Alan Cumming Criticizes Lack of Safe Sex on HBO's GIRLS

Broadway vet Alan Cumming has set his sites on Lena Dunham's critically acclaimed HBO series GIRLS.

According to the New York Post, Cumming opened up to Fern Mallis at a 92nd Street Y talk on AIDS, taking on the lack of safe sex depicted on GIRLS.

"We've got to try and stop this cavalier attitude that it's in the past," Cumming said about the AIDS epidemic. "It's not."

After its first season, GIRLS was heavily criticized for its lack of minority characters.

The new season of Lena Dunham's GIRLS will kick off on Sunday, Jan. 12 with back-to-back episodes, beginning at 10 p.m. EST.

The HBO series GIRLS takes a comic look at the assorted humiliations and rare triumphs of a group of women in their early 20s. Dunham, Judd Apatow, Jenni Konner, Ilene S. Landress and Bruce Eric Kaplan executive produce the show.

In addition to Dunham, who stars as Hannah, the cast of GIRLS includes Allison Williams ("American Dreams") as Marnie; Jemima Kirke ("Tiny Furniture") as Jessa; ZOSIA MAMET ("Mad Men") as Shoshanna; Alex Karpovsky ("Tiny Furniture") as Ray; and Adam Driver ("Lincoln") as Adam.

Cumming made his professional acting debut as Malcolm in Michael Boyd's production of Macbeth at the Tron Theatre, Glasgow in 1985. 28 Years later he played nearly all the parts in the National Theatre of Scotland's sensational re-imagining of the Scottish play on Broadway, earning him the Broadway.com and Broadwayworld.com Best Actor Awards and a Drama League Performance of Distinction Nomination. After working extensively in the Scottish theatre, he made his West End debut in Conquest of the South Pole earned him his first Olivier award nomination. He appeared with the RSC, played Romeo for the RNT Studio and earned further Olivier nominations for La Bete and Cabaret. His career-defining Hamlet for the English Touring Theatre earned him huge critical acclaim, a TMA Best Actor award and Shakespeare Globe nomination. He won an Olivier for Accidental Death of an Anarchist at the Royal National Theatre. In 1998 he made his sensational Broadway debut when Cabaret transferred to NYC, winning him the Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Theatre World, NY Press, FANY and Public Advocate awards. He went on to appear on Broadway in Design for Living and as Mack the Knife in The Three penny Opera. Off-Broadway he appeared as the Pope in Jean Genet's Elle (which he also adapted) and as Trigorin in The Seagull opposite Dianne Wiest. In 2006, he returned to the West End in Martin Sherman's Bent, and in 2007 appeared in the National Theatre of Scotland's The Bacchae, directed by John Tiffany (Herald ArcAngel Award). On TV he currently appears as Eli Gold in The Good Wife for which he has been nominated for Emmy, SAG, Satellite and Critics Circle awards. He also appears opposite Lisa Kudrow in Showtime's Web Therapy and is the host of Masterpiece Mystery on PBS. His eclectic film career has seen him work consecutively with Stanley Kubrick and the Spice Girls, and make appearances in the X Men, Spy Kids, Flintstones and Smurfs franchises as well as roles in many independent films such as Sweet Land (Independent Spirit Award), Julie Taymor's Titus and The Tempest and most recently Travis Fine's Any Day Now for which he received several Best Actor awards on the film festival circuit. With Jennifer Jason Leigh he wrote, produced, directed and starred in The Anniversary Party (National Board of Review award, two Independent Spirit nominations). He has also published a novel, Tommy's Tale, released an album of songs, I Bought A Blue Car Today, and last year had his first exhibition of photographs, Alan Cumming Snaps! He regularly performs in concert, most recently with Liza Minnelli at New York's Town Hall and over the past few years has sung in seasons at the Sydney Opera House, the Geffen Playhouse, LA and London's Vaudeville Theatre. For his humanitarian work, particularly in the field of LGBT rights and equality, he has been honored by many organizations including HRC, GLAAD, The Trevor Project and The Matthew Shepard Foundation to name but a few. From his homeland he was honored with both the Great Scot and Icon of Scotland awards, and was made an OBE in the 2009 Queen's Honors List. Time magazine named him one of the three most fun people in show business.

Photo by Walter McBride

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