Benedict Cumberbatch

Benedict Cumberbatch
Born	Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2001–present

Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch (born 19 July 1976) is an English film, television, and theatre actor. His most acclaimed roles include: Stephen Hawking in the BBC drama Hawking (2004); William Pitt in the inspirational historical film Amazing Grace (2006); the protagonist Stephen Ezard in the miniseries thriller The Last Enemy (2008); Bernard in Small Island (2009); and Sherlock Holmes in the modern BBC adaptation series Sherlock (2010).

Early life and training

Benedict Cumberbatch was born on 19 July 1976 in London, England. He is the son of actors Timothy Carlton (birth name Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch) and Wanda Ventham.

Cumberbatch was educated first at Brambletye School in West Sussex; and then at the prestigious Harrow School in northwest London, where he began performing as an actor. After graduation, he took a took a gap year to teach English in a Tibetan monastery.

He then attended the University of Manchester, where he studied drama. At the university, he met his longtime girlfriend, actress Olivia Poulet. After graduating, Cumberbatch trained further in acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Career

Theatre

Since 2001, Cumberbatch has had major roles in classic plays at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park, Almeida Theatre, Royal Court Theatre, and the National Theatre. He was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role for his performance as Tesman in Hedda Gabler, a role he performed at the Almeida Theatre when it reopened after restoration on 16 March 2005, as well as at the Duke of York's Theatre when it transferred to the West End on 19 May 2005.

Television

Cumberbatch's television roles include two separate guest roles in Heartbeat (2000, 2004), and a major role in the ITV comedy drama series Fortysomething (2003).

In 2004, he starred in his acclaimed role as Stephen Hawking in Hawking, and in 2005 he starred in the seagoing miniseries To The Ends of the Earth. He also had brief appearances in the comedy sketch show Broken News in 2005.

Cumberbatch starred alongside Tom Hardy in the television adaptation of the book Stuart: A Life Backwards, which aired on the BBC in September 2007. In 2008 he starred in the tense BBC miniseries drama The Last Enemy, and was nominated for a Satellite Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or TV Film. In December 2008, Cumberbatch appeared in an unreleased pilot for The Dark Side of the Earth, a fantasy film in development, as Max, a Victorian paranoid about germs who lives inside a sealed bio-suit.

In 2009, he starred in Marple: Murder Is Easy. He was also in the TV adaptation of Small Island (2009), which role earned him a nomination for BAFTA Television Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Cumberbatch narrated the 6-part series South Pacific (U.S. title: Wild Pacific), which aired May to June 2009 on BBC 2. In May 2009 BBC Radio 4 broadcast an adaptation of John Mortimer's novel Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders. Cumberbatch played the "young Rumpole", and Timothy West took the part of the "old Rumpole".

Cumberbatch, a fan of long-running British science fiction show Doctor Who, suggested in a July 2010 interview that he would be interested in appearing as a main or recurring character on the show, run by Sherlock producer and personal friend Steven Moffat. In 2008 he had discussed with David Tennant taking over the part of The Doctor but had decided not to try for the role.

In 2010, Cumberbatch began playing Sherlock Holmes in the first season of the BBC television series Sherlock, to critical acclaim. His 2010 performance as Vincent van Gogh in Van Gogh: Painted with Words, was also much admired.

Film

In 2006, Cumberbatch played William Pitt in Amazing Grace. The film is the story of William Wilberforce's intense and lengthy political fight in the late 18th century to eliminate slave trade in the British Empire. William Pitt was Wilberforce's closest friend and staunchest political ally, and became Prime Minister at a young age. The role is the second largest in the film, and garnered Cumberbatch a nomination for the London Film Critics Circle British Breakthrough Acting Award.

Cumberbatch subsequently appeared in major roles in Atonement (2007) and The Other Boleyn Girl (2008). In 2009, he appeared in Darwin bio-pic Creation, as Darwin's friend Joseph Hooker. He is scheduled to appear in The Whistleblower (2010) and Stephen Spielberg's War Horse (2011).

Cumberbatch will play Peter Guillam in the 2012 adaptation of the John le Carré novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, directed by Tomas Alfredson, also starring Gary Oldman, Ralph Fiennes, Colin Firth and Tom Hardy.

List of credits

Film

Year(s) of appearance	Film	Role	Awards and nominations
2002	Hills Like White Elephants (short)	The Man
2003	To Kill a King	Royalist
2006	Starter for 10	Patrick Watts
	Amazing Grace	William Pitt the Younger	London Film Critics Circle Award for British Breakthrough – Acting (Nominated)
2007	Inseparable (short)	Joe/Charlie
	Atonement	Paul Marshall
2008	The Other Boleyn Girl	William Carey
	Burlesque Fairytales	Henry Clark
2009	Creation	Joseph Hooker
2010	Four Lions	Ed
	Wreckers	David	(post-production)
	The Whistleblower	Nick Philips	(post-production)
2011	War Horse	Major Stewart	(filming)
2012	Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy	Peter Guillam	(pre-production)

Television

Year(s) of appearance	Film	Role	Awards and nominations
2002	Fields of Gold	Jeremy
	Tipping the Velvet	Freddy
2003	Cambridge Spies	Edward Hand
	Fortysomething (TV series)	Rory
2004	Dunkirk	Lt. Jimmy Langley
	Hawking	Stephen Hawking	Golden Nymph for Television Films - Best Performance by an Actor (Won) BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor (Nominated)
2005	To The Ends of the Earth (miniseries)	Edmund Talbot
	Nathan Barley	Robin
2007	Stuart: A Life Backwards	Alexander Masters
2008	The Last Enemy (miniseries)	Stephen Ezard	Satellite Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or TV Film (Nominated)
2009	Marple: Murder Is Easy	Luke Fitzwilliam
	Small Island	Bernard Bligh	BAFTA Television Award for Best Supporting Actor (Nominated)
2010	Sherlock (miniseries). Second series commissioned.	Sherlock Holmes
	Van Gogh: Painted with Words (drama-documentary)	Vincent van Gogh

Theatre

Year(s) of appearance	Title	Role	Venue	Awards and nominations
2001	Love's Labour's Lost	Ferdinand	Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park
	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Demetrius
2002	As You Like It	Orlando
	Romeo and Juliet	Benvolio
	Oh, What a Lovely War!
2004	The Lady from the Sea	Lyngstrand	Almeida Theatre
2005	Hedda Gabler	Tesman	Almeida Theatre Duke of York's Theatre	Olivier Award – Best Performance in a Supporting Role (Nominated)
2006	Period of Adjustment	George	Almeida Theatre
2007	Rhinoceros	Bérenger	Royal Court Theatre
	The Arsonists	Eisenring
2008	The City	Chris
2010	After the Dance	David Scott-Fowler	National Theatre

Voice

Year(s) of appearance	Title	Role	Format	Awards and nominations
2004	The Raj Quartet	Demetrius	BBC Radio 4 series
2008	Casanova	Narrator	Audiobook
2008–2010	Cabin Pressure	Capt. Martin Crieff	BBC Radio 4 comedy series
2009	South Pacific	Narrator	TV documentary
	Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders	Young Rumpole	BBC Radio 4 series
	Metamorphosis	Narrator	BBC Radio 7
2010	Into The Universe with Stephen Hawking	Narrator	Discovery Channel series

External links

• Benedict Cumberbatch at IMDb
• Benedict Cumberbatch Online
• He is acting in The Children’s Monologues, a star-studded theatrical event at London's Old Vic Theatre on Sunday 14 November 2010 directed by Danny Boyle and starring Gemma Arterton and [Samuel West]], produced by Dramatic Need.