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
It's really rare for film directors to be that interested in things other than themselves.
For example, Americans seem reluctant to take on Shakespeare because you don't think you're very good at it - which is rubbish. You're missing out here.
You should *have* an experience; it shouldn't just *be* an experience.
Sometimes people do you a favour when they drop out of your life.
Most people will never know anything beyond what they see with their own two eyes.
I'm not a fan of Twitter.
It's a sort of anti-Broadway musical. It's odd, disjointed and spiky.
'Macbeth' was the first play I ever read. In fact, I remember my brother Tom, who is six years older than me, coming home from school and telling me about it. He was the one that really got me going.
My mum always told me I was precious, while my dad always told me I was worthless. I think that's a good grounding for a balanced life.
It's about how you exist as a person in the world, and the idea that your work is more important than you as a person is a horrible, horrible message. I always think about a little gay boy in Wisconsin or a little lesbian in Arkansas seeing someone like me, and if I cannot be open in my life, how on earth can they?
I had to be a grown-up when I should have been a little boy, and now that I'm a grown-up my little-boyness has exploded out of me. I've lived my life backwards.
Usually, there's a story I've told that leads up to why I'm singing the song. The whole concept of the show was about being authentic and connecting with these songs. The best way to do that was in a room with an audience and for people to listen to that.
I'm quite good, though I say it myself, at making strangers feel at ease.
I was horrified when Richard Chamberlain and Rupert Everett said gay actors should stay in the closet. They were saying to people that they should live a lie and not be liberated, to live in fear of being found out