Alan Cumming's Quotes

Alan Cumming OBE FRSE (born 27 January 1965^{[better source needed]}) is a Scottish actor, singer, writer, filmmaker, and activist who has acted in numerous films, television shows, and plays. 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. 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.

Alan Cumming's selected quotes:

Alan Cumming about People:

With 'Urban Secrets,' I just really liked the idea of wandering around chatting to people.

Alan Cumming about People:

Sometimes people get really sniffy about the films you choose if you've done more dramatic projects ...
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Alan Cumming about Challenge:

Performing a one-man Macbeth feels like the greatest challenge.

Alan Cumming about Working:

Actually I like working kind of fast, because if you got it, why bother doing it ...
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Alan Cumming about First:

I'm Scottish first, and it's odd to hear that I'm a Scottish-American.

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Alan Cumming OBE FRSE (born 27 January 1965^{[better source needed]}) is a Scottish actor, singer, writer, filmmaker, and protester who has acted in numerous films, television shows, and plays. His London stage appearances include Hamlet, the Maniac in Accidental Death of an Anarchist (for which he received an Olivier Award), the benefit in Bent, The National Theatre of Scotland’s The Bacchae and Samuel Beckett’s Endgame at The Old Vic opposite Daniel Radcliffe. 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 accommodation of Macbeth.

Cumming’s best-known film roles intensify his performances in Emma, GoldenEye, the Spy Kids trilogy, Son of the Mask, and X2. Cumming along with introduces Masterpiece Mystery! for PBS and appeared on The fine Wife, for which he was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Satellite Award. A filming of his Las Vegas cabaret show, Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs, aired upon PBS stations in November 2016. In 2018 Cumming starred in the CBS TV series Instinct (stylized as INSTIИCT) with Bojana Novakovic. The comport yourself was cancelled in 2019.

Cumming has written a novel, Tommy’s Tale, and an autobiography, Not My Father’s Son: A Memoir. He had a cable talk show called Eavesdropping subsequently Alan Cumming, and produced a extraction of perfumed products labelled “Cumming”. He has in addition to contributed opinion pieces to many publications and performed cabaret shows, I Bought a Blue Car Today and Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs.

All quotes from Alan Cumming sorted alphabetically:

Alan Cumming about Stupid:

Actors aren't stupid, mostly, and if there's a sensibility and an aesthetic that a director's going for, if you're aware of that too, you can do things to help that.

Alan Cumming about Good:

For example, Americans seem reluctant to take on Shakespeare because you don't think you're very good at it - which is rubbish. You're missing out here.

Alan Cumming about Working:

Actually I like working kind of fast, because if you got it, why bother doing it over and over?

Alan Cumming about Funny:

I come more to Scotland than I ever used to, so I feel more connected to it, more part of the zeitgeist. You know when you realize you have a choice and I'm choosing my homeland. It's funny: when you get older these things creep up to you.

Alan Cumming about People:

I don't feel I'm a compulsive person. I multitask. I'm really well-organised, and I have lots of people to help me.

Alan Cumming about Way:

I like the tragedies way more than the comedies because they're so universal.

Alan Cumming about Life:

I had to be a grown-up when I should have been a little boy, and now that I'm a grown-up my little-boyness has exploded out of me. I've lived my life backwards.

Alan Cumming about Think:

I think you can be as big as you like as long as you mean it. I really do.

Alan Cumming about Working:

I like working on things that are very different and that involve different disguises.

Alan Cumming about Time:

It is not hard to feel like an outsider. I think we have all felt like that at one time or another.

Alan Cumming about First:

I'm Scottish first, and it's odd to hear that I'm a Scottish-American.

Alan Cumming about Life:

It's about how you exist as a person in the world, and the idea that your work is more important than you as a person is a horrible, horrible message. I always think about a little gay boy in Wisconsin or a little lesbian in Arkansas seeing someone like me, and if I cannot be open in my life, how on earth can they?

Alan Cumming about Want:

Kids are more genuine. When they come up and want to talk to you, they don't have an agenda. It's more endearing and less piercing to your aura.

Alan Cumming about Film:

It's really rare for film directors to be that interested in things other than themselves.

Alan Cumming about Play:

Macbeth was the first play I ever read.

Alan Cumming about Life:

My mum always told me I was precious, while my dad always told me I was worthless. I think that's a good grounding for a balanced life.

Alan Cumming about Know:

Pantomime is a big thing in the cultural calendar of my country, you know. So subtlety's not my forte.

Alan Cumming about People:

Nowadays people don't know how to handle it if all the ends aren't tied up and they're not told what to think in films. And if they're challenged, they think it's something wrong with the film.

Alan Cumming about Good:

Once in a while it's good to challenge yourself in a way that's really daunting.

Alan Cumming about People:

Sometimes people get really sniffy about the films you choose if you've done more dramatic projects or you're classically trained.

Alan Cumming about Challenge:

Performing a one-man Macbeth feels like the greatest challenge.

Alan Cumming about Character:

Romeo is the most misunderstood character in literature, I think. He's hardcore to play because he's displaying the characteristics of Hamlet at the beginning, and, well, then everything else happens.

Alan Cumming about Small:

Sometimes with people I know, they're playing the hunky action guy and there's resistance to them coming out because it's so connected to straight masculinity. There's a plastic kind of movie star who has a very short shelf with very small kind of ambition. I see that but I still don't agree with it.

Alan Cumming about People:

With 'Urban Secrets,' I just really liked the idea of wandering around chatting to people.

Alan Cumming about Work:

You do get really exhausted doing films. You work such long hours, and after a while, things can get out of perspective, just like if anyone's tired, things get on top of them.

Alan Cumming about You:

You'll see Dame Judi Dench in a Bond film, in Shakespeare and then starring in her own sitcom. You never see that here with Meryl Streep.