Alan Cumming

Alan Cumming (born 27 January 1965) is a Scottish actor, writer and presenter. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he has received numerous accolades including a BAFTA Award, two Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and an Olivier Award. He received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for the West End production of Accidental Death of an Anarchist (1991). His other Olivier-nominated roles were in The Conquest of the South Pole (1988), La Bête (1992), and Cabaret (1994).

He played Eli Gold in The Good Wife. In the 1990's, Alan listed himself in the Spotlight Directory as being a comfortable 5 feet 10½ inches.

Cumming made his television debut in ITV Granada's Travelling Man, before going on to appear later in the 1980s in the Scottish Television series Take the High Road, Taggart and Shadow of the Stone. Cumming made his film debut in Gillies MacKinnon's short film Passing Glory in 1986. His breakthrough television role was as Bernard Bottle in the Christmas 1991 BBC comedy Bernard and the Genie, a Richard Curtis-scripted film in which he starred alongside Lenny Henry and Rowan Atkinson. He also featured in a comic relief sketch in 1993 on the popular UK television show Blind Date with Atkinson playing Mr. Bean.

• After attending the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, he was an editor and columnist for the journal TOPS.
• He collaborated with the Spice Girls, Stanley Kubrick, and the Royal Shakespeare Company in the UK.
• Cumming's most well-known television performance was in the CBS series The Good Wife (2010–2016), for which he received two Screen Actors Guild Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and two Golden Globe nominations.
• Cumming details the physical and emotional abuse he faced at the hands of his father during his early years in his book, Not My Father's Son. His mother had to become financially independent before she could get a divorce.