About Alan Cumming
Scottish-American actor Alan Cumming has dazzled audiences on stage and on the screen for years, but with his boundless energy and lilting brogue, he was a natural fit as an audiobook narrator. One need only hear his narration of his own memoir, Not My Father’s Son, to understand the enrapturing appeal. (Cumming won two Audie awards for that one, for Best Autobiography/Memoir and for Narration by Author, and it was named one of Audible’s Best Books of the Year in 2014.)
The Tony-winning actor has brought all of his formidable skills to Sherlock Holmes, Hans Christian Anderson, and Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathon series. An incredibly versatile actor, Cumming has also excelled in narrating children’s books, winning an Audie in 2011 for Zorgamazoo, the quirky, rhyming, rhythmical tale of Katrina and Morty the Zorgle. He’s even tackled Macbeth twice, in a dramatization of the original work Macbeth and in Macbeth, A Novel, a reimagining (in novel form) of the Bard’s famous drama, written by two veteran mystery authors. The dynamic actor raved about the experience saying, “Macbeth is a great play for a Scottish actor because it’s the one Shakespeare play that should be spoken in a Scottish accent. . . . The language is very guttural. It’s talking about a landscape you understand. . . . I know all the names of all the places.”
Cumming continues to stay busy acting, and—having made waves with both of his Broadway runs as the Emcee in Cabaret (in 1998 and 2014)—he’s taken it to the next level and opened his own NYC club.
Listener Favorites
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Not My Father's Son: A Memoir
- By: Alan Cumming
- Narrated by: Alan Cumming
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
With ribald humor, wit, and incredible insight, Alan seamlessly moves back and forth in time, integrating stories from his childhood in Scotland and his experiences today as the celebrated actor of film, television, and stage. At times suspenseful, at times deeply moving, but always incredibly brave and honest, Not My Father's Son is a powerful story of embracing the best aspects of the past and triumphantly pushing the darkness aside.
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The Best Part of Saturday
- By George Knight on 12-16-14
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You Gotta Get Bigger Dreams
- My Life in Stories and Pictures
- By: Alan Cumming
- Narrated by: Alan Cumming
- Length: 3 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Described by the New York Times as “a bawdy countercultural sprite” and named one of the most fun people in show business by Time magazine, Alan Cumming is a genuine quadruple threat - an internationally acclaimed, award-winning star of stage, television, and film, as well as a New York Times best-selling author whose real-life vivacity, wit, and charm shine through every minute of his third book, You Gotta Get Bigger Dreams.
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We would be friends
- By Peg on 11-28-16
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Macbeth (Dramatized)
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Alan Cumming
- Length: 1 hr and 44 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Star of stage, film, and television Alan Cumming delivers a virtuoso performance playing every role in the National Theatre of Scotland's bold presentation of Shakespeare's chilling tale of desire, ambition, and the supernatural. This radical reimagining of one of Shakespeare's most deeply psychological plays is set in a psychiatric unit in which Cumming is the lone patient. Channeling the story of Macbeth, he is inhabited in turn by each of the characters of the drama, including some of Shakespeare's most complex and troubled creations.
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Second best to seeing this performance
- By Carole T. on 08-18-12
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Dracula [Audible Edition]
- By: Bram Stoker
- Narrated by: Alan Cumming, Tim Curry, Simon Vance, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The modern audience hasn't had a chance to truly appreciate the unknowing dread that readers would have felt when reading Bram Stoker's original 1897 manuscript. Most modern productions employ campiness or sound effects to try to bring back that gothic tension, but we've tried something different. By returning to Stoker's original storytelling structure - a series of letters and journal entries voiced by Jonathan Harker, Dr. Van Helsing, and other characters - with an all-star cast of narrators, we've sought to recapture its originally intended horror and power.
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IS THAT NOT SO?
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 11-05-15
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Not My Father's Son: A Memoir
- By: Alan Cumming
- Narrated by: Alan Cumming
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With ribald humor, wit, and incredible insight, Alan seamlessly moves back and forth in time, integrating stories from his childhood in Scotland and his experiences today as the celebrated actor of film, television, and stage. At times suspenseful, at times deeply moving, but always incredibly brave and honest, Not My Father's Son is a powerful story of embracing the best aspects of the past and triumphantly pushing the darkness aside.
-
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The Best Part of Saturday
- By George Knight on 12-16-14
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You Gotta Get Bigger Dreams
- My Life in Stories and Pictures
- By: Alan Cumming
- Narrated by: Alan Cumming
- Length: 3 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Described by the New York Times as “a bawdy countercultural sprite” and named one of the most fun people in show business by Time magazine, Alan Cumming is a genuine quadruple threat - an internationally acclaimed, award-winning star of stage, television, and film, as well as a New York Times best-selling author whose real-life vivacity, wit, and charm shine through every minute of his third book, You Gotta Get Bigger Dreams.
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We would be friends
- By Peg on 11-28-16
-
Macbeth (Dramatized)
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Alan Cumming
- Length: 1 hr and 44 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Star of stage, film, and television Alan Cumming delivers a virtuoso performance playing every role in the National Theatre of Scotland's bold presentation of Shakespeare's chilling tale of desire, ambition, and the supernatural. This radical reimagining of one of Shakespeare's most deeply psychological plays is set in a psychiatric unit in which Cumming is the lone patient. Channeling the story of Macbeth, he is inhabited in turn by each of the characters of the drama, including some of Shakespeare's most complex and troubled creations.
-
-
Second best to seeing this performance
- By Carole T. on 08-18-12
-
Dracula [Audible Edition]
- By: Bram Stoker
- Narrated by: Alan Cumming, Tim Curry, Simon Vance, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The modern audience hasn't had a chance to truly appreciate the unknowing dread that readers would have felt when reading Bram Stoker's original 1897 manuscript. Most modern productions employ campiness or sound effects to try to bring back that gothic tension, but we've tried something different. By returning to Stoker's original storytelling structure - a series of letters and journal entries voiced by Jonathan Harker, Dr. Van Helsing, and other characters - with an all-star cast of narrators, we've sought to recapture its originally intended horror and power.
-
-
IS THAT NOT SO?
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 11-05-15
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Macbeth: A Novel
- By: A. J. Hartley, David Hewson
- Narrated by: Alan Cumming
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Macbeth: A Novel brings the intricacy and grit of the historical thriller to Shakespeare’s tale of political intrigue, treachery, and murder. In this full-length novel written exclusively for audio, authors A. J. Hartley and David Hewson rethink literature’s most infamous married couple, grounding them in a medieval Scotland whose military and political upheavals are as stark and dramatic as the landscape in which they are played.
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Narrator choice inspired
- By Beverly on 07-10-11
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Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
- By: Arthur Conan Doyle
- Narrated by: Alan Cumming
- Length: 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Two-time Emmy Award nominee ( The Good Wife) and Audie Award winner for best narrator Alan Cumming here narrates Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's first-rate Yuletide whodunit "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle". Cumming adds his personal flair to the mystery classic and turns in an outstanding performance of the great detective Sherlock Holmes and his pal, Watson.
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Awesome
- By S. Spencer on 02-12-16
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Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales
- (A Puffin Book)
- By: Hans Christian Andersen
- Narrated by: Alan Cumming, Nigel Davenport, Andrew Sachs, and others
- Length: 3 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Download eight timeless audio tales from a magical storyteller. This enchanting collection, retold by writer and critic Naomi Lewis, contains eight of Hans Christian Andersen’s magnificent fairy tales. It includes Thumbelina, a little girl no more than a thumb-joint high, The Emperor’s New Clothes, the tale of a man who cares only for his appearance and The Little Mermaid, who longs to one day marry a human prince.
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Older Gradeschoolers Please
- By Parks Family on 04-30-13
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Leviathan
- By: Scott Westerfeld
- Narrated by: Alan Cumming
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
It is the cusp of World War I, and all the European powers are arming up. The Austro-Hungarians and Germans have their Clankers, steam-driven iron machines loaded with guns and ammunition. The British Darwinists employ fabricated animals as their weaponry. The Leviathan is a living airship, the most formidable airbeast in the skies of Europe.
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Wonderful, but don't forget to buy the book
- By Tahlia Merrill Kirk on 01-21-11