Brian Cox (actor) - Personal Life

Personal Life

He is divorced from his first wife Caroline Burt. The couple had stillborn twins, before having two children: son Alan Cox is also an actor, best known for his roles in Young Sherlock Holmes, and playing the young John Mortimer in the television film of his play A Voyage Round My Father (1982) opposite Laurence Olivier. Brian married his second wife, actress Nicole Ansari, in 2002. The couple have two boys, and live in New York City. Cox retains a home in Edinburgh.

Cox is a diabetic and has worked to promote a diabetes research facility in his home town of Dundee. The producers of Super Troopers discovered his affliction when a scene called for Cox to eat a white chocolate prop that resembled a bar of soap. Cox bit into it thinking they knew this, and promptly spat it out upon tasting it. Production was halted until a sugar-free substitute could be found.

Cox is a patron for Scottish Youth Theatre, Scotland's National Theatre 'for and by' young people. Scottish Youth Theatre's building in Glasgow, The Old Sheriff Court, named their theatre the Brian Cox Studio Theatre in his honour. He is also a patron of "THE SPACE", a training facility for actors and dancers in his native Dundee, and an "ambassador" for the Screen Academy Scotland.

In 2007 Cox campaigned for Labour in the run-up to that year's Scottish Parliamentary elections and he is a lifelong supporter of the party. Cox endorsed the Scottish National Party in the 2011 election, however, only because of their higher education policy.

On 11 February 2010, Cox was elected as the twelfth Rector of the University of Dundee by students of the institution. He also holds an honorary doctorate from Napier University in Edinburgh, award in July 2008.

In April 2010, Cox, along with Ian McKellen and Eleanor Bron, appeared in a series of TV advertisements to support Age UK, the charity recently formed from the merger of Age Concern and Help the Aged. All three actors gave their time free of charge.

On 31 December 2002, Cox was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year Honours List.

On April 14, 2012, Cox was the 10th Grand Marshal of the New York City Tartan Day Parade.

On May 25, 2012, Cox spoke for his support for Scottish Independence at the Yes Scotland campaign. Although a Labour Party supporter and saying he believed in democratic socialism, he felt that Independence was the best way forward for Scotland.