kids
The Spy Kids series is a series of family action adventure films written, produced and directed by Robert Rodriguez. The main plot follows the adventures of two Cortez children who become involved in their parents' espionage. The rest of their family are spies as well, including their estranged...
. 2003 saw him playing a cameo role in the American sitcom Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
, playing Niles' yoga instructor. He also guest starred on 3rd Rock from the Sun
3rd Rock from the Sun
3rd Rock from the Sun is an American sitcom that aired from 1996 to 2001 on NBC. The show is about four extraterrestrials who are on an expedition to Earth, which they consider to be a very insignificant planet...
. In 2004, he starred in Showtime's Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical
Reefer Madness (2005 film)
Reefer Madness premiered on April 16, 2005 on the Showtime cable network. It is a television movie version of the 1998 musical, and stars Alan Cumming as the Lecturer, Ana Gasteyer as Mae, and Kristen Bell as Mary. The movie also stars siblings Christian and Neve Campbell as Jimmy Harper and Miss...
in which he played the role of The Lecturer – a versatile character who narrates the story and transforms himself into several other minor characters. Shortly afterward, he had a short role in Richard Bell
Richard Bell (director)
Richard Bell is the writer and director of the short feature Two Brothers and the feature Eighteen. The latter starred Brendan Fletcher, Carly Pope, Mark Hildreth, Thea Gill, and Alan Cumming. The film was narrated by Ian McKellen, with music composed by Bramwell Tovey and performed by the...
's feature film Eighteen. In 2005 Alan played as Loki in Son of the Mask
Son of the Mask
Son of the Mask is a 2005 American fantasy family-comedy film directed by Lawrence Guterman, starring Jamie Kennedy as Tim Avery, an aspiring cartoonist from Fringe City who has just had his first child born with the powers of the Mask. It is the stand-alone sequel to the successful 1994 film The...
. He appeared in BBC show, Shoebox Zoo
Shoebox Zoo
Shoebox Zoo is a children's fantasy TV series made in a collaboration between BBC Scotland and various Canadian television companies. It is mostly live-action, but with CGI used for the animal figurines. It was first broadcast in 2004 by CBBC...
as the humble, kind-hearted Bruno.
Cumming played the role of Bill Blaikie, a gay drag queen party promoter hired by Kit Porter to manage her café cum nightclub, in season 3 of The L Word
The L Word
The L Word is an American co-production television drama series originally shown on Showtime portraying the lives of a group of lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people and their friends, family and lovers in the trendy Greater Los Angeles, California city of West Hollywood...
. His character had an affair with Max, a transgendered female-to-male character in the show. He appeared in episodes 2 to 7, which originally aired on Showtime in 2006. In 2007, Cumming played Glitch/Ambrose, an inventor whose brain had been partially removed, in the TV miniseries, Tin Man
Tin Man (TV miniseries)
Tin Man is a 2007 four and a half hour miniseries co-produced by RHI Entertainment and Sci Fi Channel original pictures that was broadcast in the United States on the Sci Fi Channel in three parts. The first part aired on December 2, and the remaining two parts airing on the following nights...
. He also provided the voice of Chuck Masters, a 50 year-old, paralyzed, HIV-positive gay man in Logo's
Logo (TV channel)
Logo is an American digital cable television channel owned by Viacom's MTV Networks division. Launched in June 2005, the channel's programs are geared towards the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community...
Rick and Steve, a stop animation sitcom created by Q. Allan Brocka
Q. Allan Brocka
Quenton Allan Brocka is an award-winning American television and film director based in West Hollywood, California. He has directed and written a number of feature films while creating an animated television series for the Logo cable network...
. He is also the host of the 2008–2010 seasons of the PBS Masterpiece Mystery!
Mystery!
Mystery! is an episodic television series that debuted in 1980 in the USA. It airs on PBS and is produced by WGBH...
series.
Cumming also appeared as the third celebrity hijacker in Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack
Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack
Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack was an E4 temporary replacement to Celebrity Big Brother, a spin-off series of the British reality television programme Big Brother, airing on E4, with a number of closely associated programmes also airing on the same channel...
, giving the housemates a method acting
Method acting
Method acting is a phrase that loosely refers to a family of techniques used by actors to create in themselves the thoughts and emotions of their characters, so as to develop lifelike performances...
task in which they had to stay in character all day and then produce an improvised play. He plays Eli Gold on the CBS television show The Good Wife, becoming a series regular in the show's 2010–2011 season, and Desrae, a transvestite, on the British series The Runaway
The Runaway (TV series)
The Runaway is a 6 episode drama TV series on Sky1 and Sky1 HD based upon the 1997 Martina Cole novel of the same name. Shooting for the show took place in South Africa where the production team recreated London's Soho....
. Cumming also hosted short-lived US cable television shows, "Eavesdropping with Alan Cumming," in which he interviewed female co-stars of his movie roles, and "Midnight Snack," where he and his dogs introduced cult movies. Cumming has also appeared on numerous US, UK and Australian talk shows.
Theatre
Cumming played the role of Emcee in Sam MendesSam Mendes
Samuel Alexander "Sam" Mendes, CBE is an English stage and film director. He is best known for his Academy Award-winning work on his debut film American Beauty and his dark re-inventions of the stage musicals Cabaret , Oliver! , Company and Gypsy . He's currently working on the 23rd James Bond...
's record-breaking revival (or reimagination) of the musical Cabaret
Cabaret (musical)
Cabaret is a musical based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit and spawned a 1972 film as well as numerous subsequent productions....
. He performed the role in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
opposite Jane Horrocks
Jane Horrocks
Barbara Jane Horrocks is an English voice, stage, screen and television actress, voice artist, musician, and singer. She is best known for her role as "Bubble" in the TV series Absolutely Fabulous as well as her distinctive voice....
as Sally Bowles. Cumming received an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. He transferred with the show to Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
where Cumming starred opposite Natasha Richardson
Natasha Richardson
Natasha Jane Richardson was an English actress of stage and screen. A member of the Redgrave family, she was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson...
and both won Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
s, Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
s and Outer Critics Circle Award
Outer Critics Circle Award
The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on and Off-Broadway and were begun during the 1949-1950 theater season. The awards are decided upon by theater critics who review for out-of-town newspapers, national publications, and other media outlets...
s for their hugely acclaimed performances. He recorded the song, "Baby, It's Cold Outside" with Liza Minnelli
Liza Minnelli
Liza May Minnelli is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli....
for the Broadway Cares: Home for the Holidays album in 2001.
Other stage roles have included Otto in the 2001 Broadway production of Design for Living
Design for Living
Design for Living is a comedy play written by Noël Coward in 1932. It concerns a trio of artistic characters, Gilda, Otto and Leo, and their complicated three-way relationship. Originally written to star Lynn Fontanne, Alfred Lunt and Coward, it was premiered on Broadway, partly because its risqué...
by Noel Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
, Valere in David Hirson's La Bete
La Bête
La Bête is a comedy by American playwright, David Hirson. Written in rhymed couplets of iambic pentameter, the Molière-inspired story, set in 17th century France, pits dignified, stuffy Elomire, the head of the royal court-sponsored theatre troupe, against the foppish, frivolous street entertainer...
, the title role in the 1993 English Touring Theatre
English Touring Theatre
The English Touring Theatre is a touring theatre company in England. It is England's only touring company to receive a government subsidy for producing work for larger theatres, which is its main work...
's Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
(playing opposite his then-wife, Hilary Lyon, in the role of Ophelia), and The Madman in the 1990 Royal National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
production of Accidental Death of an Anarchist
Accidental Death of an Anarchist
Accidental Death of an Anarchist is perhaps the best-known play by the Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo.- About the play :...
by Dario Fo
Dario Fo
Dario Fo is an Italian satirist, playwright, theater director, actor and composer. His dramatic work employs comedic methods of the ancient Italian commedia dell'arte, a theatrical style popular with the working classes. He currently owns and operates a theatre company with his wife, actress...
, for which he won an Olivier Award. In 2002, Cumming and then-boyfriend British director Nick Philippou formed the production company The Art Party. The company's first and only play was the first English production of Jean Genet
Jean Genet
Jean Genet was a prominent and controversial French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. Early in his life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but later took to writing...
's play Elle, which Cumming had adapted from a literal translation by Terri Gordon. The company folded in 2003.
In 2006, Cumming returned to the stage, firstly performing in a poorly-received revival of the Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
-Kurt Weill
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
musical The Threepenny Opera
The Threepenny Opera
The Threepenny Opera is a musical by German dramatist Bertolt Brecht and composer Kurt Weill, in collaboration with translator Elisabeth Hauptmann and set designer Caspar Neher. It was adapted from an 18th-century English ballad opera, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, and offers a Marxist critique...
opposite Cyndi Lauper
Cyndi Lauper
Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...
. They later performed at the Tony Awards. In late 2006, he appeared in the West End playing the lead role in Bent
Bent (play)
Bent is a 1979 play by Martin Sherman. It revolves around the persecution of gays in Nazi Germany, and takes place during and after the Night of the Long Knives....
, a play about homosexuals in Germany under the Nazis. In 2007 he took the lead role in the National Theatre of Scotland's production of The Bacchae
The Bacchae
The Bacchae is an ancient Greek tragedy by the Athenian playwright Euripides, during his final years in Macedon, at the court of Archelaus I of Macedon. It premiered posthumously at the Theatre of Dionysus in 405 BC as part of a tetralogy that also included Iphigeneia at Aulis, and which...
, which premiéred at the Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
in August, transferring to the Lyric Theatre
Lyric Theatre (London)
The Lyric Theatre is a West End theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster.Designed by architect C. J. Phipps, it was built by producer Henry Leslie with profits from the Alfred Cellier and B. C. Stephenson hit, Dorothy, which he transferred from the Prince of Wales Theatre to open...
in London and then to Lincoln Center, New York. Cumming performed alongside Dianne Wiest
Dianne Wiest
Dianne Wiest is an American actress. She has had a successful career on stage, television, and film, and has won two Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. Wiest has also been nominated for a BAFTA Award.-Early life:...
in Classic Stage Company's production of Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
's The Seagull
The Seagull
The Seagull is the first of what are generally considered to be the four major plays by the Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov. The Seagull was written in 1895 and first produced in 1896...
, directed by Viacheslav Dolgachev. He was optioned to play the Green Goblin
Green Goblin
The Green Goblin is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, and first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #14 ....
in the new musical adaptation
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is a rock musical with music and lyrics by U2's Bono and The Edge and a book by Julie Taymor, Glen Berger, and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. The musical is based on the Spider-Man comics created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, published by Marvel Comics, as well as the 2002...
of the Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
comics, but was replaced by Patrick Page
Patrick Page
Patrick Page is an American actor and playwright living in New York City.-Career:Page’s Broadway credits include originating the role of The Grinch in Dr...
.
Other work
Cumming wrote a novel, Tommy's TaleTommy's Tale
Tommy's Tale is a novel written by the actor Alan Cumming, centering around the life of a bisexual London resident named Tommy. The book is a first-person narrative, and revolves around an early mid-life crisis triggered when Tommy "accidentally" proclaims his love for his friend-with-benefits,...
, published in 2002. He has also written articles for magazines, notably as a contributing editor for Marie Claire magazine, writing on the haute couture shows in Paris, as well as what it was like for him dressing as a woman for a day. Cumming recorded a duet of "Baby, It’s Cold Outside" with Liza Minnelli to raise money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and the September 11 Fund. In 2005 he released a fragance called "Cumming," and a related line of scented bath lotion and body wash. They were sold exclusively at Sephora (which did not renew its distribution agreement) and a website which he dismantled in 2009 because of hackers defrauding customers.
Cumming served as a delegate for the Creative Coalition
Creative Coalition
The Creative Coalition is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, politically-active group formed of members of the American entertainment industry....
during the 2004 Democratic National Convention
Democratic National Convention
The Democratic National Convention is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 national convention...
in Boston. and contributed to If You Had Five Minutes with the President, a collection of 55+ essays by members or supporters of The Creative Coalition. He was subsequently widely quoted for stating that he wished to see Obama naked. On 1 September 2009, Cumming released his first solo album based around his one man show, I Bought a Blue Car Today
I Bought a Blue Car Today
I Bought A Blue Car Today is the debut 2009 album by actor/director Alan Cumming, recorded to accompany the touring one-man cabaret of the same name...
. On 13 September 2010 Cumming was featured in an episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
series that explores the family background and ancestors of famous figures. He investigated his grandfather Thomas Darling, who he discovered had died playing russian roulette
Russian roulette
Russian roulette is a potentially lethal game of chance in which participants place a single round in a revolver, spin the cylinder, place the muzzle against their head and pull the trigger...
while serving as a police officer in Malaya
British Malaya
British Malaya loosely described a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the Island of Singapore that were brought under British control between the 18th and the 20th centuries...
.
Personal life
Greenwich
Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...
on January 7, 2007. After his civil partnership, when asked if he was monogamous, he stated "I don’t believe that monogamy is feasible".
Once described as "a frolicky pansexual sex symbol for the new millennium", Cumming has stated that he considers himself bisexual, "although the pendulum has obviously swung". Prior to the civil union, Cumming dated both men and women. Previous relationships include a two-year relationship with actress Saffron Burrows
Saffron Burrows
Saffron Dominique Burrows is an English actress and former fashion model, who starred as Det. Serena Stevens on Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Lorraine Weller on Boston Legal.-Early life:...
, a six-year relationship with theater director Nick Philippou, and a 1985 marriage to actress Hilary Lyon that lasted eight years.
He used to be a member of the Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
until his mother received a letter from them saying they had "read something about me being an atheist and would I like to leave". He said he had attended out of tradition, but realized being a part of it was "only condoning and validating lots of things I disapprove of: oppression, guilt, shame, etc".
In a profile for The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, Cumming stated that he "would dearly like to adopt a child", but subsequently stated his life was "too hectic" for children.
Once he outed himself as bisexual in 1998, Cumming promoted LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
rights, emceeing and attending fundraisers for organizations such as the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and the Human Rights Campaign
Human Rights Campaign
The Human Rights Campaign is the United States' largest LGBT advocacy group and lobbying organization; according to the HRC, it has more than one million members and supporters...
(HRC), as well as several AIDS charities, including the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AMFAR) and Broadway Cares/Equity
Actors' Equity Association
The Actors' Equity Association , commonly referred to as Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing the world of live theatrical performance, as opposed to film and television performance. However, performers appearing on live stage productions without a book or...
Fights AIDS.
Cumming is a patron of NORM-UK
NORM-UK
NORM-UK is a British-based charity concerned with foreskin health and matters related to circumcision. It provides information about conservative treatments for foreskin problems including phimosis, non-surgical foreskin restoration, and hosts and participates in conferences about genital...
, an English-registered charity
Charity Commission
The Charity Commission for England and Wales is the non-ministerial government department that regulates registered charities in England and Wales....
concerned with foreskin
Foreskin
In male human anatomy, the foreskin is a generally retractable double-layered fold of skin and mucous membrane that covers the glans penis and protects the urinary meatus when the penis is not erect...
health and matters related to circumcision
Circumcision
Male circumcision is the surgical removal of some or all of the foreskin from the penis. The word "circumcision" comes from Latin and ....
; he has revealed that he is not circumcised. Referring to the high prevalence of routine infant circumcision in the United States, Cumming told The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
in 2007: "I think it's insane that an entire nation is ignorant about a part of their body they have lost. ... The sanitation issue, especially, always comes up when I am in America. But you know what? I am very clean. I shower frequently. I am very proud of my foreskin. I believe it's there for a purpose. And I just want people to stop and think for a second before they decide to get a big bit of their newborn son's cock cut off."
In March 2005 Cumming received the Vito Russo
Vito Russo
Vito Russo was an American LGBT activist, film historian and author who is best remembered as the author of the book The Celluloid Closet ....
Award at the 16th Annual GLAAD Media Awards for outstanding contributions toward eliminating homophobia. In July of the same year he was also presented with the HRC
Human Rights Campaign
The Human Rights Campaign is the United States' largest LGBT advocacy group and lobbying organization; according to the HRC, it has more than one million members and supporters...
's Humanitarian Award in San Francisco, also for his LGBT public stance. In November 2006 Cumming received a Doctor of Arts
Doctor of Arts
The Doctor of Arts is a discipline-based terminal doctoral degree that was originally conceived and designed to be an alternative to the traditional research-based Doctor of Philosophy and the education-based Doctor of Education . Like other doctorates, the D.A. is an academic degree of the...
honorary degree from the University of Abertay Dundee
University of Abertay Dundee
The University of Abertay Dundee, usually known simply as Abertay University, is a modern university in Dundee, Scotland.- History :The University of Abertay Dundee was created in 1994, under government legislation granting the title University to the Dundee Institute of Technology...
. He also is a patron of the Scottish Youth Theatre
Scottish Youth Theatre
Scottish Youth Theatre is Scotland's national youth theatre company for ages 3–25. It is core funded by the Scottish Arts Council.Scottish Youth Theatre has headquarters in Glasgow but work throughout Scotland...
, Scotland's National Theatre 'for and by' young people. Cumming was appointed an OBE in the 2009 Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to film, theatre and the arts and activism for LGBT rights. On November 7, 2008, Cumming became a dual-national and was sworn in as a citizen of the United States of America at a ceremony in New York City.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Shadow of the Stone Shadow of the Stone Shadow of the Stone was a 1987 UK children's TV drama series, starring Shirley Henderson. Written by Catherine Lucy Czerkawska, it dramatises a spiritual connection between a modern teenager and 17th-century girl, Mary Lamont, who was allegedly tried for witchcraft. Scenes were filmed in and around... |
Tom Henderson | TV Series |
| 1991 | Bernard and the Genie Bernard and the Genie Bernard and the Genie is a seventy-minute British TV movie co-produced by Attaboy and Talkback for BBC Television. It was first shown on BBC1 on 23 November 1991... |
Bernard Bottle | TV Movie British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Newcomer British Comedy Awards The British Comedy Awards is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year.-History:... |
| 1992 | Prague Prague (1992 film) Prague is a 1992 British drama film directed by Ian Sellar. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Alan Cumming - Alexander Novak* Sandrine Bonnaire - Elena* Bruno Ganz - Josef* Raphael Meiss - Ralph... |
Alexander Novak | |
| 1993 | Micky Love | Greg Deane | TV Movie |
| Mr. Bean Mr. Bean Mr. Bean is a British comedy television programme series of 14 half-hour episodes written by and starring Rowan Atkinson as the title character. Different episodes were also written by Robin Driscoll, Richard Curtis and one by Ben Elton. The pilot episode was broadcast on ITV on 1 January 1990,... |
Bachelor #2 | Uncredited TV Series |
|
| 1994 | Second Best Second Best (film) Second Best is a 1994 film produced by Sarah Radclyffe and directed by Chris Menges. It closely follows the 1991 novel of the same name by David Cook, who also wrote the screenplay.-Plot:... |
Bernard | |
| Black Beauty Black Beauty (1994 film) Black Beauty is a 1994 film adaptation of Anna Sewell's novel by the same name directed by Caroline Thompson in her directorial debut. The film stars Andrew Knott, Sean Bean and David Thewlis. The film is also treated as an autobiography of the horse Black Beauty as in the original novel, and is... |
Black Beauty | Voice | |
| 1995 | Circle of Friends Circle of Friends (1995 film) Circle of Friends is a 1995 film directed by Irish filmmaker Pat O'Connor and based on the novel of the same name written by Maeve Binchy.-Plot:... |
Sean Walsh | |
| GoldenEye GoldenEye GoldenEye is the seventeenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was directed by Martin Campbell and is the first film in the series not to take story elements from the works of novelist Ian Fleming... |
Boris Ivanovich Grishenko | ||
| The High Life The High Life (TV series) The High Life was a Scottish situation comedy written by and starring Forbes Masson as Steve McCracken and Alan Cumming as Sebastian Flight. Cumming and Masson met at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and united after several solo projects, to create the theatrical BBC sitcom, The High... |
Sebastian Flight | TV Series | |
| 1996 | Emma Emma (1996 film) Emma is a 1996 period film based on the novel of the same name by Jane Austen. Directed by Douglas McGrath, it stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeremy Northam, Toni Collette, and Ewan McGregor.- Synopsis :... |
Mr. Elton | |
| 3rd Rock From The Sun 3rd Rock from the Sun 3rd Rock from the Sun is an American sitcom that aired from 1996 to 2001 on NBC. The show is about four extraterrestrials who are on an expedition to Earth, which they consider to be a very insignificant planet... |
Angus: "The Hole" McDuff- Hole expert | Season 5, Episode 18 Dick and Harry Fall Into a Hole | |
| 1997 | Romy and Michele's High School Reunion Romy and Michele's High School Reunion Romy and Michele's High School Reunion is a 1997 comedy film starring Lisa Kudrow, Mira Sorvino, Janeane Garofalo, Camryn Manheim, and Alan Cumming directed by David Mirkin. The plot revolves around two 28-year-old women who appear to have achieved very little success in life and decide to invent... |
Sandy Frink | |
| Spice World | Piers Cuthbertson-Smyth | ||
| Buddy | Dick Croner, Trudy's Assistant | ||
| 1999 | Titus Titus (film) Titus is a 1999 film adaptation of Shakespeare's revenge tragedy Titus Andronicus, about the downfall of a Roman general. It was the first film of the play . The film was made by Overseas Filmgroup and Clear Blue Sky Productions and released by Fox Searchlight Pictures... |
Saturninus | |
| Plunkett & Macleane Plunkett & Macleane Plunkett & Macleane is a 1999 British historical action comedy film directed by Jake Scott, and starring Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller and Liv Tyler. It follows the story of Captain James Macleane , and Will Plunkett , two men in eighteenth century Britain who are both struggling to survive... |
Lord Rochester | ||
| Eyes Wide Shut Eyes Wide Shut Eyes Wide Shut is a 1999 drama film based upon Arthur Schnitzler's 1926 novella Traumnovelle . The film was directed, produced and co-written by Stanley Kubrick, and was his last film. The story, set in and around New York City, follows the sexually-charged adventures of Dr... |
Hotel Desk Clerk | ||
| Annie Annie (1999 film) Annie is a 1999 American made-for-television musical-comedy film from The Wonderful World of Disney, based on the 1977 stage musical Annie and its 1982 film adaptation, which themselves were based on the 1924 Little Orphan Annie comic strip by Harold Gray.The film stars Kathy Bates, Victor Garber,... |
Rooster | Musical | |
| 2000 | Urbania Urbania (film) For the Italian province, please see UrbaniaUrbania is a 2000 independent drama film based on the play Urban Folk Tales. It premiered at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival and played a number of LGBT film festivals as well as playing in limited release throughout the year.-Plot summary:Urbania follows... |
Brett | |
| God, the Devil and Bob God, the Devil and Bob God, the Devil and Bob is an animated sitcom which premiered on NBC on March 9, 2000 and ended on March 28, 2000, leaving nine episodes unaired. It was created by Matthew Carlson. It is currently broadcast on the Philippine channel Maxxx. The entire series was released on Region 1 DVD in the... |
The Devil | TV Series | |
| The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas is a 2000 comedy film and prequel to 1994's The Flintstones based on the hit cartoon series of the same name, produced by Amblin Entertainment and Hanna-Barbera and distributed by Universal Studios... |
Mick Jagged/Gazoo | ||
| Get Carter Get Carter (2000 film) Get Carter is the 2000 remake of the 1971 crime film of the same name, starring Sylvester Stallone in the title role. The film also features Miranda Richardson, Rachel Leigh Cook, Alan Cumming, Mickey Rourke, and Rhona Mitra. Michael Caine, who starred in the original, plays a supporting role... |
Jeremy Kinnear | ||
| 2001 | The Anniversary Party The Anniversary Party The Anniversary Party is a 2001 American comedy-drama film written, directed, produced by, and starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming.-Plot:... |
Joe Therrian | Writer/Producer/Director Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature The Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature is one of the annual Independent Spirit Awards. It is usually given to the director and producer . The "first feature" designation is applied to the director not the producer... shared with Jennifer Jason Leigh Jennifer Jason Leigh Jennifer Jason Leigh is an American film and stage actress, best known for her roles in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Single White Female, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Georgia and Short Cuts... Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay The Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay is one of the annual awards given by Film Independent, a non-profit organization dedicated to independent film and independent filmmakers.-1990s:1994*David O... shared with Jennifer Jason Leigh Jennifer Jason Leigh Jennifer Jason Leigh is an American film and stage actress, best known for her roles in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Single White Female, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Georgia and Short Cuts... |
| Sex and the City Sex and the City Sex and the City is an American television comedy-drama series created by Darren Star and produced by HBO. Broadcast from 1998 until 2004, the original run of the show had a total of ninety-four episodes... |
O | TV Series | |
| Investigating Sex Investigating Sex Investigating Sex is a 2001 comedy/drama film written and directed by Alan Rudolph and starring Neve Campbell, Til Schweiger, Nick Nolte and Dermot Mulroney and based on the book Recherches sur la sexualite archives du surealisme by Jose Pierre.After a long delay, the film was finally released on... |
Sevy | ||
| Josie and the Pussycats Josie and the Pussycats (film) Josie and the Pussycats is a 2001 comedy film released by Universal Studios and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Directed and co-written by Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan, the film is loosely based upon the Archie comic of the same name... |
Wyatt Frame | ||
| Spy Kids Spy Kids The Spy Kids series is a series of family action adventure films written, produced and directed by Robert Rodriguez. The main plot follows the adventures of two Cortez children who become involved in their parents' espionage. The rest of their family are spies as well, including their estranged... |
Fegan Floop | ||
| Company Man Company Man (film) Company Man is a 2000 Anglo-American comedy film directed by and written by Peter Askin and Douglas McGrath. Film stars Douglas McGrath, Sigourney Weaver, John Turturro, Ryan Phillippe, Alan Cumming, Anthony LaPaglia with Woody Allen and Denis Leary as "Officer Fry"... |
General Batista | ||
| 2002 | Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams is a 2002 American family film, featuring spies and science fantasy elements. It was written and directed by Robert Rodriguez, and is the second film in the Spy Kids film series, which began with 2001's Spy Kids. Its plot is loosely based on Dr... |
Fegan Floop | |
| Nicholas Nickleby Nicholas Nickleby (2002 film) Nicholas Nickleby is a 2002 comedy-drama film written and directed by Douglas McGrath. The screenplay is based on The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens, which originally was published in serial form between March 1838 and September 1839.-Plot:In a prologue we are... |
Mr. Folair | National Board of Review Award for Best Cast National Board of Review Award for Best Cast The National Board of Review Award for Best Acting by an Ensemble is an annual film award given by the National Board of Review.-1990s:... |
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| Foyle's War Foyle's War Foyle's War is a British detective drama television series set during World War II, created by screenwriter and author Anthony Horowitz, and was commissioned by ITV after the long-running series Inspector Morse came to an end in 2000. It has aired on ITV since 2002... |
Host | TV series | |
| 2003 | X2 X2 (film) X2 is a 2003 superhero film based on the fictional characters the X-Men. Directed by Bryan Singer, it is the second film in the X-Men film series... |
Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler Nightcrawler (comics) Nightcrawler is a fictional character, a comic book superhero in the Marvel Universe. He has been associated with both the X-Men and Excalibur, originally appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum, he debuted in Giant-Size X-Men #1... |
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| Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over is a 2003 American action-adventure family film directed by Robert Rodriguez and the third film in the Spy Kids series. It was released in the United States on July 25, 2003. The film featured the return of many cast members from the past two films, although most were in... |
Fegan Floop | ||
| 2004 | Shoebox Zoo Shoebox Zoo Shoebox Zoo is a children's fantasy TV series made in a collaboration between BBC Scotland and various Canadian television companies. It is mostly live-action, but with CGI used for the animal figurines. It was first broadcast in 2004 by CBBC... |
Bruno the Bear | TV Series |
| Garfield: The Movie | Persnikitty | Voice | |
| Eighteen Eighteen (film) Eighteen is a Canadian 2005 dramatic feature film written and directed by Richard Bell.-Plot:The film follows Pip, a street kid who's meeting life head-on in the big city. On his eighteenth birthday he receives his grandfather's Second World War memoirs on audio cassette, a gift that awakens the... |
Father Chris | ||
| 2005 | Son of the Mask Son of the Mask Son of the Mask is a 2005 American fantasy family-comedy film directed by Lawrence Guterman, starring Jamie Kennedy as Tim Avery, an aspiring cartoonist from Fringe City who has just had his first child born with the powers of the Mask. It is the stand-alone sequel to the successful 1994 film The... |
Loki | Nominated – Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor |
| Reefer Madness Reefer Madness (2005 film) Reefer Madness premiered on April 16, 2005 on the Showtime cable network. It is a television movie version of the 1998 musical, and stars Alan Cumming as the Lecturer, Ana Gasteyer as Mae, and Kristen Bell as Mary. The movie also stars siblings Christian and Neve Campbell as Jimmy Harper and Miss... |
Lecturer/Goat-Man/FDR | ||
| Ripley Under Ground Ripley Under Ground (film) Ripley Under Ground is a 2005 film directed by Roger Spottiswoode and based on the second novel in Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley series. The film stars Barry Pepper as Ripley and features Willem Dafoe, Alan Cumming and Tom Wilkinson in supporting roles.... |
Jeff Constant | ||
| Neverwas Neverwas Neverwas is a 2005 English film written and directed by Joshua Michael Stern, starring Ian McKellen, Aaron Eckhart, Brittany Murphy and Nick Nolte.It was first shown at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival... |
Jake | ||
| Sweet Land Sweet Land Sweet Land is a 2005 American independent period drama film written and directed by Ali Selim. It is an adaptation of the 1989 short story "A Gravestone Made of Wheat" by Will Weaver... |
Frandsen | Producer Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature The Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature is one of the annual Independent Spirit Awards. It is usually given to the director and producer . The "first feature" designation is applied to the director not the producer... |
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| 2006 | The L Word The L Word The L Word is an American co-production television drama series originally shown on Showtime portraying the lives of a group of lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people and their friends, family and lovers in the trendy Greater Los Angeles, California city of West Hollywood... |
Billie Blaikie | TV Series |
| Full Grown Men Full Grown Men Full Grown Men is a 2006 American independent comedy film directed by David Munro and starring Matt McGrath, Judah Friedlander, Alan Cumming, Amy Sedaris, and Deborah Harry, is the bittersweet story of a thirtysomething man with family who grudgingly realizes it is time to trade adolescence for... |
The Hitchhiker | Co-Producer | |
| 2007 | Gray Matters Gray Matters Gray Matters is a 2006 romantic comedy film directed by Sue Kramer, starring Heather Graham, Tom Cavanagh and Bridget Moynahan. It premiered on October 21, 2006 at the Hamptons International Film Festival and had a United States limited theatrical release on February 23, 2007.- Plot :Gray Baldwin ,... |
Gordy | |
| Suffering Man's Charity (aka Ghost Writer) Suffering Man's Charity Suffering Man's Charity, also released as Ghost Writer, is a 2007 comedy/horror film directed by Alan Cumming and written by Thomas Gallagher.-Plot:... |
John Vandermark | Executive Producer | |
| Tin Man Tin Man (TV miniseries) Tin Man is a 2007 four and a half hour miniseries co-produced by RHI Entertainment and Sci Fi Channel original pictures that was broadcast in the United States on the Sci Fi Channel in three parts. The first part aired on December 2, and the remaining two parts airing on the following nights... |
Glitch | TV miniseries | |
| 2009 | Boogie Woogie | Dewey | |
| Dare Dare (2009 film) Dare is a 2009 indie drama film directed by Adam Salky. It is written by David Brind. The movie is based on Salky's 2005 short film which was met with acclaim at film festivals... |
Grant Matson | ||
| PoliWood | Himself | Documentary | |
| 2010 | The Tempest | Sebastian | |
| Jackboots on Whitehall Jackboots on Whitehall Jackboots on Whitehall is a satirical film portraying an alternate history of the Second World War, in which Nazi Germany has seized London, causing the British to band together at Hadrian's Wall if they are to thwart the German invasion... |
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945... |
Voice | |
| The Good Wife | Eli Gold | TV Series (Recurring Season 1; Main Cast Season 2-present) Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series |
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| Riverworld Riverworld (2010 film) - Caretakers :The caretakers appear as blue-skinned robe-clad figures who watch over the humans. They were the beings who created Riverworld and are occasionally described as "demons." The caretakers are mostly divided between two separate factions: the Salvationists and the Second Chancers -... |
Judas Caretake | ||
| Burlesque Burlesque (film) Burlesque is a 2010 musical film directed and written by Steven Antin and starring Christina Aguilera and Cher. The film was released on November 24, 2010 in North America.... |
Alexis | ||
| 2011 | The Smurfs The Smurfs (film) The Smurfs is a 2011 American 3D family film based on The Smurfs comic book series created by Peyo and the 1980s animated TV series it spawned. It was directed by Raja Gosnell and stars Neil Patrick Harris, Hank Azaria, Jayma Mays, and Sofía Vergara. It is the first CGI/live-action hybrid film to... |
Gutsy Smurf | |
| 2012 | The Lorax The Lorax (film) The Lorax, also known as Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, is an upcoming American computer-animated 3-D film based on Dr. Seuss' children's book of the same name. It is being produced by Illumination Entertainment and will be released by Universal Pictures on March 2, 2012, what would have been the 108th... |
Narrator |
External links
- 2006 Article on Alan Cumming on Theatre.com
- Alan Cumming – Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing.orgAmerican Theatre WingThe American Theatre Wing is a New York City-based organization "dedicated to supporting excellence and education in theatre," according to its mission statement...
- TonyAwards.com Interview with Alan Cumming
- Knightatthemovies.com 2007 interview with Alan Cumming
- Out of bounds, interview by Bryce Hallett in The Sydney Morning Herald, February 7, 2009.