ALAN CUMMING is an award-winning actor whose eclectic career has included seasons with the Royal Shakespeare Company, feature films, stand-up comedy, writing for his own television series and directing the acclaimed short film "Butter." This June Cumming stars opposite Renee Russo in "Buddy" for Sony Pictures. He recently completed "For My Baby," a European production filmed in Budapest, dealing with the Holocaust.
He was most recently seen as the Reverend Elton opposite Gwyneth Paltrow in "Emma" for Miramax. Cumming played computer whiz Boris Grishenko in "GoldenEye," and appeared as the amorous yet conniving Sean Walsh in Pat O'Connor's "Circle of Friends." He was also heard as the title role in "Black Beauty." Other feature film credits include "Prague," for which he received Best Actor honors at the Atlantic Film Festival, and "Second Best" with William Hurt. Born in Perthshire, Scotland, Cumming grew up on a country estate near Dundee where his father was a forester. At 16, he left school and began writing for a magazine before moving to Glasgow to train at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. While still a student he made his professional debut in television and theatre projects, as well as in the feature film "Passing Glory."
After three years of theatre and television work in Scotland, Cumming made his West End debut in 1988 at the Royal Court in "The Conquest of the South Pole," and was nominated Most Promising Newcomer for that year's Laurence Olivier Awards. He went on to win an Olivier Award for "Accidental Death of an Anarchist" at the Royal National Theatre in 1991, and was nominated again the following year for his performance in "La Bete" at the Lyric Hammersmith. He appeared as the Emcee in Kander and Ebb's "Cabaret," earning a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. In total, Cumming has been nominated for a record four Olivier Awards. In 1993, Cumming won rave reviews for his performance as Hamlet in London's Donmar Warehouse production. For his performance he earned a Martini Rossi Best Actor Award as well as a Shakespeare Globe Award nomination.
Mixing his film and theatre success with a diversity of other work, Cumming is also known on the stand-up circuit as the latter half of the comedy duo Victor and Barry. He has adapted plays for the Royal National Theatre and was the co-writer and star of the cult BBC sitcom "The High Life." Cumming's other television credits include the films "Bernard and the Genie," for which he received Top Television Newcomer at the 1992 British Comedy Awards, "The Last Romantics" and "Micky Love."