Alan Cumming

Cumming came out of the Scottish and London stage, and the theatre remains the best explanation of him. He won an Olivier for Accidental Death of an Anarchist in 1991 and was nominated three more times, and his Emcee in Cabaret, first in London and then on Broadway in 1998, won him the Tony for Best Actor in a Musical. He also holds a BAFTA, Emmy Awards and a second Tony. Almost everything he does on screen carries some residue of that Emcee: direct address, a raised eyebrow, an invitation to be complicit.

Hollywood took one look and cast him as delight with a threat attached. Boris in GoldenEye is a hacker so pleased with himself that the danger is funny. Fegan Floop, across three Spy Kids films, is a children's television host with a dungeon and no real malice. Loki in Son of the Mask, Rooster in Annie, Sandy Frink in Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, Alexis in Burlesque: the parts are broad, and he plays them with a precision the films rarely deserve.

The best screen work is elsewhere. Eli Gold in The Good Wife is a political fixer whose rages are hilarious and whose competence is never in doubt, and it is the most complete character he has been given on television. The classical roles show the other half of the training: Saturninus in Titus, Mr. Elton in Emma, Sebastian in The Tempest.