Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#196
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Alan Cumming represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 32 years in, and Alan is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Alan Cumming appears in 30 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Alan. Eyes Wide Shut is the clearest case: a film rated 7.6 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for comedy, adventure, family. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Ludovic Bernard, Andrew Stanton, Brian Cox and others, Alan Cumming helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
Eyes Wide Shut (1999) as Desk Clerk · Toy Story 5 (2026) as Evil Bullseye (voice) · Burlesque (2010) as Alexis
Career snapshot
Ranked #196 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
30
1994–2026
Career length
32 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.6
Eyes Wide Shut
Average Nutevio score
5.6
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.5
Eyes Wide Shut
Most frequent director
Robert Rodriguez
3 films together
Longest collaboration
3×
With Robert Rodriguez
Most common genre
Comedy
19 titles
Average runtime
1h 40m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
6.8
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
6.4
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
2010s
6.6 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. Show Dogs, Battle of the Sexes, Burlesque — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
6.6
Across 3 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
6.6
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1990s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Annie, Eyes Wide Shut, Titus.
Most productive era
2020s
11 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.56 films | 6.91 film | 7.02 films | 7.11 film |
| Action | 6.62 films | 5.94 films | — | 6.51 film |
| Thriller | 7.32 films | — | — | — |
| Comedy | 6.24 films | 5.66 films | 6.32 films | 5.17 films |
| Crime | — | — | 5.91 film | 5.71 film |
| Romance | 6.61 film | 5.72 films | 7.21 film | 0.01 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1994Black Beauty
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Black Beauty (voice).
Highest rated performance
1999Eyes Wide Shut
7.6 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer.
Career peak
2026Glenrothan
Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
The current state of the argument, as Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler.
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
30 of 30 films
as Donal
Directed by Brian Cox
as Desk Clerk
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
as Black Beauty (voice)
Directed by Caroline Thompson
as Evil Bullseye (voice)
Directed by Andrew Stanton
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
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The defining work
#1
Donal
Glenrothan (2026)
Performance score7.5
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Donal gives Alan Cumming a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Desk Clerk
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Performance score7.4
Eyes Wide Shut asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Desk Clerk is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Black Beauty (voice)
Black Beauty (1994)
Performance score7.4
Black Beauty asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Black Beauty (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Evil Bullseye (voice)
Toy Story 5 (2026)
Performance score7.2
Toy Story 5 asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Evil Bullseye (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Donal
Start here. Glenrothan is the clearest statement of what Alan Cumming does — accessible, 99 minutes, and rated 7.1 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Alan at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
Black Beauty (1994)
Keeps the drama register of Glenrothan but asks for a colder reading of it.
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Keeps the drama register of Black Beauty but asks for a colder reading of it.
Toy Story 5 (2026)
A deliberate change of key after Eyes Wide Shut — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Les Parfait(s) : Arnaques en Famille (2026)
Keeps the comedy register of Toy Story 5 but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Robert Rodriguez
Director
3 films together
Notably Spy Kids
Douglas McGrath
Director
2 films together
Notably Nicholas Nickleby
Caroline Thompson
Director
1 film together
Notably Black Beauty
Martin Campbell
Director
1 film together
Notably GoldenEye
Bob Spiers
Director
1 film together
Notably Spice World
Julie Taymor
Director
1 film together
Notably Titus
Stanley Kubrick
Director
1 film together
Notably Eyes Wide Shut
Rob Marshall
Director
1 film together
Notably Annie
Brian Levant
Director
1 film together
Notably The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas
Bryan Singer
Director
1 film together
Notably X2
Nancy Meyers
Director
1 film together
Notably It's Complicated
Steve Antin
Director
1 film together
Notably Burlesque
Jonathan Dayton
Director
1 film together
Notably Battle of the Sexes
Raja Gosnell
Director
1 film together
Notably Show Dogs
Nora Twomey
Director
1 film together
Notably My Father's Dragon
Neil Jordan
Director
1 film together
Notably Marlowe
Laura Blount
Director
1 film together
Notably Being Stanley Baxter
Anthony Russo
Director
1 film together
Notably Avengers: Doomsday
Brian Cox
Director
1 film together
Notably Glenrothan
Andrew Stanton
Director
1 film together
Notably Toy Story 5
Ludovic Bernard
Director
1 film together
Notably Les Parfait(s) : Arnaques en Famille
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Robert Rodriguez
Director
3 films together · 5.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Spy KidsDouglas McGrath
Director
2 films together · 6.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Nicholas NicklebyStanley Kubrick
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Eyes Wide ShutAndrew Stanton
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Toy Story 5Steve Antin
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BurlesqueBrian Cox
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
GlenrothanNora Twomey
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
My Father's DragonBryan Singer
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
X2Martin Campbell
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
GoldenEyeJonathan Dayton
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Battle of the SexesLudovic Bernard
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Les Parfait(s) : Arnaques en FamilleCaroline Thompson
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Black BeautyAnthony Russo
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Avengers: DoomsdayNancy Meyers
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
It's ComplicatedRob Marshall
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
AnnieJulie Taymor
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
TitusRaja Gosnell
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Show DogsNeil Jordan
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MarloweBob Spiers
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Spice WorldBrian Levant
Director
1 film together · 4.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Flintstones in Viva Rock VegasLaura Blount
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Being Stanley BaxterSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Eyes Wide Shut
as Desk Clerk
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Burlesque
as Alexis
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Eyes Wide Shut
as Desk Clerk
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
It's Complicated
as TV Actor (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Glenrothan
as Donal
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Alan Cumming has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
32 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Comedy Legend
Awarded
19 catalogue titles in comedy, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
Eyes Wide Shut
as Desk Clerk
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Eyes Wide Shut
as Desk Clerk
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Burlesque
as Alexis
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Eyes Wide Shut
as Desk Clerk
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
X2
as Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
X2
as Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Spice World
as Piers
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Avengers: Doomsday
as Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
Tom Hanks
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Bonnie Hunt
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Tim Allen
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Joan Cusack
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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