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Alan Cumming is a Scottish born actor who has made a lot of marks in the entertainment industry. With a career that began in the 1980s, Alan Cumming has featured in a plethora of movies and TV shows. If you’ve ever seen any of Alan Cumming’s movies or TV shows, one thing stands out; the awesome personality he brings into his characters.
Born on the 27th of January 1965, Alan Cumming is the second of the two sons of Alex and Mary Cumming. He grew up in Dunkeld, where his father worked as a forester for Atholl Estate. With his father’s career climbing north, he and his brother, Tom moved to Fassfern near Fort William. Another career move saw the family settled in the east coast of Scotland in 1969. While there, Alan Cumming’s father became the Head Forester of Panmure Estate.
His acting career kicked off quite early in life. He made a lot of theatre appearances in London in the 1980s. These include Macbeth, Passing Glory, Conquest of the South Pole, and Accidental Death of an Anarchist. His first role in a movie came in 1992. He starred alongside Sandrine Bonnaire and Bruno Ganz in Ian Sellar’s Prague. The film went on to land him Best Actor award at the Atlantic Film Festival and a Scottish BAFTA Best Actor nomination in 1992. That marked the beginning of a successful career, both as an actor and a movie maker.
Alan Cumming has had his highs and lows in the movies and TV shows he has featured. Out of the 100+ movies and TV shows, you’d find below a list of some from best to worst.
List of Alan Cumming Movies and TV Shows: Best to Worst Filmography
1. Second Best (1994)
Though not playing the lead role, Alan Cumming made a stand out outing in this one. The movie had the likes of William Hurt as Graham, Chris Cleary Miles as James, Prunella Scales as Margery, and Alan Cumming as Benard.
The movie centers around Graham Holt (William Hurt) who is living out a solitary bachelor’s life with his suicidal father. With his father’s health deteriorating, he soon realizes that he would be very lonely when his father passes on. To fill the hollow, he moves to adopt James (Chris Cleary Miles), a troubled 10-year old that shares a similar history with his own. James is torn between accepting the affection of Graham and reconciling with his incarcerated dad, John (Keith Allen). All hell lets loose when Graham’s father dies and John is released from prison.
The movie only managed to gross $86,115 in Box office revenue. However, it received wide acceptance from critics and viewers alike.
2. Show Business: The Road to Broadway (2007)
In her first work as a movie director, Dori Berinstein went wild with this classic American documentary film. The movie was a mixed documentary of four Broadway musicals: Wicked, the remake of The Wizard of Oz; Avenue Q; Taboo; and, Caroline, or Change, a personal story of a black maid working for a Jewish family. The movie had an array of great cast members like Alan Cumming, , Idina Menzel, , and .
For a first time project, Show Business: The Road to Broadway was a huge success. The IDA (International Documentary Association) named as one of the top 5 films of 2006. It also received the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the 2006 Florida Film Festival. This was months before its commercial release.
Although it grossed a box office earning of $151,708, it still goes down as one of the top-rated Alan Cumming movies.
3. X2: X-Men United (2003)
X2: X-Men United is the second sequel in the highly successful X-Men series. It featured a repeat cast of the X-Men superhero team. These include , , Ian McKellen, , , , Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Brian Cox, Alan Cumming, Bruce Davison, and .
Alan Cumming had a standout role in this one, playing Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler. In his role, he was depicted to be a German mutant from a deeply Catholic background and kind-hearted. Behind the kind-hearted Kurt Wagner, is a scary blue demon, Nightcrawler. His special ability was to teleport himself and others from one location to another in an instant.
In the opening weekend of this Alan Cumming movie, it accumulated over $85 million in 3,749 theatres. X2: X-Men United grossed $214,949,694 in North America, earning $192,761,855 worldwide. This brought its total earning to $407,711,549. X2: X-Men United received a lot of positive reviews for the acting, action, and storyline.
4. Broadway: The Golden Age (2004)
The journey through the life and experiences of over 100 Broadway actors is the heart of this documentary movie. There were a lot of factoids, anecdotes, and memories shared by some of the renowned actors of the prestigious Broadway Theatres. No holds were barred in this movie. It covered everything from struggles to successes of the key characters.
This documentary movie featured the likes of , , Edie Adams, Alan Cumming, and a plethora of other Broadway stars.
For the work put in by Rick McKay, he was honored with a Special Award by the New England Theatre Conference in 2006. The movie itself won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Palm Beach International Film Festival, the Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and the Audience Award and Festival Award at the San Diego Film Festival, both for Best Documentary.
5. Any Day Now (2012)
In one of his most captivating performances as a lead cast, Alan Cumming takes on a familiar role. His sexuality never being in doubt, it was natural for him to partner with Garret Dillahunt in this one. The plot was a simple one of care love and family. However, the twists and turns left viewers captivated from start to finish.
Travis Fine did a fine job re-writing a script that was written by George Bloom more than three decades before. The choice of actors was awesome. Little wonder why the movie has been able to garner a barrage of awards. Alongside Alan Cumming and Garret Dillahunt are Gregg Henry, Jamie Anne Allman, Chris Mulkey, Don Franklin, and .
For his role in the movie, Alan Cumming received two awards in 2012 – Best Actor Award at the Seattle International Film Festival and Outstanding Actor in a US Dramatic Feature Film at Outfest.
6. GoldenEye – James Bond 007 (1995)
This particular installation of the had a lot of new twists to it. Though it was the seventeenth in the sequel, it was the first not to utilize any of the works of the creator of the , Ian Flemmings. This time, the story was conceived and written by Michael France. It was also the first time that took the reins as the fictional MI6 officer James Bond. Alan Cumming played a role in this one as a computer programmer at Severnaya and eventual affiliate of Janus ().
With the new twist and surprise antagonist introduced, GoldenEye received quite some positive reviews. It holds a 78% score on Rotten Tomatoes, 65% score from Metacritic, and an A- grade from CinemaScore on a scale of A- to F. It is believed that it could have been better saved for some salient details that were omitted by the filmmakers.
However, GoldenEye was nominated for two BAFTA awards but lost to Braveheart and Apollo 13 respectively. The box office earnings were also good – $355 million from a budget of $60 million.
7. The Smurfs (2011)
The Smurfs is a bundle of ups and downs. From the five long years of negotiation to buy the rights to the three times the release date was changed. There was so much that could have been expected from it. But then, the critics and reviewers do not have an up-to-average assessment of this 3D animation.
With an array of voice casts like Jonathan Winters, , , Anton Yelchin, , and Alan Cumming, there was so much to have been expected of this one.
Though it grossed a box office revenue of about $563 million, it still wasn’t much of a financial success when compared to other movies in its ranks made with a budget of over $100 million.
8. The Tempest (2010)
This time, Alan Cumming plays a minor role in the adaptation of William Shakespeare’s book, The Tempest. There wasn’t really much that changed from the original plot of the movie. Albeit, the lead character, Prospero (originally a male character), was played by Helen Mirren as “Prospera”.
The slight change in characterization really affected the overall acceptance of the movie, especially from lovers of Shakespeare’s work. The reviews for this movie was generally unfavorable. Though got a Satelite Awards nomination for Best Actress in 2010, she lost it to .
Despite the negative reviews, the movie grossed about $346 million in box office revenue. This is a good return considering it was made on a budget of $20 million.
9. Get Carter (2000)
This movie was a promising visual that turned out to be a disaster – both for the makers and the viewers. Apart from the negative reviews and critical reactions, the movies performed below par at the box office. It only managed to gross about $19 million against a budget of $64 million.
The production company did well to have an array of stars like , , , Alan Cumming, , and . However, it wasn’t enough to save the movie from being a colossal disaster.
10. Son of the Mask (2005)
Well, this can go down as an over-bloated superhero comedy film. A typology of the 1994 movie, The Mask, but missing some of the quintessential ingredients to drive home the message of the film.
With Alan Cumming starring as Loki, the god of mischief, there could have been some added spice to it. But according to top critics, the movie was overly frantic, painfully unfunny, and sorely missing the presence of .
The movie was also a box office disaster, grossing lower ($60 million) than the production budget ($100 million).
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