Benedict Cumberbatch

Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch

19 July 1976

An English actor and film producer who has performed in film, television, theatre and radio. Cumberbatch attended boarding schools from the age of eight, was educated at Brambletye School in West Sussex, and was an arts scholar at Harrow School. He was a member of The Rattigan Society, Harrow's principal club for the dramatic arts, which was named after "Old Harrovian" and playwright Terence Rattigan. He was involved in numerous Shakespearean works at school and made his acting debut as Titania, Queen of the Fairies, in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" when he was 12. He was also part of the rugby team and painted in oil while at Harrow. After leaving Harrow, Cumberbatch took a gap year to volunteer as an English teacher at a Tibetan monastery in Darjeeling, India. He then attended the University of Manchester, where he studied Drama. He continued his training as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art graduating with an MA in Classical Acting.

Cumberbatch has received two Laurence Olivier Award nominations, winning Best Actor in a Play for "Frankenstein". He has also received three Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for "Sherlock". His portrayal of Alan Turing in The Imitation Game garnered him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. In addition, he has received five British Academy of Film and Television Arts nominations, five Screen Actors Guild Award nominations and two Golden Globe Award nominations among others.

As actor

• Heartbeat (1998-2004)
• Tipping the Velvet (2002)
• Silent Witness (2002)
• Hills Like White Elephants (2002)
• Cambridge Spies (2003)
• Spooks (2003)
• Fortysomething (2003)
• To Kill a King (2003)
• Dunkirk (2004)
• Hawking (2004)
• Nathan Barley (2005)
• To the Ends of the Earth (2005)
• Broken News (2005)
• Starter for 10 (2006)
• Amazing Grace (2006)
• Inseparable (2007)
• Atonement (2007)
• Stuart: A Life Backwards (2007)
• The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)
• The Last Enemy (2008)
• Creation (2009)
• Burlesque Fairytales (2009)
• Small Island (2009)
• Marple: Murder Is Easy (2009)
• Four Lions (2010)
• Van Gogh: Painted with Words (2010)
• The Turning Point (2010)
• The Rattigan Enigma (2010)
• Sherlock (2010-...)
• Third Star (2010)
• The Whistleblower (2010)
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
• War Horse (2011)
• Wreckers (2011)
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
• Parade's End (2012)
• Girlfriend in a Coma (2012)
• Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
• Little Favour (2013)
• 12 Years a Slave (2013)
• The Simpsons (2013)
• The Fifth Estate (2013)
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
• August: Osage County (2013)
• Penguins of Madagascar (2014)
• The Colbert Report (2014)
• The Imitation Game (2014)
• The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)
• Black Mass (2015)
• Zoolander No. 2 (2016)
• Doctor Strange (2016)
• The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses (2016)
• Magik (2016)
• Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
• The Current War (2017)
• Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
• Jungle Book (2018)
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2018)

Quotations

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A woman who knows that she doesn't have to get all decked out to look good is sexy. A woman who can make you feel smart with her conversation skills is also sexy. I believe the sense of humor is important.

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The further you get away from yourself, the more challenging it is. Not to be in your comfort zone is great fun.

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Live a life less ordinary.

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Enjoy the journey of life and not just the endgame.

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I've always wanted to play a spy, because it is the ultimate acting exercise. You are never what you seem.

* * *

People's hands fascinate me. It's tempting to look at a businessman's left hand and see if there's an indentation from a missing wedding ring. Or maybe there's a tan line and the skin is pressed down where's he's worked a ring off his finger.

* * *

Metaphorically speaking, it's easy to bump into one another on the journey from A to B and not even notice. People should take time to notice, enjoy and help each other.

* * *

If you have an over-preoccupation with perception and trying to please people's expectations, then you can go mad.

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I have an appetite for the normal in my life, as well as the abnormal.

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As an actor, you are aware of how a role can seep into your real life.

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There's no shame in stealing - any actor who says he doesn't is lying. You steal from everything.

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The more charming person is the person who admits the other person is more charming.

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I realised quite early on that, although I wasn't trying to make a career speciality of it, I was playing slightly asexual, sociopathic intellectuals.

* * *

I'll always do 'Sherlock' - it's something I'm not going to give up on.

* * *

I did a lot of acting at school and university, then I went to drama school. It was quite a normal route.

* * *

I'm not loyal to one genre. I want to mix it up.

* * *

Lines are very difficult to learn.

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Mum did a lot of commercial theatre and farces in the 1980s and '90s to make sure the school bills were paid.

* * *

One of the fears of having too much work is not having time to observe. And once you get recognised, there is nowhere for you to look any more. You can't sit on a night bus and watch it all happen.

* **

Do awards change careers? Well, I haven't heard of many stories where that's the case. It's a fun excuse to meet colleagues and celebrate people who've done well that year in certain people's eyes, and it's nothing more than that.

* * *

I'm interested in art for all. I don't want it to be only the sons and daughters of Tory MPs who get to see my plays.

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My own grandfathers were a submarine commander and a 'desert rats' tank operator in the Second World War.

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I was brought up in a world of privilege.

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It does get strange when you realize people will hang around for hours to get a glimpse of you doing scenes outside.

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