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 amassed a filmography as eclectic and idiosyncratic as the man himself: from cult classics like Josie and the Pussycats, Spice World and Burlesque to Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut and Julie Taymor’s Titus; from blockbuster franchises like X2:X Men United, the Spy Kids trilogy, and Avengers:Doomsday to smaller and independent films like The Anniversary Party (which he also wrote, produced and directed with Jennifer Jason Leigh) Sweet Land (Independent Spirit Award as producer), Battle of the Sexes and 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). His work in queer cinema includes.Travis Fine's Any Day Now (for which he won great acclaim and numerous Best Actor awards at festivals around the globe), After Louie and Drive Back Home. His film voice acting credits are equally as diverse, ranging from the titular role in 1995’s Black Beauty to The Smurfs, Garfield and Toy Story franchises.
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 second home.
He has continued to work on Broadway in Noel Coward's Design For Living, The Threepenny Opera (opposite Cyndi Lauper) , a radical reimagining of Macbeth in which he played nearly all the characters, and in the 2014/15 season he recreated his now legendary performance in Cabaret opposite the Sally Bowles of Michelle Williams, Emma Stone and Sienna Miller. Off Broadway he adapted and played the Pope in Jean Genet’s Elle, and appeared in The Seagull opposite Dianne Wiest and in Jeremy O. Harris’ Daddy. In 2022 he took his National Theatre of Scotland one man dance theatre piece Burn to NYC’s Joyce theatre.
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 most recent London theatre appearance was opposite Daniel Radcliffe in Beckett’s Endgame at the Old Vic.
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) two different roles in Doctor Who as King james and later the animated character mr Ring-a ding. He appeared in the much loved Miriam and Alan: Lost In Scotland in which he traveled round his homeland in a van with Miriam Margolyes and hosted the docuseries Alan Cumming’s Paradise Homes and All Aboard! Scotland’s Poshest Train!. Most recenly he played the lead in the hugely acclaimed Tipt Toe, Russell T Davies’ contemporary society masterpiece.
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. More recently he was seen in Apple TV+’s Schmigadoon and Schmicago and has found huge success and acclaim playing the host of the cultural phenomenon known as The Traitors, for which he has won countless awards including four Emmys and four 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 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 seventh book, written with Forbes Masson, Victor and Barry's Kelvinside Compendium: A Meander Down Memory Close, was 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!).