Alan Cumming

Alan Cumming (born 27 January 1965) is a Scottish actor.

Known for his roles on stage and screen, he has received numerous accolades including a BAFTA Award, a New York Emmy Award, two Tony Awards, and an Olivier Award.

Cumming was born on 27 January 1965 in Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland.

His mother, Mary Darling, was an insurance company secretary and his father, Alex Cumming, was the head forester of Panmure Estate, which is located near Carnoustie, on the east coast of Scotland, and is where Cumming grew up.

He has described the environment as "feudal".

He has a brother, Tom, who is six years older, and a niece and two nephews.

His brother is a property manager in Southampton, UK.

Cumming attended Monikie Primary School and Carnoustie High School.

In his autobiography Not My Father's Son, Cumming describes the emotional and physical violence his father inflicted on him in his childhood.

His mother found it impossible to obtain a divorce until she was financially independent.

Cumming said that, after his early 20s, he did not have any communication with his father until just before the filming of his episode of the series Who Do You Think You Are? He then found out his father had believed that Cumming was not his biological son.

Later, Cumming and his brother took DNA tests that proved they were indeed his biological children.

Cumming said that his difficult childhood taught him how to act by "needing to suppress my own emotions and feelings around him [his father] when I was a little boy".

In 1984, Cumming made his television debut in ITV Granada's Travelling Man, before going on to appear later in the 1980s in the Scottish Television series Take the High Road, Taggart and Shadow of the Stone.

Cumming made his film debut in Gillies MacKinnon's short film Passing Glory in 1986.

His other Olivier-nominated roles were in The Conquest of the South Pole (1988), La Bête (1992), and Cabaret (1994).

He played Slupianek in the Traverse Theatre's 1988 production of Conquest of the South Pole, which later transferred to the Royal Court in London and earned him an Olivier Award nomination as Most Promising Newcomer.

He went on to perform plays with the Bristol Old Vic and the Royal Shakespeare Company and played Valere in La Bete at the Lyric Hammersmith, London.

He received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for the West End production of Accidental Death of an Anarchist (1991).

His breakthrough television role was as Bernard Bottle in the Christmas 1991 BBC comedy Bernard and the Genie, a Richard Curtis-scripted film in which he starred alongside Lenny Henry and Rowan Atkinson.

In 1991, he played The Madman in the 1990 Royal National Theatre production of Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo, for which he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance.

He also adapted the play with director Tim Supple.

His feature film debut came in 1992 when he starred alongside Sandrine Bonnaire and Bruno Ganz in Ian Sellar's Prague, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and earned him the Best Actor award at the Atlantic Film Festival and a Scottish BAFTA Best Actor nomination.

He also featured in a comic relief sketch in 1993 on the popular UK television show Blind Date with Atkinson playing Mr. Bean.

In 1993, he received great critical acclaim and the TMA Best Actor award for playing the title role in the 1993 English Touring Theatre's Hamlet (playing opposite his then-wife, Hilary Lyon, in the role of Ophelia).

Cumming is known for his film roles in Circle of Friends (1995), GoldenEye (1995), Emma (1996), Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997), Spice World (1997), Eyes Wide Shut (1999),

Cumming went on to star as flight attendant Sebastian Flight in the BBC2 sitcom The High Life in 1995.

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.

Also in 1995, Cumming appeared in the series Ghosts.

American audiences first saw him portraying the smarmy Sean Walsh, an unwanted suitor of Minnie Driver's character, in Circle of Friends, an Irish film released in 1995.

Also, in 1995, he played Boris Ivanovich Grishenko in the James Bond film GoldenEye.

He also played Mr. Elton in Emma in 1996.

Cumming began his theatre career in his native Scotland, performing in seasons with the Royal Lyceum Edinburgh, Dundee Rep, The Tron Glasgow and tours with Borderline, Theatre Workshop and Glasgow Citizens' TAG.

Cumming won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for reprising his role as the Emcee on Broadway in Cabaret (1998).

His other performances on Broadway include Design for Living (2001), and Macbeth (2013).

He is also known for his roles as Fegan Floop in the Spy Kids trilogy (2001–2003), Nightcrawler in X2 (2003), and Loki in Son of the Mask (2005).

Nicholas Nickleby (2002), The Tempest (2010), Burlesque (2010), and Battle of the Sexes (2017).

Cumming has written a novel, Tommy's Tale (2002), and two memoirs in 2014 and 2019.

On television, Cumming is best known for his role in the CBS series The Good Wife (2010–2016), for which he was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards.

Cumming also starred in the CBS series Instinct (2018–2019) and the Apple TV+ series Schmigadoon! (2021–2023).