In his autobiography Not My Father's Son, Cumming describes the emotional and physical violence his father inflicted on him in his childhood. Cumming attended Monikie Primary School and Carnoustie High School. His brother is a property manager in Southampton, England. He has a brother, Tom, who is six years older, and a niece and two nephews. He has described the environment as "feudal".
His mother, Mary Darling, was an insurance company secretary and his father, Alex Cumming, was the head forester of Panmure Estate, which is located near Carnoustie, on the east coast of Scotland, and is where Cumming grew up. Ĭumming was born on 27 January 1965 in Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland. In 2022, he received a Tony Award for Best Musical as a producer for the musical A Strange Loop. He has also contributed opinion pieces to many publications and performed the cabaret shows, I Bought a Blue Car Today and Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs. He had a cable talk show called Eavesdropping with Alan Cumming and produced a line of perfumed products labelled "Cumming".
In 2021, he appeared in the Apple TV+ series Schmigadoon!Ĭumming has written a novel, Tommy's Tale (2002), an autobiography, Not My Father's Son: A Memoir (2014), and a topical memoir, Baggage: Tales from a Fully Packed Life (2019).
Cumming starred in the 2018–2019 CBS TV series Instinct. Cumming also appeared on The Good Wife, for which he was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Satellite Award. On Broadway, he has appeared in The Threepenny Opera, as the master of ceremonies in Cabaret (for which he won a Tony Award), Design for Living, and a one-man adaptation of Macbeth.Ĭumming's film roles include his performances in Emma, GoldenEye and as Nightcrawler in X2 (X-Men 2), Loki in Son of the Mask, and as Fegan Floop in the Spy Kids trilogy. His London stage appearances include Hamlet, the Maniac in Accidental Death of an Anarchist (for which he received an Olivier Award), the lead in Bent, The National Theatre of Scotland's The Bacchae and Samuel Beckett's Endgame at The Old Vic opposite Daniel Radcliffe. For many, these images represent a small fragment of LGBT history that was repressed and concealed for so long.Alan Cumming OBE FRSE (born 27 January 1965 ) is a Scottish actor. There is little information about the individuals in the photos and it is quite extraordinary that these images still survive - as many old photos of homosexual couples are believed to have been purposely destroyed by family members.Īlthough it is unknown whether the people in these unique photos were related, gay or just friends - the tender and close relationship between the men pictured is poignantly evident. The images, taken from various websites, capture Victorian and early-twentieth century males in intimate positions - and showing a daring amount of openness with one another for the time. At a time when homosexuality was a criminal offence and harsh sentences were brought down upon gay men, these images of male affection from the 19th century are truly remarkable.Įmbracing each other, holding hands and reclining together, these incredible black-and-white photographs provide a rare glimpse into men showing physical love to other men in the 1800s and early 1900s.