Everything about Alan Cumming totally explained
Alan Cumming (born
27 January 1965) is a
Scottish film and stage
actor, perhaps best known for his supporting roles as
Boris Grishenko in the
James Bond film
GoldenEye, Kurt Wagner/
Nightcrawler in and on the stage with his
Tony Award-winning lead performance as the Emcee in the highly successful revival of
Cabaret. He has directed, produced, and written films, TV series and plays, voiced several soundtracks, written a book, developed a stand-up show at the
Edinburgh Fringe, and formed his own production company.
Early life
Cumming was born in
Aberfeldy, Scotland, the son of Mary, an insurance company secretary, and Alex Cumming, a forester. He has one older brother, Tom. 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 put him off the idea and he subsequently set his sights on becoming an actor. Following graduation, he spent a year and a half employed as an editor for the Scottish pop magazine TOPS before entering the
Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.
Career
Developing his talents off-camera, 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. During his career, Cumming has also directed two short films,
Butter and
Burn Your Phone - the latter was firstly a one-off drama on
BBC Radio 4, however the nature of the narrative meant that it translated poorly to television.
2003 saw him playing a cameo role in the successful American sitcom
Frasier, playing Niles's yoga instructor.
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 afterwards, he'd a short role in
Richard Bell's provocative feature film
Eighteen, which was narrated by
Ian McKellen. Having also worked together on, and also linked by their work for gay rights, they've become friends.
Cumming plays a psychotic ex-amusement park employee in David Munro's upcoming
Full Grown Men, which will be shown in theaters throughout the U.S. in summer 2008.
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.
In 2008, Cumming will provide the voice of
Adolf Hitler in the film
Jackboots on Whitehall.
Cumming also appeared as the third celebrity hijacker in, giving the housemates a method acting task in which they'd to stay in character all day and then produce an improvised play.
Theatre
Cumming had a highly acclaimed performance as the impish Emcee in the 1998
Broadway revival of
Cabaret, for which he won a
Tony, as well as other awards. Both productions were directed by
Sam Mendes.
Other stage roles have included Otto in the 2001 Broadway production of
Design for Living by
Noel Coward, Valere in David Hirson's multi award-winning
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 play was the first English production of
Jean Genet's play
Elle, which Cumming had adapted from a literal translation by Terri Gordon. The play was hugely successful, however, the company folded in 2003.
In 2006, Cumming returned to the stage, firstly performing in a 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 during September.
Cumming performed alongside
Dianne Wiest in Classic Stage Company's production of
Anton Chekhov's
The Seagull, directed by
Viacheslav Dolgachev.
Other work
Cumming has also dabbled in other media. His first novel,
Tommy's Tale, was published in 2002. He has also written many articles for magazines, notably as a contributing editor for
Marie Claire magazine, writing articles about the haute couture shows in Paris. In addition to various film and musical soundtracks on which he's appeared, in 2001, he 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.
Cumming also has his own range of beauty products, the initial product being a cologne called "Cumming: the Fragrance", as well as a series of other bath/body products, many with suggestive names such as "Cumming All Over" body wash.
Cumming served as a delegate for the
Creative Coalition during the 2004
Democratic National Convention in Boston. In this same vein, he contributed to
If You Had Five Minutes with the President, an original non-partisan collection of 55+ essays by members or supporters of The Creative Coalition.
Recent projects include adapting his novel for the screen, and several gay-themed films:
Gray Matters,
Coming Out and
Suffering Man's Charity.
Personal life
Cumming divides his time between
New York City and
London with his dog, Honey. Alan has dated both men and women, and was once described in
The Observer as "a frolicky
pan-sexual sex symbol for the new millennium," though he's stated that he thinks of himself as
bisexual.
In 1985, he married
Hilary Lyon. However, they divorced in 1993, and he subsequently became involved in several shorter relationships over the next two years, including one with
Saffron Burrows.
He wed graphic artist
Grant Shaffer in a civil ceremony at the
Old Royal Naval College Greenwich on January 7, 2007. The couple met in 2004 and dated for two years before the union. In a profile for
The Times, he recently stated that he "would dearly like to adopt a child." In March 2005, he was honoured with the
Vito Russo Award at the 16th Annual
GLAAD Media Awards for outstanding contributions toward eliminating homophobia.
In November 2006, he was made a
Doctor of Arts when given an
honorary degree from the
University of Abertay Dundee.
Cumming is openly bisexual, an
LGBT rights activist, and has promoted gay rights on both sides of the Atlantic with organisations such as
GLAAD and the
HRC, as well as working for several
AIDS charities, including
AMFAR and Broadway Cares/
Equity Fights AIDS. He is also a member of the
Creative Coalition, an organisation to bring public awareness of social issues. He was presented with the San Francisco
Human Rights Campaign's Humanitarian Award in 2005.
Cumming became a patron of
NORM-UK, a UK registered charity concerned with the
foreskin and
genital integrity.
Filmography
Further Information
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