Who is the host of The Traitors US? Alan Cumming’s journey from GoldenEye baddie to reality show host
Share:
The Scottish actor has worked with everyone from Stanley Kubrick to the Spice Girls. The Traitors US returns for a third season this week, with Peacock’s hit competition series promising to bring together a cast of “larger-than-life personalities” who’ll battle it out to win $250,000.
![[Alan Cumming hosting Peacock’s ‘The Traitors’]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/04/18/newFile.jpg)
The Scottish actor has hosted The Traitors US since it launched in 2023, and is also one of the show’s producers. The 59-year-old has won countless fans for his eccentric performance in the role, which has included donning an array of outlandish outfits and a distinctive accent that Cumming has described as “me playing Moira Rose from Schitt's Creek playing Alan Cumming.”.
![[Alan Cumming with Halle Berry in ‘X2’]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2022/07/27/15/shutterstock_editorial_1649535a.jpg)
Cumming was born not far from the Scottish Highlands filming location of TheTraitors in Aberfeldy, Perthshire, and grew up on the east coast of the country in a similarly expansive feudal estate, Panmure Estate, where his father was head forester. He made his television debut at the age of 19, appearing in the ITV drama Travelling Man. His big break came when he landed the lead role in Bernard and the Genie, a 1991 BBC Christmas comedy from Love Actually director Richard Curtis that also starred Rowan Atkinson and Lenny Henry.
He was introduced to an international audience in 1995 when he played Boris Ivanovich Grishenko, the cocky computer programmer who teams up with Sean Bean’s duplicitous spy in the James Bond film GoldenEye. Fame and success gave Cumming a springboard into a deliberately eclectic film and theatre career. He won an Olivier award for his performance in Accidental Death of an Anarchist in 1991, and a Tony in 1998 as the Emcee in Sam Mendes’acclaimed production of Cabaret. In 1997 he appeared in two cult comedies: Romy and Michele's High School Reunion and the camp Spice Girls vehicle Spice World. A couple of years later he worked with Stanley Kubrick on the late director’s final film Eyes Wide Shut.
