Photo: Mark Seliger for Vanity Fair
Alan trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, from 1982-85. Before graduating he had already made his professional theatre, film and television debuts and soon found himself celebrated for both his TV work (including the Scottish soap Take The High Road) and his stand-up comedy (the legendary Victor and Barry, which he wrote and performed with drama school pal Forbes Masson).
In 1988 he played the lead in Manfred Karge’s Conquest of the South Pole at the Traverse theatre in Edinburgh. The play transferred to the Royal Court in London and Alan received his first Olivier award nomination as Most Promising Newcomer. He went on to work with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre where he won a 1991 Olivier award for his performance in Dario Fo’s Accidental Death Of An Anarchist. For the National Theatre Studio he directed Michel Tremblay’s Bonjour La, Bonjour and played Romeo in Romeo and Juliet. He was nominated for further Olivier Awards for David Hirson’s La Bête in 1992 and again in 1994 for playing the Master of Ceremonies in Sam Mendes’ production of Cabaret at the Donmar Warehouse, where he also caused a sensation as Hamlet for the English Touring Theatre, winning a TMA Best Actor award and a Shakespeare Globe nomination.
He made his feature film debut in Ian Sellar’s Prague opposite Bruno Ganz and Sandrine Bonnaire, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 1992. His introduction to American audiences came with Circle of Friends, followed shortly by Goldeneye and Emma. His first movie shot in Hollywood was Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, and since then he has alternated between blockbusters such as X2:X Men United, the Spy Kids Trilogy, Burlesque and smaller independent films like Titus (opposite Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange) and Sweet Land (which won him an Independent Spirit award as producer). With Jennifer Jason Leigh he wrote, produced, directed and acted in The Anniversary Party, which won them a National Board of Review award and two Independent Spirit nominations. More recently he appeared in George Lucas' Strange Magic, Travis Fine's Any Day Now (for which he won great acclaim and numerous Best Actor awards at festivals around the globe), Battle of the Sexes (opposite Emma Stone and Steve Carrell), Neil Jordan’s Marlowe, Jono McLeod’s My Old School , a documentary in which he lip-synched the protagonist’s voice and was nominated Best Actor at the Royal Television Society of scotland awards.
In 1998, Cabaret opened on Broadway and Alan was instantly embraced by New York City, and heralded for his stunning performance as the Master of Ceremonies. He won The Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics’ Circle, NY Press, Theater World, FANY and New York Public Advocate’s awards for his work, but for him the biggest prize was finding his new home.
He has continued to work on Broadway in Noel Coward's Design For Living, The Threepenny Opera opposite Cyndi Lauper and Off Broadway in Jean Genet’s Elle (which he also adapted) and The Seagull, opposite Dianne Wiest. He returned to the West End in 2006 in Martin Sherman’s Bent, closely followed by a triumphant return to his homeland in the National Theatre of Scotland’s production of Euripides’ The Bacchae, which opened the 2007 Edinburgh International Festival and toured Scotland, before transferring to London and New York. His next collaboration with the NTS and director John Tiffany was a radical reimagining of Macbeth, which premiered at the Tramway in Glasgow in 2012 and the following year Alan's tour de force performance of all the play's roles stormed Broadway. He returned to Broadway, Studio 54 and Cabaret once more in 2014-15, recreating his now legendary performance opposite the Sally Bowles of Michelle Williams, Emma Stone and Sienna Miller. Most recently he was seen in New York in Jeremy O. Harris’ Daddy, opposite Daniel Radcliffe in Beckett’s Endgame at the Old Vic in London and in 2023 he created with choreographer Steven Hoggett the dance theatre piece Burn, based on the life of Scottish bard Robert Burns. In September 2024 he was announced as the next Artistic Director of Pitlochry Festival Theatre.
His many UK television appearances include The High Life (written and performed with his Victor and Barry cohort Forbes Masson), Bernard and the Genie (British Comedy Award), Mark Cousins' Heavenly and more recently the miniseries The Runaway, Queers (the series of monologues curated by Mark Gatiss to mark the decriminalization of homosexuality) a highly acclaimed turn as King James in Doctor Who and the much loved docu-series Miriam and Alan: Lost In Scotland in which he traveled round his homeland in a van with Miriam Margolyes. In the US he has appeared in Broad City, Sex In The City, Frasier, The L Word, Web Therapy and is also the host of PBS’ Masterpiece Mystery. He played Eli Gold in seven seasons of the CBS series The Good Wife, for which he has received multiple Golden Globe, Emmy, SAG, Critics' Circle and Satellite Awards nominations, and starred in the CBS series Instinct, which premiered in March 2018 and made history by being the first ever US network drama to have a leading character who was also gay. He was most recently seen in Apple TV+’s Schmigadoon, and has hosted the docuseries Alan Cumming’s Paradise Homes and All Aboard! Scotland’s Poshest Train!. He has found huge success and acclaim playing the host of the cultural phenomenon known as The Traitors, for which he has won two Emmys and two Critics Choice awards.
In 2015 he premiered his cabaret show, Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs, at the legendary Café Carlyle in New York City. The show was described by the New York Times as an ‘emotional firestorm’ and went on to tour all over America, Canada, Australia, England and was the hit of the 2016 Edinburgh International Festival – a particular source of pride for Alan as this was where he first performed in cabaret, with Victor and Barry, 32 years earlier! The show was filmed for a PBS special and a live album of the same name was released in February 2016 to coincide with his sold out debut at NYC’s Carnegie Hall. His next cabaret show, Legal Immigrant, debuted in 2018 and was recorded for Audible, followed by Alan Cumming Is Not Acting His Age, which debuted at the 2021 Adelaide Cabaret Festival before touring the world and ending up on Broadway at Studio 54. He is currently touring with NPR’s Ari Shapiro in Och & Oy: A Considered Cabaret!, as well as Uncut, which he developed at the Yaddo artists retreat and premiered in April 2024.
As an author Alan made his debut with a novel, Tommy's Tale, and in 2014 released a memoir Not My Father's Son, which became a #1 New York Times bestseller and the recipient of the Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Award, two Audible awards, an Audie award and a Lambda Literary award nomination. In 2016 Rizzoli published his book of stories and photographs You Gotta Get Bigger Dreams, and in 2017 he released a children's picture book, a collaboration with his illustrator husband Grant Shaffer about their beloved dogs, The Adventures of Honey and Leon. The sequel, Honey and Leon Take The High Road, followed in 2019. An animated TV series of the books is currently in development. His released a second memoir Baggage in late 2021. His latest book, written with Forbes Masson, is Victor and Barry's Kelvinside Compendium: A Meander Down Memory Close, released in July 2024.
For an overview of Alan's entire career, click here
Alan’s activism and passion for various civil rights, sex education and social justice causes has earned him over forty humanitarian awards. To see the full list of his awards and honours click here.
He lives between the Scottish Highlands and New york City with his husband, Grant Shaffer, and their dog Lala, who is also his co-host on The Traitors!.