The Scottish-American actor chats to us about playing the first leading gay character on a US TV show, running his own night club and the perks of being a married man.
Talking about playing the first ever openly gay character on a US network drama in Instinct, Alan Cumming declares: “If you can be progressive within the mainstream you can be much more potent.”
Cumming could also be talking about his career. He’s an envelope-pushing renegade who has always marched to the beat of his own drum—from his Tony-winning turn as the predatory emcee in Cabaret to his satirical fragrance line via anything-goes solo shows and a recurring role as a blunttalking campaign strategist on The Good Wife right at the heart of mainstream TV. One minute he’s in a Spy Kids or X-Men movie, the next he’s in the blood-soaked screen version of Titus, then he’s essaying about dressing up as a woman for a day for Marie Claire. He’s a novelist, memoirist (writing candidly about growing up with an abusive father), supported the campaign for Scottish independence and continues to champion LGBT+ causes. He even has his own nightclub in New York cheekily called Club Cumming.
It’s a wonder he has time to chat to me at this year’s Monte-Carlo TV Festival but the 54-year-old multitasker is very relaxed as he slumps his legs over a chair and talks proudly about his Instinct character—a former CIA operative turned author and psychology professor named Dr Dylan Reinhart, who becomes a consultant for the NYPD when a crime appears to have been inspired by one of his books.
Esta historia es de la edición Reader's Digest September 2019 de Reader's Digest UK.
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