Alan Cumming
Alan Cumming
Alan Cumming, OBE, is a Scottish character actor, author, and activist who has appeared in numerous films, television shows and plays. His London stage appearances include Hamlet, the Maniac in Accidental Death of an Anarchist, the lead in Bent, and the National Theatre of Scotland's The Bacchae. On Broadway he has appeared in The Threepenny Opera, as the master of ceremonies in Cabaret, Design for Living and a one-man adaptation of Macbeth. His best-known film roles include his performances in...
NationalityScottish
ProfessionTV Actor
Date of Birth27 January 1965
CityAberfeldy, Scotland
Once in a while it's good to challenge yourself in a way that's really daunting.
Finally, the scariest thing about abuse of any shape or form, is, in my opinion, not the abuse itself, but that if it continues it can begin to feel commonplace and eventually acceptable.
It's actually quite a good ethos for life: go into the unknown with truth, commitment, and openness and mostly you'll be okay.
Performing a one-man Macbeth feels like the greatest challenge.
With Urban Secrets, I just really liked the idea of wandering around chatting to people.
I usually can find a way to do a character to make it real and work. But sometimes it's a struggle sustaining that, because there's such a level of personal involvement and personal, physical, and emotional distraughtness.
Most people will never know anything beyond what they see with their own two eyes.
Sometimes people do you a favour when they drop out of your life.
The thing with film and theater is that you always know the story so you can play certain cues in each scene with the knowledge that you know where the story's going to end and how it's going to go. But on television nobody knows what's going to happen, even the writers.
When there's an adult person who's scaring you, you grow up pretty quickly.
Pantomime is a big thing in the cultural calendar of my country, you know. So subtlety's not my forte.
There are some days when you don't feel like being Alan Cumming.
I think directing in a team is a really good idea because it stops the cult of the director as God straight away, and also you're discussing things on set so it opens it out to everyone and it becomes a totally collaborative thing. And you have someone who supports you when you're feeling a bit insecure.
Kids are more genuine. When they come up and want to talk to you, they don't have an agenda. It's more endearing and less piercing to your aura.