Alan Cumming

Alan Cumming Biography

Alan Cumming as Boris Grishenko in cast of GoldenEye

Alan Cumming is a Scottish actor born in Aberfeldy, Perthshire on January 27, 1965 who has an extensive TV, film and theatre portfolio.

He was raised in Carnoustie and Monikie Primary School. Despite facing emotional and physical violence from his father during his childhood, Cumming cites these experiences as instrumental in teaching him how to act and suppress his emotions.

Alan Cumming’s TV career began in 1984 with ITV Granada’s Travelling Man, followed by appearances in Take the High Road, Taggart, and Shadow of the Stone in the 1980s. He rose to fame in 1991 as Bernard Bottle in the BBC comedy Bernard and the Genie.

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He also appeared in a comic relief sketch in 1993 on Blind Date with Rowan Atkinson. Cumming starred as flight attendant Sebastian Flight in the BBC2 sitcom The High Life in 1995. In 2011, he starred as Desrae, a crossdresser, on the Sky series The Runaway.

Alan Cumming has also made several documentaries, including My Brilliant Britain, The Real Cabaret, and the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? in 2010. He played King James on the eleventh series of Doctor Who in 2018, and in 2022, he partnered with Miriam Margolyes in the television series Miriam and Alan: Lost in Scotland.

Alan Cumming’s film career started with a short film, Passing Glory, in 1986, followed by his feature film debut in Prague in 1992, co-starring with Sandrine Bonnaire and Bruno Ganz. This film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and won Cumming the Best Actor award at the Atlantic Film Festival, as well as a Scottish BAFTA Best Actor nomination.

He became popular in the US after appearing in Circle of Friends (1995) and James Bond film GoldenEye (1995) as geeky programmer Boris Ivanovih Grishenko. In 1997, Cumming starred in Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion playing Sandy Frink, which marked his first film in the US.

He also appeared in Stanley Kubrick’s final film, Eyes Wide Shut, in 1999 as a hotel clerk who flirts with Tom Cruise’s character. Cumming later co-wrote, co-directed, co-produced and starred in The Anniversary Party (2001) with Jennifer Jason Leigh. He was also part of the 2022 documentary My Old School, where he appeared as an avatar for Brandon Lee.

Cumming’s theatre career started in Scotland, performing in seasons with the Royal Lyceum Edinburgh, Dundee Rep, and others. He received an Olivier Award nomination as Most Promising Newcomer for his role in Conquest of the South Pole in 1988. He went on to perform with the Bristol Old Vic, Royal Shakespeare Company, and played Valere in La Bete at the Lyric, Hammersmith, London.

He won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for his role in Accidental Death of an Anarchist in 1990. Cumming played The Master of Ceremonies in Sam Mendes’s 1993 revival of Cabaret, and reprised the role in 1998 for the Broadway revival. He won a Tony Award, Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for his performance.

In 2006, Cumming played the lead role in Bent, a play about homosexuals in Germany under the Nazis, and in 2007, he took the lead role in the National Theatre of Scotland’s production of The Bacchae.

Alan Cumming continues to work on stage and in film. His last roles were My Father’s Dragon, where he lent his voice to Cornelius the Crocodile, and Marlowe in which he played Lou Hendricks, and on TV he’s hosted American reality TV show The Traitors.