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Alan Cumming

Alan Cumming

Character: Eli Gold



Actor Alan Cumming has recently completed filming the mini-series The Runaway and was just nominated for an Emmy for his guest starring appearance on the first season of the hit CBS drama of The Good Wife playing Eli Gold. He will join the cast as a series regular for the second season.

He made his feature film debut opposite Bruno Ganz and Sandrine Bonnaire in Ian Sellar’s Prague, which premiered at Cannes in 1992 and for which he won the Best Actor award at the Atlantic Film festival and a Scottish BAFTA award nomination. His introduction to American audiences came with Circle of Friends, followed shortly by Goldeneye and Emma. His first movie shot in Hollywood was Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion (for which he received an MTV Movie Award nomination), and since the he has alternated between blockbusters such as X2:X Men United, the Spy Kids Trilogy, and smaller independent films like Urbania, Titus (opposite Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange) and Sweet Land (for which he received an Independent Spirit award as producer). With Jennifer Jason Leigh he wrote, produced, directed and acted in The Anniversary Party, which won them a National Board of Review award and two Independent Spirit nominations. Most recently he was seen in the independent films Dare and Boogie Woogie.

In 1998, Cabaret opened on Broadway and Alan was instantly embraced by New York City, and heralded for his stunning performance as the EmCee. He won The Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics’ Circle, Theatre World, New York Press, FANY and New York Public Advocate’s awards for his work, but for him the biggest prize was finding his new home.

He has continued to work on Broadway in The Threepenny Opera opposite Cyndi Lauper, Design For Living and off -Broadway in Jean Genet’s Elle (which he also adapted) and The Seagull, opposite Dianne Wiest. He returned to the British stage in 2006 in Martin Sherman’s Bent, and most recently appeared in the National Theatre of Scotland’s production of Euripides’ The Bacchae, which opened the Edinburgh International Festival and toured Scotland, transferred to London and then to the Lincoln Center Festival in NYC. Alan won the Herald Arcangel award for his performance as Dionysus.

On American television he appeared in Sex and the City, Frasier, Third Rock From The Sun, The L Word, the TV movies Annie, The Goodbye Girl and Reefer Madness and the Sci-Fi Channel’s record-breaking Tin Man. He is also the host of PBS’ Masterpiece Mystery. In Britain he wrote and starred in the cult sitcom The High Life as well as many other films for the BBC including Bernard and the Genie for which he won a British Comedy award.