Tim Cummings


Tim Cummings is an American actor and author.

Early life

Timothy P Cummings was born in Port Jefferson, New York, to James A. and Rosemarie Cummings. He has four siblings and one half-sibling. His father was a Lieutenant with the NYFD in the South Bronx for thirty years.

Education

Cummings graduated from Comsewogue High School, where he appeared in Brighton Beach Memoirs, Twelve Angry Men, Babes in Arms, You're A Good Man Charlie Brown and Bye Bye Birdie. He then attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where he received a BFA. While at NYU, he studied at The Stella Adler Conservatory and The Experimental Theater Wing. He performed in productions of The White Album Project, Fornes's The Conduct of Life, Brecht's Threepenny Opera, Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, Shaw's Man & Superman, Durang's Naomi In The Living Room and Maeterlink's The Intruder.
Cummings received his MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles, in June 2018.

Acting career

After graduating from NYU, Cummings began performing as a company member in two of New York City's downtown theater & dance companies, Big Dance Theater and The Builders Association, with whom he toured extensively, performing in festivals across US, the UK, and Europe.
He later performed with The Flea Theater, in Mac Wellman's Sincerity Forever, Cleveland, and Three Americanisms, as well as the melodrama Billy the Kid written by Walter Woods in 1903.
He directed an original black comedy by Kenny Finkle, Transatlantica. He was an understudy in the Off-Broadway play The Guys and in the Broadway revival of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.
Cummings subsequently relocated to Los Angeles to work in television and film in addition to theatre, where he is best known for playing Ned Weeks in Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart, Patsy in The New Electric Ballroom by Enda Walsh, Mitch in Reunion at South Coast Repertory, and Mitchell in Daniel's Husband at The Fountain Theatre.
Cummings served as Associate Director of the Youth Program at The Ojai Playwrights Conference from 2011 to 2017.

Career in writing

  • In summer 2025, Cummings' follow-up young-adult novel, The Lightning People Play, was published by . The story was inspired by Cummings' own experience losing an epileptic sibling to a grand-mal seizure in 1997, and by his own extensive background in theatre.
  • In 2023, Cummings' debut novel, Alice the Cat, was published by, the Young Adult & Middle-grade imprint of The story was inspired by Cummings' own experience losing his mother to cancer when he was a teenager.
  • In 2019, Cummings' essay, You Have Changed Me Forever, won lauded literary magazine Critical Read's .
  • In 2018, he had numerous works accepted for publications at several prominent literary journals and magazines: Lunch Ticket, Larb, From Whispers to Roars, Meow Meow Pow Pow, Fiction, and Critical Read.
  • In 2017 he released an eclectic collection of stories, poetry, and dramatic writings, called Anthology: The Ojai Playwrights Conference Youth Workshop 2006-2016. It was written by several participants of The Ojai Playwrights Conference Youth Workshop. He compiled and edited the collection in conjunction with his Master of Fine Arts program at Antioch University Los Angeles.
  • The summer of 2011 saw the release of a unique collection called Orphans, which incorporates short stories, poetry, screenplays, plays, a film treatment.
  • He wrote the full-length play, Bully, which explores the epidemic of teens committing suicide for being bullied.
  • He is a regular contributor at Los Angeles Review of Books where he writes reviews, interviews, and profiles.

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryResult
2000Obie AwardJet Lag w/ The Builders Association Won
Obie AwardFor Big Dance Theater Won -
2005LA Weekly Theater AwardsBest Supporting Actor for Burn ThisNomitated
2007Garland AwardsBest Supporting Actor for The Pursuit of Happiness at Laguna PlayhouseNomitated
2011Ovation AwardsBest Season at Theatre BansheeNomitated
2012LA Weekly Theater AwardsBest Comedy Ensemble for The Walworth FarceNomitated
LA Weekly Theater AwardsBest Revival for Camino RealNomitated-
2013Los Angeles Drama Critics CircleBest Ensemble for Enda Walsh's The New Electric BallroomWon
2013LA Weekly Theater AwardsBest Supporting Actor for The New Electric BallroomWon
2014Broadway World AwardsBest Lead Actor for The Normal Heart at The Fountain TheatreWon
2014LA Weekly Theater AwardsBest Revival Production for The Normal HeartNomitated
2014LA Weekly Theater AwardsBest Lead Actor for The Normal HeartNomitated
2014Ovation AwardsBest Season at The Fountain TheatreWon
2014Los Angeles Drama Critics CircleBest Lead Actor for The Normal Heart at The Fountain TheatreWon
2015StageSceneLA AwardsPerformance of the Year for The WoodsmanWon
2016SAGE Awards Best Lead Actor for Need To KnowWon
2017Ovation AwardsBest Production for The House In Scarsdale: A Memoir for the Stage
2017SAGE Awards Best Lead Actor for The House In Scarsdale: A Memoir for the StageWon
2018Los Angeles Drama Critics CircleBest Lead Actor for The House In Scarsdale: A Memoir for the StageWon
2019Critical Read Literary MagazineOrigins essay contest for You Have Changed Me ForeverWon
2019Pushcart PrizeFor You Have Changed Me Forever
2019Ticket Holders LA AwardsBest Performance in a Play for Daniel's HusbandWon
2019Ovation AwardsBest Lead Actor for Daniel's Husband
2024American Book FestBest Book Awards: Finalist for Fiction Young Adult for "Alice the Cat"
2024Feathered Quill Book AwardsBronze Medal for Young Adult Fiction for "Alice the Cat"Won
2024National Indie Excellence AwardsFinalist for Teen Fiction for "Alice the Cat"

Work

Film

Television

  • High Potential
  • Criminal Minds
  • GRIMM
  • My Two Fans
  • Rosewood

Stage

2020–2029
2010–2019
2000–2009
1990–1999
1985–1989