The gregarious Scottish actor is an A-lister in the US, but he remains an enigma on this side of the Atlantic. His new memoir sheds light on his eventful life and career including his fathers terrible abuse
Alan Cumming has a funny sort of fame. A massive West End and Broadway star, his awards include a Tony and an Olivier, while his movie credits stretch all the way from arthouse (Stanley Kubricks Eyes Wide Shut) through schmaltz (Spice World, The Smurfs) to Hollywood blockbuster (X-Men 2). He is currently appearing in a sell-out Broadway production of Cabaret in the role of Emcee, and he has been nominated for an Emmy for his part as a political strategist in the upmarket US TV drama The Good Wife. He is also a presenter, screenwriter, producer, director, cabaret performer, novelist and gay-rights campaigner. He even has his own fragrance range and an OBE. Nonetheless, in the weeks leading up this interview, I had difficulty finding anyone I know who had heard of him.
That wouldnt be the case in New York, and it certainly wasnt in Edinburgh this week, where hundreds packed out a huge hall to hear him talk about his new autobiography. Having grown up in Angus, Cumming first made his name on the London stage in 1993 playing Hamlet, but he has lived in the US for the past 15 years, where he is a card-carrying A-lister, and famously best friends with pretty much every celebrity you can think of.
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