Alan Cumming Made An OBE, Jonathan Pryce Named CBE In Queen's Birthday Honours

Tony award-winning performer Alan Cumming has been named an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) as part of the Queen's Birthday Honour List. Other comandees include Tony award winner Jonathan Pryce, who was named a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) and veteran Film and television actor Christopher Lee, who received a knighthood.

"I am really shocked and delighted to receive this honour. I am especially happy to be honoured for my activism as much as for my work," stated Cumming, who received his honor for services to film, theatre and the arts and to activism for equal rights for the gay and lesbian community, USA.

Added Cumming, "The fight for equality for the LGBT community in the US is something I am very passionate about, and I see this honour as encouragement to go on fighting for what I believe is right and for what I take for granted as a UK citizen. Thank you to the Queen and those who make up her Birthday honours list for bringing attention to the inaction of the US government on this issue. It makes me very proud to be British, and galvanised as an American."

Alan Cumming trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. He made his West End debut in Manfred Karge's Conquest of the South Pole at the Royal Court for which he received a Most Promising Newcomer Olivier award nomination. He gained further Olivier award nominations for La Bete and Cabaret and won for Accidental Death of An Anarchist at the Royal National Theatre, where he also played Romeo in Romeo and Juliet and directed Michel Tremblay's Bonjour la, Bonjour at the RNT studio. He played Hamlet on tour and at the Donmar Warehouse to great acclaim, winning the TMA award and a Shakespeare Globe nomination.

In 1998, Cumming made his sensational Broadway debut in Cabaret and won the Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics' Circle, Theatre World, NY Press, FANY and New York Public Advocate's awards. He has since appeared on Broadway in Design For Living and The Threepenny Opera. Off-Broadway he appeared in Jean Genet's Elle (which he also adapted) and The Seagull. He returned to the British Stage in 2006 to play Max in Martin Sherman's Bent and for the National Theatre of Scotland he played Dionysus in The Bacchae, which was seen last summer in NYC as part of the Lincoln Center Festival.

Jonathan Pryce studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, beginning his career as a stage actor in the 1970s. His work in theatre, including an award-winning performance in the title role of The Royal Court Theatre's Hamlet, led to several supporting roles in film and television. He made his breakthrough screen performance in Terry Gilliam's 1985 cult film Brazil.

Pryce has received two Tony Awards during his prolific career; "Best Featured Actor in a Play" during his Broadway debut in 1977's Comedians, and "Best Actor in a Musical" for his role as "the Engineer" in the 1991 transfer of London's Miss Saigon. Other Broadway credits include Accidental Death of an Anarchist and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. London stage appearances include Oliver, My Fair Lady, Cabaret, and The Goat or Who Is Sylvia?

Jonathan Pryce has notably appeared in such films as Evita, Tomorrow Never Dies, Pirates of the Caribbean and The New World, as well as independent pictures Glengarry GLen Ross and Carrington.

Christopher Lee is most known for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films. Noted for his portrayl villains, Lee's film roles includes Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man, Francisco Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun, Count Dooku in the Star Wars series, as well as Saruman in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. According to Lee, his most important role, was that of Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the biopic Jinnah. With a career spanning five decades, Lee has appeared in over 220 films. In 2001, Lee was appointed CBE by Queen Elizabeth II.