Rex Cumming

Rex Cumming is an American producer, stuntman, and actor. He was born in Dallas in 1963 to a Texan father and a French-Italian mother whose connections to European directors launched Cumming into showbiz at an early age. His first role for the Italian film Giovani and Ben required the eight-year-old Cumming to perform numerous stunts and fight scenes under the tutelage of stuntman Lucky Mosley. He soon got the bug for acting, and by the age of 11 was developing tricks of the trade working for the legendary stuntman and director Gary Kent on the set of the movie The Pyramid (1976). He and Gary remain close friends today. After a number of bit roles and commercials, Cumming landed a role opposite Joanne Woodward in the Emmy-nominated Crisis at Central High (1981). He played a bigoted, hateful student--a challenge for the good-natured teenager. Around the same time he was tapped for a bit part alongside Charlene Tilton in the then-new series Dallas (1978), as well as a featured part alongside Dennis Quaid, Warren Oates and Pam Grier as a boxing ring boy in Tough Enough (1983). At the age of 22, Cumming put his film career on hold to stay focused on his work for a technology startup with Mark Cuban. He helped to build the company and followed Cuban on to AudioNet (Broadcast.com) where he was an early investor and participant in supporting initial growth. After a long break from the entertainment business, Cumming was called on by Mike Norris and Chuck Norris to do stunts for the popular series Walker, Texas Ranger (1993). Among other challenges, he "tangled" with a live bear in a scene for the show. More recently, Cumming has shifted his focus to producing and screenwriting, serving as executive producer for the bad-faith comedy Mangus! (2011) in which he makes a cameo appearance beside Jennifer Coolidge. He has also joined forces with Paul Castro, writer and creator of August Rush (2007), and Joseph Saroufim, a fellow student from UCLA, on a number of projects including the work-in-progress "Outclassed". In addition to his film career and technology investments, Rex is a collector of contemporary art as well as an active member in several charitable groups including the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) and the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture. He is the founder of a fast-growing software company, Worksoft, and is publisher of a widely distributed community newspaper in Dallas where he currently resides.