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 Scotlands The Bacchae. On Broadway he has appeared in The Threepenny Opera, as the master of ceremonies in Cabaret , Design for Living and a oneman adaptation of Macbeth. His bestknown film roles include his performances in Emma, GoldenEye, the Spy Kids trilogy, and X2 XMen United. Cumming also introduces Masterpiece Mystery for PBS and appears on The Good Wife, for which he has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Satellite Award.

Cumming was born in Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland, the son of mother Mary Darling, an insurance company secretary, and of father, Alex Cumming, the head forester of Atholl Estate. He has a brother, Tom, who is six years older, and a niece and two nephews. His brother is a property manager who lives in Southampton, England. Brought up in Angus, Cumming attended Monikie Primary School and Carnoustie High School. Cumming grew up on a country estate called Panmure Estate near Carnoustie on the east coast of Scotland. He describes the environment as feudal. In his autobiography Not My Fathers Son, Cumming describes emotional and physical violence his father inflicted on him in childhood. His mother found it impossible to obtain a divorce until she was financially independent. Cumming said that after he reached his early 20s, he did not have any communication with his father until just before the filming of his episode of the series Who Do You Think You Are He then found out that his fathe

Source: Wikipedia