Tony Award-winning actor and philanthropist Alan Cumming is a jack of all things entertainment. From acting, singing, writing, directing and all of his humanitarian work, the man does it all. He’s credited as being absolutely fun and unapologetically himself, and with that amount of talent, there’s no need to apologize.
Legal Immigrant
After achieving huge critical acclaim for Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs, Alan Cumming returns to New York’s Cafe Carlyle with the new cabaret show called Legal Immigrant. Inspired by a hot topic, “this cabaret’s theme came into fruition when U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website removed the phrase ‘Nation of Immigrants’ from their records”, he says. Being a recent immigrant himself, he felt a change in how people viewed the topic as a whole, “I just sort of felt I wanted to do something that celebrated immigration instead of berating it, so it’s basically a celebration of immigration.” Legal Immigrant commemorates the milestone of his American citizenship and touches on themes like aging. Alan reveals how he got to where he is today while giving a friendly reminder that we were all immigrants at one point. This politically weighed and humorously backed performance has been a hit (unsurprisingly).
‘Trumpageddon’ & Calling Out Weinstein
Coined ‘Trumpageddon’, Cumming is fighting through the Trump presidency and showing support for Jeff Beals for District 19, “he’s very progressive. I just feel like actually the democratic party since the last election has not really done anything to change it and that represents failure. Nancy Pelosi represents failure.” Alan is not one to shy away when talking politics, especially on social media. Cumming says his Twitter has been much less “kooky” since Trump has been in office, “it’s more than just ‘do you know about this? This just happened now’ and ‘sign this!'” Cumming took to Instagram to call out Trump for more than just his policies. Posed with Harvey Weinstein in a Bush-era picture, he was wearing a ‘WORST PRESIDENT EVER’ t-shirt. In the caption he says, “it’s time for the Republicans to call out Trump for what he is: a bully, a liar, accused of multiple rapes and sexual assaults, a swaggering pussy grabber.” But that’s not all. Cumming also addressed Harvey Weinstein’s arrest, with whom he had worked in the past. He makes it clear that he didn’t know Weinstein was a rapist, “I knew he invited girls for meetings in his hotel room and he’d ask them for massages. That’s about as far as I knew actually. I knew he was an old letchy old pig.” Cumming is on board with #MeToo and feels for all of the women who have to relive these memories. His heart is also heavy for the women who had sex with Weinstein consensually, “they can’t really join that catharsis because they’re ashamed. I think that must be a terrible thing when you’ve kind of done something you didn’t really want to do but you went along with it.” Readjusting to the new environment in Hollywood will take some time, “now there’s an environment where that kind of behaviour, we can take people to task for it.” Cumming encourages people to speak out and for men to educate themselves. He offers these words of wisdom, “maybe it’s sexier if you don’t try to pin a girl against a wall. Maybe you’re more likely to get laid if you’re kinda charming and nice.” This change is a process and Alan Cumming believes more information is bound to come out. However, he vows to be more vigilant.
Instinct
Alan Cumming stars in the CBS police drama series Instinct. Based on the novel Murder Games by James Patterson, it follows former CIA agent-turned-professor Dr. Dylan Reinhart as he’s recruited to catch a serial killer using his book for inspiration. Much like Alan himself, Dr. Dylan Reinhart has a diverse career to say the least. However, that’s about as much as they have in common, “He’s very kind of uptight, much more ordered than I am, he’s intellectual, he’s an academic. I’m not. I’m much more of a sensual person I think than him.” He likes to play characters that are different than him. Despite this, Alan understands him as a person and likes that he’s confounding. This milestone role is making history. He’s brilliant, witty, and according to Cumming, “almost superhuman.” He also happens to be gay. It’s the first ever network drama on American television to have a gay character as the lead. Dr. Reinhart is viewed as being a revolutionary character for more than just his sexual orientation. Cumming applauds having a gay lead, where their sexuality isn’t the central plot or cause of conflict in a show, “I think this idea that we see people not just for their sexuality I think is very important. I get really bored cause usually when I’m mentioned, a prefix to my name is first my sexuality.” Instinct has been renewed for a second season and Alan says to expect his husband on the show to be more involved in the cases, as well as other characters to be explored in depth.
Early Life and Philanthropy
Alan Cumming is an advocate for the LGBT community. When asked what the most memorable moment of his career was, he didn’t mention the countless awards he’s won or that he was made an Officer of the British Empire by the Queen. Although he’s proud of those accomplishments, he says, “I’m actually more proud of helping people. People who come up and say ‘I was a little boy in Wisconsin and I saw you talking about your boyfriend on television that made me able to come out to everybody.'” The way Alan lives his life and how he can help other people is more important to him. He credits his Scottish upbringing for his love for philanthropy, “You’re brought up with a sort of a sense of looking out for other people, making sure things are fair and looking out for people who slip through the cracks.” Alan Cumming was born in Scotland but didn’t have any exposure to the theatre or cinema. His first taste was at school when he was part of a play, “The lightbulb moment was the first time when I sort of realized I was good at anything, or other people told me I was good.” He remembers finding out that you could be an actor but not knowing what that actually meant. It was always his one and only plan, admitting that there was never a plan B.
Club Cumming
Despite his love for acting, Cumming secretly always wanted to be a bartender. Acting had always been his job so he never got the opportunity. Not until Club Cumming was born. The inspiration for the bar’s name was derived from when he most recently did Cabaret. He would host parties in his dressing room and call it “Club Cumming.” From there, his dream of becoming a bartender was on the horizon. Cumming would host pop up Club Cumming parties until his favourite bar in New York City became available and he went for it. Now Club Cumming is a hot and happening cabaret bar on the Eastern block. They have performances all the time in true cabaret fashion. The bar may be small, but Alan says there is a great sense of community. Cumming gets to live out his dream of bartending, “the other bartenders love it cause people give bigger tips and then I don’t take my share of the tips, they’re quite happy about that.” Although he loves it, he admits he’s not very good. When someone orders a complicated drink, he often sways them into getting something else.
Fashion
Add style icon to Alan Cumming’s long list of titles. He remembers wearing red silk Jean Paul Gaultier brocade pants to the Emmys, an outfit in which he thought was quite nice. However, the late Joan Rivers had something a little less glamorous in mind. Cumming remenised with laughter, “I was at the gym the next day and the Fashion Police episode was on and Joan Rivers said it looked like I had shat myself.” Rivers‘comment made more than a few people crack up, including Cumming himself. However, he’s intrigued by the concept of judging red carpet looks, “people criticize you at something that’s supposed to be a celebration of creativity.” Despite this fashion fiasco, Cumming once won the Sexiest Fashion Award. “I got the award as a silver dildo,” he says it’s a hit with his friends, “it’s the most handled award.” Alan doesn’t think it matters what you look like as long as you’re happy and comfortable, “I think you should wear the clothes, not the clothes wear you.” He still enjoys a nice outfit and has an all or nothing attitude when it comes to dressing up. When playing Eli Gold on The Good Wife, Cumming boycotted a designer from his wardrobe, “When Dolce & Gabbana came out and said all that stuff about synthetic children and very homophobic things, Eli wore a lot of Dolce & Gabbana. He didn’t anymore after that.”
The Future
Alan Cumming means many things to many people. Some millennials grew up watching and often laughing at his different characters. He’s Mr. Fegan Floop from Spy Kids, “it’s got magical qualities to it and I love the fact that it’s kind of a special part of so many people’s childhoods.” Many remember his annoying, yet harmless character Piers Cuthbertson-Smyth from Spice World who stalked the loveable ladies with his camera crew. Alan remembers how he landed that iconic role. Geri Halliwell, also known as Ginger Spice, lost her father in college. Two nights later, she went to see him play Hamlet, which is all about the protagonist’s deceased father, “she said to me the reason we wanted you to be in the movie cause I saw you playing Hamlet”. As for the future, Cumming hasn’t a clue what it holds. He would like to go see some movies, “I get the email from the little cinema down the street that I live in New York and I think ‘ugh I’d love to go see that but can I? No I can’t’ so you know, things like that.” He’s never been one to have grand plans, however he sees himself slowing down and taking time off.
