Alan Cumming
Born: 27th January 1965
Where: Dunkeld, Perthshire, Scotland
The onetime children's letter's page editor is one of the few British actors to carve a successful career in Hollywood.
Unlike Ewan McGregor, Jude Law and Orlando Bloom, he's rarely cast in lead roles but has made a name for himself in the likes of GoldenEye, Spy Kids and X-Men.
The son of a Scottish forester working on the famous Atholl estate, the family moved to Fassfern near Fort William when he was a baby and then to Carnoustie.
He attended Monikie Primary School and Carnoustie High School and went on to work for a year at Dundee publishers DC Thomsons.
After a spell in the fiction department, Dundee, he headed up the letters page as Young Alan on the magazine TOPS.
Cumming then attended the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow where he studied for three years.
He first attracted attention as half of the camp cabaret duo Vic and Barry, alongside comedian Forbes Masson.
Cumming made his small screen debut in 1980 in the Scottish soap Take The High Road and made his film debut in Gillies MacKinnon's student film Passing Glory in 1986.
Busy with stage and television work, he didn't return to the big screen until six years later with concentration camp drama Prague.
After winning an Olivier Award for his comic role in Accidental Death Of An Anarchist, Cumming appeared in Sam Mendes' 1993 London staging of Cabaret, co-starring Jane Horrocks.
He was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award before taking the show to Broadway, where he won a Tony Award for his role as MC.
The following year he made his directorial debut with the short film Butter, starring ex wife Hilary Lyon.
In 1995, he raised his profile as Bond baddie Boris Grishenko in GoldenEye and also starred alongside Minnie Driver in the romantic comedy Circle Of Friends.
Subsequent appearnaces included the part of Reverend Elton in Emma and the American comedy Romy and Michele's High School Reunion.
Relocating to America, he went on to star in movies ranging from the lacklustre Spice World to the highwayman yarn Plunkett and Macleane.
In 1999, Stanley Kubrick cast him in a minor role in Eyes Wide Shut and he went on to star alongside Anthony Hopkins in the gory drama Titus.
He had a string of diverse roles in 2000, appearing in Sly Stallone's Get Carter remake, as Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista in the comedy Company Man and Mick Jagged in The Flintstones Go To Las Vegas.
The following year he made his first appearance as the evil Fegan Floop in Spy Kids and went on to appear in Josie and the Pussycats and The Anniversary Party, which he wrote and co-directed with Jennifer Jason Leigh.
In 2003, he made his first appearance as the Nightcrawler in X-Men 2 and turned to TV work with The Goodbye Girl and Out on the Edge.
Cumming provided the voice of Persnikitty for Garfield The Movie and appeared in the children's Mask sequel The Son of the Mask.
Recent work includes Mr Ripley's Return - the latest in Patricia Highsmith's Ripley series - with Willem Dafoe and Barry Pepper.
