For the past 25 years Alan Cumming has forged a career that is as idiosyncratic and diverse as it is successful. While a student at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama he made his movie debut in Gillies McKinnon’s Passing Glory and his theatre debut as “Malcolm” in Michael Boyd’s production of Macbeth at the Tron, Glasgow. Upon graduating he found fame quickly as the latter half of Scottish stand-up sensations Victor and Barry. Within a few years he made a sensational West End debut at the Royal Court Theatre in Conquest of the South Pole for which he received his first Olivier Award nomination, and went on to seasons with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre where he won an Olivier Award for Accidental Death of An Anarchist, the Dario Fo classic which he also adapted for the stage.
For the National Theatre Studio he directed Michel Tremblay’s Bonjour La, Bonjour . He was nominated for Olivier Awards for La Bete and Cabaret, and his sensational “Hamlet” at the Donmar Warehouse in London won him a TMA Best Actor Award and a Shakespeare Globe nomination.
He co-wrote, produced, directed and acted in The Anniversary Party, which won them a National Board of Review award and two Independent Spirit nominations. He won six awards for acting and directing on the film festival circuit for his second film, Ghost Writer.
In 1998, Cabaret opened on Broadway and Alan was instantly embraced by New York City and heralded for his stunning performance as “the EmCee.” He won the Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics’ Circle, FANY, Theatre World, NY Press and New York Public Advocate’s awards for his work.
He continued to work on Broadway in The Threepenny Opera and Design For Living and off-Broadway in Elle and The Seagull. In 2006 he returned to the British stage in Martin Sherman’s Bent, and appeared in the National Theatre of Scotland’s production of Euripides’ The Bacchae.
When he’s not on stage, he has guest starred on Sex and the City, Frasier and The L Word. He is also the host of PBS’ Masterpiece Mystery.
His film credits include Prague; Circle of Friends; Goldeneye; Emma; Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion; X2: X-Men United; the Spy Kids trilogy; Burlesque; Boogie Woogie, Jackboots on Whitehall; Dare; The Tempest; Maladies; and Almost In Love. He starred and produced the independent film Sweet Land, for which he earned an Independent Spirit Award.
In 2009 he premiered his cabaret show I Bought A Blue Car Today and has since performed it at venues around the world, including the Sydney Opera House, the Vaudeville Theatre in London’s West End and Los Angeles’s Geffen Playhouse.
He currently is playing the political maverick “Eli Gold” on CBS’ The Good Wife, for which he has received Emmy, SAG and Satellite award nominations.
Alan’s activism and passion for causes such as LGBT rights and sex education have earned him many humanitarian awards from the LGBT Task Force, The Human Rights Campaign, The Trevor Project, Lambda Legal, The Point Foundation and GLAAD’s Vito Russo Media Award.
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Alan Cumming Biography
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