Alan Cumming

Cumming was born on 27 January 1965 in Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland.[4] 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.[5] He has described the environment as "feudal".[6] He has a brother, Tom, who is six years older,[6] and a niece and two nephews. His brother is a property manager in Southampton, England.[6] Cumming attended Monikie Primary School and Carnoustie High School.[7]

In his autobiography Not My Father's Son, Cumming describes the emotional and physical violence his father inflicted on him in his childhood.[8][9][10] His mother found it impossible to obtain a divorce until she was financially independent.[6] 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.[6] Later, Cumming and his brother took DNA tests that proved they were indeed his biological children.[8]

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".[11]

Cumming made his film debut in Gillies MacKinnon's short film Passing Glory in 1986. 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. 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 Ivanovih Grishenko in the James Bond film GoldenEye.[12] He also played Mr. Elton in Emma in 1996.

His first film in the United States was 1997's Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, playing Sandy Frink opposite Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino. Cumming had a minor role in Stanley Kubrick's final film, Eyes Wide Shut (1996), as a hotel clerk who humorously flirts with Tom Cruise's character; according to Cumming, he was required to go through six auditions for the role.[13] 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.[14]

In 2022, Cumming appeared in My Old School, a documentary about the case of Brandon Lee, a 32-year-old man exposed in 1995 as having attended a Scottish secondary school in the guise of a 17-year-old. Cumming appeared as an avatar for Lee, who did not want to appear on camera for the film, lip syncing to audio of his interviews. Cumming had previously planned to play Lee in a theatrical production in the late 90s which failed to materialize.[15]

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. He played Slupianek in the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh'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. 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.[22][23][24] He also adapted the play with director Tim Supple. 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). He played the role of The Master of Ceremonies in Sam Mendes's 1993 revival of the musical Cabaret in London's West End opposite Jane Horrocks as Sally Bowles. He received an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. He reprised the role in 1998 for the Mendes-Rob Marshall Broadway revival, this time opposite Natasha Richardson as Sally Bowles. He won a Tony Award, Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for his performance.[25]

Other US stage roles include Otto in the 2001 Broadway production of Design for Living by Noël Coward and Mack the Knife in the Bertolt Brecht-Kurt Weill musical The Threepenny Opera opposite Cyndi Lauper. Cumming performed alongside Dianne Wiest in Classic Stage Company's production of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, directed by Viacheslav Dolgachev. 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, he returned to 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, directed by John Tiffany, which premiered at the Edinburgh International Festival in August, transferring to the Lyric Theatre in London and then to Lincoln Center, New York, winning him the Herald Archangel award.

He collaborated again with Tiffany and the National Theatre of Scotland in 2012, playing all the roles in Macbeth. He brought this critically acclaimed[26][27] production of Macbeth to New York's Lincoln Center in 2012 and to a 73-show Broadway engagement at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in 2013. Macbeth concluded its run on Broadway on 14 July 2013.[28]

In 2014, he returned again to Broadway to star in Roundabout Theater Company's revival production of Cabaret, directed again by Sam Mendes.[29] Starring opposite Michelle Williams, Cabaret opened 24 April 2014 and closed 29 March 2015. The run was extended originally from its 24-week engagement. The role of Sally changed during the production, when Williams left, to include Emma Stone and Sienna Miller.

In 2020, he played in Endgame at the Old Vic, co-starring with Daniel Radcliffe.[30]

Cumming in the gallery art work "Sliphost"

Cumming's novel, Tommy's Tale, was published in 2002.[31] He has also written articles for magazines, notably as a contributing editor for Marie Claire, writing on the haute couture shows in Paris, as well as what it was like for him dressing as a woman for a day. He also contributed articles to Newsweek, Modern Painters, Out, Black Book and The Wall Street Journal. He has written introductions and prefaces to various books, including the works of Nancy Mitford, Andy Warhol1 aqua 1 and Christopher Isherwood, and wrote a chapter of If You Had Five Minutes with the President, a collection of 55+ essays by members or supporters of The Creative Coalition.[32] In September 2017, Cumming and promoter Daniel Nardicio opened a bar in Manhattan's East Village called Club Cumming.[33][34]

• Cumming recorded a duet of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" with Liza Minnelli to raise money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and 11 September Fund.
• In 2005, he released an award-winning fragrance called "Cumming" and a related line of scented bath lotion and body wash. A second fragrance was launched in 2011, named "Second (Alan) Cumming", with all proceeds going to charity.[35]
• On 1 September 2009, Cumming released his first solo album based around his one-man show, I Bought a Blue Car Today.[36]
• In 2012, he narrated the audiobook "Macbeth: A Novel", written by A.J. Hartley and David Hewson. The novel greatly expands upon the themes established in the play.[37]
• On 10 April 2012, he released the single Someone Like the Edge of Firework[38]
• In 2012, he launched his photography career with his first exhibition Alan Cumming Snaps.[39]
• In July 2012, Cumming presented Urban Secrets on Sky Atlantic and the Travel Channel where he uncovers hidden secrets in various urban areas including London and Brighton.
• In October 2013, Cumming appeared in the music video for "City of Angels" by Thirty Seconds to Mars.[40]
• In 2014, Cumming was a supporter and activist for the Scottish 'Yes' campaign in the run-up to Scotland's referendum on independence in September 2014.[6]
• In October 2014, Cumming and the Broadway cast of Cabaret collected donations for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS during the "Gypsy of the Year" fundraising season.[41]
• In 2014, he published his autobiography, Not My Father's Son, which deals with both his experiences growing up with an abusive father and the discoveries he made about his maternal grandfather's life while filming Who Do You Think You Are?
• On 7 June 2015, Cumming co-hosted the 69th annual Tony Awards alongside Kristin Chenoweth.
• On 5 February 2016, Cumming released his second full-length album, recorded live at New York City's Café Carlyle, Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs: Live at the Cafe Carlyle.[42] He toured an aptly styled, intimate, cabaret-like live stage production following his success with the Carlyle recording. In November 2016, PBS aired a filming of his show Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs from The Smith Center in Las Vegas.[43]
• In June 2021, Cumming was artistic director of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, as announced in June 2020.[44]

In March 2005, Cumming received the Vito Russo Award at the 16th Annual GLAAD Media Awards for outstanding contributions toward eliminating homophobia.[45] In July of the same year, he was 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.[46][47][48] Cumming has also been honored for his activism and humanitarian work by organizations such as the Trevor Project and the Matthew Shepard Foundation.[20]

Cumming is bisexual.[49] He lives in Manhattan with his husband, illustrator Grant Shaffer.[50] The couple dated for two years before becoming civil partners at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, London, on 7 January 2007.[51] Cumming and Shaffer legally married in New York on 7 January 2012, the fifth anniversary of their London union.[52]

Previous relationships include an eight-year marriage to actress Hilary Lyon, a two-year relationship with actress Saffron Burrows and a six-year relationship with theatre director Nick Philippou.[9] In 2006, Cumming stated that he "would dearly like to adopt a child", but that his life was "too hectic" for the rearing of children.[53]

On 7 November 2008, Cumming became a dual-national and was sworn in as a citizen of the United States at a ceremony in New York City.[54][55]

Cumming with Dick Leitsch

Cumming has promoted LGBT rights, MC-ing and attending fundraisers for organisations such as the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), and taking part in an Equality Network video campaign, from New York, promoting the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Scotland.[56] Cumming also supports several AIDS charities, including the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AMFAR) and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, and is also a patron of NORM-UK, an English-registered charity concerned with foreskin health and matters related to circumcision; he has condemned the practice of routine infant circumcision, particularly in the United States, where it is common.[57][58]

Cumming has stated that since 2012 he has maintained a vegan lifestyle.[59] PETA awarded him its Humanitarian Award in 2017.[60]

He is a supporter of the Scottish National Party and Scottish independence.[61] Cumming endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders in the 2016 US presidential election.[62]

Cumming is an atheist.[63]

• Tommy's Tale: A Novel. New York: ReganBooks, 2002. ISBN 978-0-060-39444-8.
• May the foreskin be with you : why circumcision doesn't make sense and what you can do about it.. Magnus Books, 2012. ISBN 978-1-936-83339-9
• Not My Father's Son: A Memoir. New York: Dey Street, an imprint of William Morrow Publishers, 2014. ISBN 978-0-062-22506-1.
• You Gotta Get Bigger Dreams: My Life in Stories and Pictures. New York: Rizzoli New York. 2016. ISBN 9780847849000. OCLC 939994490.
• The Adventures of Honey & Leon By: Alan Cumming, Illustrated by: Grant Shaffer ISBN 978-0-399-55797-2[70]
• Baggage: Tales from a Fully Packed Life, a topical memoir, 2019. Scrollable preview. Iron Press.[2]

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• Official website
• Alan Cumming at the Internet Broadway Database
• Alan Cumming at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Alan Cumming at IMDb 
• Alan Cumming at AllMovie
• Alan Cumming at AllMusic
• Alan Cumming discography at Discogs
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