When I first saw Alan Cumming in 1995's "Circle of Friends", co-starring Minnie Driver, I thought, "This guy is sleazy, but I love him!" I hoped to see more of him and wasn't disappointed - he has since appeared in numerous films, the latest being "The Anniversary Party", opposite notable actress Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Alan was born on January 27, 1965 in Perthshire, Scotland, a place nearby his hometown village of Dunkeld where his father worked for Atholl estate. When still a baby, Alan's family moved to Fassfern near Fort William on the west coast of Scotland. A few years later they moved once again, this time to Panmure Estate, a few miles outside the town of Carnoustie.
Many years later, after finishing high school with high marks, Alan worked at a publishing house in Dundee called D.C. Thomson's. During his one year tenure there he worked his way from the fiction department to a new magazine called TOPS. He was lucky enough to snag the control of an editorial page under the name "Young Alan".
In the early 1980s, Alan felt the lure of theater and spent the next three year attending the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow. Upon graduation in 1985 at the age of twenty, he began seeking his fame and fortune. Cumming began working steadily as a member of repertory companies, including the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 1992, he had his film debut in "Prague", a film unseen by millions which was basically just an overview of the city. In 1994 he landed the role of the narrator in the U.S. film "Black Beauty", but it wasn't until 1994 when audiences actually saw Alan Cumming, playing the small role of a Russion computer programmer in "Goldeneye", a James Bond film. However, in 1995 he played the unwelcome suitor of Minnie Driver in "Circle of Friends", and audiences took notice. A year later he played yet another skeevy suitor, in "Emma", co-starring Gwyneth Paltrow. Determined not to be cast as simply the unwanted boyfriend-wannabe, Cumming then took on more sympathetic roles in 1997's "For My Baby, Buddy", and "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion". Particularly in "Reunion" he melted the hearts of audiences as the awkward geek nursing a crush on ditzy Lisa Kudrow.
Nineteen ninety-eight was a busy year, finding Cumming in "Spice World", and on Broadway in a role that later won him a Tony Award - that of 'Emcee' in "Cabaret", a role made famous by Joel Grey in the film adapation many years before. With this role Cumming gained critical acclaim and the respect he much deserved. Playing this role won him all three New York theatre awards: a Tony, a Drama Desk, and an Outer Critics Circle.
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