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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fh_ac9983b_8130.jpg]]

Alan Cumming (born 27 January 1965 in Aberfeldy, Scotland) is a Scottish stage, television and film actor, singer, writer, director, producer and author. He's best known for his roles as Nightcrawler in ''Film/X2XMenUnited'', Fegan Floop in the ''Film/SpyKids'' movie series, and Boris Grishenko in ''Film/GoldenEye''.

His stage appearances include ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', the Broadway revival of ''Theatre/{{Cabaret}}'' (for which he won a Tony for his very sexualized portrayal of the Emcee) and ''Theatre/TheThreepennyOpera''. In 2000 he directed ''The Anniversary Party'', in which he starred along with Creator/JenniferJasonLeigh. In 2002 he wrote a novel, ''Tommy's Tale''. He starred as Eli Gold in ''Series/TheGoodWife'' and is the current host of ''[[{{Series/Masterpiece}} Masterpiece Mystery]]'' on Creator/{{PBS}} and ''[[Series/TheTraitorsUS The Traitors]]'' on Creator/{{Peacock}}.
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!!His Film Roles Include:

* ''Film/BernardAndTheGenie'' (1991) as Bernard Bottle
* ''Literature/BlackBeauty'' (1994) as Black Beauty (voice)
* ''Film/GoldenEye'' (1995) as Boris Grishenko
* ''Film/RomyAndMichelesHighSchoolReunion'' (1997) as Sandy Frink
* ''Film/{{Buddy}}'' (1997) as Dick Croner
* ''Film/SpiceWorld'' (1997) as Piers Cuthbertson-Smyth
* ''Film/{{Titus|1999}}'' (1999) as Saturninus
* ''Film/EyesWideShut'' (1999) as Hotel Desk Clerk
* ''Film/{{Annie|1999}}'' (1999) as Daniel Francis "Rooster" Hannigan
* ''Film/TheFlintstonesInVivaRockVegas'' (2000) as The Great Gazoo
* ''[[Film/GetCarter2000 Get Carter]]'' (2000) as Jeremy Kinnear
* ''Film/SpyKids'' as Fegan Floop
** ''[[Film/SpyKids1 Spy Kids]]'' (2001)
** ''Film/SpyKids2IslandOfLostDreams'' (2002)
** ''Film/SpyKids3DGameOver'' (2003)
* ''Film/{{Josie and the Pussycats|2001}}'' (2001) as Wyatt Frame
* ''Film/NicholasNickleby'' (2002) as Mr. Folair
* ''Film/X2XMenUnited'' (2003) as Nightcrawler
* ''Film/{{Garfield}}'' (2004) as Sir Roland/Persnikitty (voice)
* ''Film/SonOfTheMask'' (2005) as Loki
* ''[[Film/ReeferMadnessTheMusical Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical]]'' (2005) as [[ActingForTwo Lecturer/Goat-Man/Franklin Delano Roosevelt/Various Characters]]
* ''[[Literature/{{Ripliad}} Ripley Under Ground]]'' (2005) as Jeff Constant
* ''Film/{{Neverwas}}'' (2005) as Jake
* ''Film/GrayMatters'' (2007) as Gordy
* ''Anime/ProfessorLaytonAndTheEternalDiva'' (2009) as Ian (voice)
* ''[[Film/TheTempest2010 The Tempest]]'' (2010) as Sebastian
* ''Film/{{Burlesque}}'' (2010) as Alexis
* ''Film/TheSmurfs'' as Gutsy Smurf (voice)
** ''Film/TheSmurfs'' (2011)
** ''Film/TheSmurfs2'' (2013)
* ''WesternAnimation/SirBilli'' (2012) as Gordon the Goat (voice)
* ''WesternAnimation/StrangeMagic'' (2015) as the Bog King (voice)
* ''Film/HurricaneBianca'' (2016) as Lawrence Taylor
* ''Film/BattleOfTheSexes'' (2017) as Ted Tinling
* ''Film/ShowDogs'' (2018) as Dante (voice)
* ''WesternAnimation/MyFathersDragon'' (2022) as Cornelius the Crocodile (voice)
* ''Film/{{Marlowe|2022}}'' (2022) as Lou Hendricks
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!!His TV Roles Include:

* ''Series/TheHighLife'' (1995) as Sebastian Flight (also co-writer)
* ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'' (1996) as Angus "The Hole" [=MacDuff=] (1 episode)
* ''WesternAnimation/GodTheDevilAndBob'' (2000, 2011) as The Devil (voice)
* ''Series/SexAndTheCity'' (2001) as Oscar (1 episode)
* ''Series/TheLWord'' (2006) as Billie Blakie (6 episodes)
* ''Series/TinMan'' (2007) as Glitch (3 episodes)
* ''Series/{{Masterpiece}}'' (2008-present) as the host of ''Masterpiece Mystery'' (2008-present)
* ''Series/TheGoodWife'' (2010-16) as Eli Gold
** ''Series/TheGoodFight'' (2022)
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' (2013) as Sebastian Winkleplotz (voice) (1 episode)
* ''Series/{{Instinct}}'' (2018) as Dr. Dylan Reinhart
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' (2018) as UsefulNotes/JamesI (1 episode)
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePrince'' (2021) as Owen (voice) (12 episodes)
* ''Series/{{Schmigadoon}}'' (2021-present) as Mayor Menlove (season 1), Dooley Blight (season 2)
* ''Series/TheTraitorsUS'' (2023-present) as The Host
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!!His Audio Roles Include:

* ''Podcast/{{Solar}}'' (2022-present) as Commander Alex Tawley
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!!His Theatre Roles Include:

* ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' (1993) as Hamlet
* ''Theatre/{{Cabaret}}'' (1993, 1998, 2014) as The Emcee
* ''Theatre/TheThreepennyOpera'' (2006) as Macheath
* ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' (2013) as All Roles
* ''Theatre/{{Endgame}}'' (2020) as Hamm
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!!This actor provides examples of:
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: He demanded a retraction re: a Wall Street Journal article that [[http://www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/segments/4916 that suggested]] that he wore a [[GagPenis codpiece]] as the Emcee.
* DyeingForYourArt: Quite often, the most prominent example in ''X2''. He had his limits, apparently; even in the behind-the-scenes footage, he stated he couldn't go through the makeup process again for the next film. This trope was the main reason he did not reprise the role for ''The Last Stand''.
* FakeNationality: Constantly. As a Scotsman he's played an American, a Brit (an American pretending to be a Brit), a German and a Russian just to name a few and is renowned for his ability to adopt each accent flawlessly.
* LargeHam: Many times, most notably when playing Boris Grishenko in ''Film/GoldenEye'' and King James I in ''Series/DoctorWho''.
* PromotedFanboy: He's a huge ''Series/DoctorWho'' fan and tried to get on the show for several years before it finally happened, which very much shows in the sheer glee of his performance.
* SelfDeprecatingHumor: At his own last name, in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmdJEjJxYOY this]] cologne commercial. And yes it [[http://cbihateperfume.com/shop/2nd-alan-cumming/ actually exists]].
** Not just that one time. When hosting ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' he mentioned in his opening monologue that Creator/BarbraStreisand inspired him with her autobiography ''Streisand on Streisand'' to write his own memoir. You can guess the title.
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