Benedict Cumberbatch Biography

Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch (born 19 July 1976) is an English film, television, theatre and voice actor.

His most acclaimed roles include Stephen Hawking in the BBC drama Hawking (2004), Victor Frankenstein and his creature in Danny Boyle's stage adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (2011) at the Royal National Theatre, Peter Guillam in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Sherlock Holmes in the BBC/PBS series Sherlock, Christopher Tietjens in the BBC/HBO miniseries Parade's End (2013), Khan Noonien Singh in Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), Smaug the dragon and the Necromancer through voice and motion capture in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy and Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate (2013).

Cumberbatch will star in the upcoming historical drama film, The Imitation Game (2014) as wartime cryptographer Alan Turing. He is set to return to theatre to play Shakespeare's Hamlet, Prince of Denmark at London's West End tentatively scheduled in the autumn of 2014.

He has earned an Olivier Award, four BAFTA nominations, two Emmy Award nominations and a Golden Globe nomination to date. In September 2013, he was honoured by BAFTA Los Angeles with a Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year for his "masterful performances in television, film and theatre."

Early years

Cumberbatch was born on 19 July 1976 at Queen Charlotte's Hospital in Hammersmith, London. He grew up in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea with his parents, actors Timothy Carlton and Wanda Ventham. His great-grandfather, Henry Arnold Cumberbatch, CMG, was the Consul General of Queen Victoria in Turkey. His grandfather, Henry Carlton Cumberbatch, was a decorated submarine officer of both World Wars and a prominent figure of London high society.

Cumberbatch was educated at Brambletye School in West Sussex, and had an arts scholarship to Harrow School. At Harrow, he was introduced to the works of playwright Sir Terrence Rattigan and began acting in school plays. He was involved in numerous Shakespearean works and made his acting debut as Titania Queen of the Fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream when he was 13. Cumberbatch's school drama teacher, Martin Tyrell, called him "the best schoolboy actor" he has ever worked with. He was also part of the rugby team and painted oil canvases. After school, he took a gap year to teach English in a Tibetan monastery. He then attended the University of Manchester, where he studied drama. After graduating, Cumberbatch continued his training as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Career

Theatre

Since 2001, Cumberbatch has had major roles in a dozen classic plays at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park, Almeida Theatre, Royal Court Theatre and the Royal 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 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. Cumberbatch acted in Danny Boyle's The Children's Monologues, a theatrical event at London's Old Vic Theatre on 14 November 2010. The show was produced by Dramatic Need.

In February 2011, he began playing, on alternate nights, both Victor Frankenstein and his creature, opposite Jonny Lee Miller, in Danny Boyle's stage production of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein at the National Theatre, for which he won an Olivier Award for Best Actor (jointly with Jonny Lee Miller). Frankenstein was broadcast to cinemas as a part of National Theatre Live in March 2011. In April 2012, Cumberbatch won the Olivier Award for Best Actor (jointly with Jonny Lee Miller) for the acclaimed Frankenstein at the National Theatre, directed by Danny Boyle, with the two lead actors alternating the roles of Victor Frankenstein and the Creature.

He is set to return to theatre to play Shakespeare's Hamlet, Prince of Denmark at London's West End tentatively scheduled in the autumn of 2014. It will be directed by Lyndsey Turner and will be produced by Sonia Friedman.

Television

Cumberbatch's television roles include two separate guest roles in Heartbeat (2000, 2004), Freddy in Tipping the Velvet (2002), Edward Hand in Cambridge Spies (2003) and Rory in the ITV comedy drama series Fortysomething (2003). He was also featured in Spooks and Silent Witness. In 2004, he starred as Stephen Hawking in Hawking. He was nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor and won the Golden Nymph for Television Films " Best Performance by an Actor. He later provided Hawking's voice in the first episode of the television series Curiosity. He also appeared in the BBC miniseries Dunkirk as Lieutenant Jimmy Langley.

In 2005, Cumberbatch starred as the protagonist Edmund Talbot in the miniseries To the Ends of the Earth, based on William Golding's trilogy; during filming he experienced a terrifying carjacking and narrowly escaped. He also made brief appearances in the comedy sketch show Broken News in 2005. Cumberbatch next 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 BBC miniseries drama The Last Enemy, for which he was nominated for a Satellite Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or TV Film.

In 2009, Cumberbatch starred in Marple: Murder Is Easy as Luke Fitzwilliam. He played Bernard in the TV adaptation of Small Island; the performance earned him a nomination for BAFTA Television Award for Best Supporting Actor. He also starred in Michael Dobbs' play The Turning Point which aired as one of a series of TV plays broadcast live on Sky Arts channel. The two-hander depicted a little-known October 1938 meeting between Soviet spy Guy Burgess, then a young man working for the BBC, and Winston Churchill. Cumberbatch portrayed Burgess; Churchill was played by Matthew Marsh, who had played a supporting role in Hawking. He narrated the 6-part series South Pacific (U.S. title: Wild Pacific), which aired May to June 2009 on BBC 2.

Cumberbatch, a fan of long-running British science fiction series 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 Steven Moffat.

In 2010, Cumberbatch portrayed Vincent van Gogh in Van Gogh: Painted with Words. The Telegraph called his performance "[a] treat ... vividly bringing Van Gogh to impassioned, blue-eyed life." In the same year, Cumberbatch began playing Sherlock Holmes in the first series of the BBC television programme Sherlock, to critical acclaim. A second three-part series began on New Years Day 2012 in England and was broadcast on PBS in the United States in May 2012. He was nominated for a BAFTA, Emmy and Golden Globe for Best Actor in Miniseries or TV Movie for the part. In 2012, he led the BBC and HBO co-produced miniseries Parade's End with Rebecca Hall. It is an adaptation of the tetralogy of novels of the same name by Ford Madox Ford. Its five episodes are directed by Susanna White and are adapted by Tom Stoppard.

Film

In 2006, Cumberbatch played William Pitt the Younger in Amazing Grace. The film is the story of William Wilberforce's intense and lengthy political fight in the late 18th century to eliminate the slave trade in the British Empire. Pitt was Wilberforce's closest friend and staunchest political ally, and became Prime Minister at an early age. The role garnered Cumberbatch a nomination for the London Film Critics Circle British Breakthrough Acting Award. Cumberbatch subsequently appeared in supporting roles in Atonement (2007) and The Other Boleyn Girl (2008). In 2009, he appeared in the Darwin biopic Creation as Darwin's friend Joseph Hooker. In 2010, he appeared in The Whistleblower.

He played Peter Guillam, George Smiley's right-hand man, in the 2011 adaptation of the John le Carré novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. The film was directed by Tomas Alfredson and starred Gary Oldman and Colin Firth. Cumberbatch also portrayed Major Stewart in Steven Spielberg's War Horse (2011). He provided the voice and motion-capture for both Smaug the Dragon and the Necromancer in The Hobbit (2012). Cumberbatch also played Khan Noonien Singh in the J. J. Abrams-directed Star Trek Into Darkness (2013).

Three of the four films he starred in in the second half of 2013 premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, The Fifth Estate wherein he played WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, 12 Years a Slave wherein he played William Ford, a slave owner and August: Osage County wherein he played Little Charles Aiken, the bullied member of the family. In December, he will reprise his role as Smaug the dragon and the The Necromancer through voice and motion capture for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

It was reported in June 2013 that Gary Oldman is eyeing Cumberbatch and Ralph Fiennes to star in his next directorial project titled Flying Horse about the life of English photographer Edward Muybridge. In September 2013, Cumberbatch expressed his intent in joining the project. He has also signed up for a voice role in DreamWorks Animation's feature film Penguins of Madagascar which is set for release in March 2015.

He will star in the upcoming historical drama film The Imitation Game as British cryptographer Alan Turing, which is set for release on 2014. In September 2013, he officially signed on Paramount Pictures and Plan B Entertainment's adaptation of the best-selling book The Lost City of Z about the South American explorer Percy Fawcett to be directed by James Gray.

Radio

In May 2009, BBC Radio 4 broadcast an adaptation of John Mortimer's novel Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders. Cumberbatch played Young Rumpole, and would go on to play the part in six more adaptations of Mortimer's work. Cumberbatch plays Captain Martin Crieff in the BBC's Cabin Pressure. He also played The Angel Islington in the 2013 BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere.

Other work

Cumberbatch has also read for several audiobooks, including The Tempest, The Making of Music, Death in a White Tie, Artists in Crime, and Sherlock Holmes: The Rediscovered Railway Mysteries and Other Stories. He does the voice overs of several commercials, major names like Jaguar, Sony, Pimms, and [[Google+]] doing the Seven Ages of Man monologue. For the 2012 London Olympics, he did a short film on the history of London for the BBC coverage to kick off the opening ceremony. He made appearances for two Cheltenham Festivals, in July 2012 for Music wherein he read WWI poetry and prose accompanied by piano pieces and in October 2012 for Literature wherein he discussed Sherlock and Parade's End at The Centaur.

Personal life

In 1999, Cumberbatch began dating actress Olivia Poulet whom he met at university. The couple amicably broke up after 12 years together. After Poulet, Cumberbatch dated London-based artist Anna James but has since remained single. He told the The Daily Telegraph in September 2013, "Am I in a relationship now? Not at the moment."

He is, philosophically, a Buddhist.

Social action

Charity

Cumberbatch is an ambassador of The Prince's Trust, a charity founded by Charles, Prince of Wales that aims to help disadvantaged young people of the UK. He is a supporter of Dramatic Need, a charity that promotes creative expression as a tool for conflict resolution, social development, gender empowerment and the assimilation of health messages in underprivileged communities. Cumberbatch helped in launching the now annual London Night Hike for Maggie's Centres, a network of drop-in centres in Great Britain that provide support for people affected by cancer, their families, carers and friends. He is a patron of Teenage Cancer Trust and Myeloma UK among others. Cumberbatch is also known for donating his own drawings and sketches for charities and fundraisers.

Activism

In 2003, he joined the Stop the War Coalition protest in London against the Iraq War. He addressed a mass rally in 2010 sponsored by the Trade Union Congress in Westminster about the risks of spending cuts in the arts as expected in the Spending Review. In 2013, he single-handedly protested against the UK government's civil liberties violations. He is a supporter of Liberty, formerly known as National Council for Civil Liberties, a cross party, non-party membership organisation at the heart of the movement for fundamental rights and freedoms in the UK.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Hills Like White Elephants	The Man	Short film
2003	To Kill a King	Royalist
2004	Hawking	Stephen Hawking
2006	Starter for 10	Patrick Watts
2006	Amazing Grace	William Pitt
2007	Inseparable	Joe/Charlie	Short film
2007	Atonement	Paul Marshall
2007	Stuart: A Life Backwards	Alexander Masters
2008	'	William Carey
2009	Creation	Joseph Hooker
2009	Marple: Murder Is Easy	Luke Fitzwilliam
2010	Burlesque Fairytales	Henry Clark
2010	Four Lions	Negotiator
2010	Van Gogh: Painted with Words	Vincent van Gogh
2010	Third Star	James
2010	'	Nick Kaufman
2011	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy	Peter Guillam
2011	War Horse	Major Jamie Stewart
2011	Wreckers	David
2012	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey	The Necromancer
2012	Girlfriend in a Coma	Dante Alighieri (voice)	Documentary
2013	Star Trek Into Darkness	Khan Noonien Singh
2013	Jerusalem	Narrator	Documentary
2013	12 Years a Slave	William Ford
2013	The Fifth Estate	Julian Assange
2013	The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug	Smaug The Necromancer
2013	August: Osage County	"Little" Charles Aiken
2013	Little Favour	Wallace	Short
2014	The Hobbit: There and Back Again	The Necromancer
2014	The Imitation Game	Alan Turing	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Heartbeat	Charles	1 episode
2002	Tipping the Velvet	Freddy	Miniseries
2002	Silent Witness	Warren Reid	2 episodes
2003	Cambridge Spies	Edward Hand	Miniseries
2003	Spooks	Jim North	1 episode
2003	Fortysomething	Rory Slippery	6 episodes
2004	Dunkirk	Lt. Jimmy Langley	Documentary
2004	Heartbeat	Toby Fisher	1 episode
2005	Nathan Barley	Robin	2 episodes
2005	To the Ends of the Earth	Edmund Talbot	3 episodes
2005	Broken News	Will Parker	3 episodes
2005	The Man Who Predicted 9/11	Narrator	Documentary
2008	'	Stephen Ezard	5 episodes
2008	Picture This	Narrator	Documentary 3 episodes
2009	Small Island	Bernard	TV film
2009	South Pacific	Narrator	Documentary 6 episodes
2010	The Turning Point	Guy Burgess	TV Theatre Live
2010	'	Presenter	Documentary
2010	Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking	Narrator	Documentary 3 episodes
2010"present	Sherlock	Sherlock Holmes	6 episodes
2011	Curiosity	Narrator	Documentary
2012	Stephen Hawking's Grand Design	Narrator	Documentary 3 episodes
2012	Parade's End	Christopher Tietjens	5 episodes
2013	The Simpsons	British Prime Minister Severus Snape	Voice only Episode "Love is a Many-Splintered Thing"
2013	Top Gear	Himself	Series 20, Episode 3

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Venue
2001	Love's Labour's Lost	Ferdinand	Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park
2001	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Demetrius	Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park
2002	As You Like It	Orlando	Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park
2002	Romeo and Juliet	Benvolio	Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park
2002	Oh, What a Lovely War!	Unknown	Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park
2004	'	Lyngstrand	Almeida Theatre
2005	Hedda Gabler	Tesman	Almeida Theatre Duke of York's Theatre
2006	Period of Adjustment	George	Almeida Theatre
2007	Rhinoceros	Bérenger	Royal Court Theatre
2007	'	Eisenring	Royal Court Theatre
2008	'	Chris	Royal Court Theatre
2010	After the Dance	David Scott-Fowler	Royal National Theatre
2010	The Children's Monologues	Unknown	Old Vic Theatre
2011	Frankenstein	The Creature/Victor Frankenstein	Royal National Theatre

Radio

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	'	Nigel Rowan	BBC Radio 4
2004	Kepler	Johannes Kepler	BBC Radio 4
2004	'	Worthy	BBC Radio 4
2004	'	Telemachus	BBC Radio 4
2004	'	Captain Rob Collins	BBC Radio 4
2004	'	Narrator	BBC Radio 4
2004	'	Narrator	BBC Radio 4
2004	Mr. Norris Changes Trains	Narrator	BBC Radio 4
2005	Le Pere Goriot	Narrator	BBC Radio 4
2005	Seven Women	Tovey	BBC Radio 4
2005	Medical Humanities: Baptism by Rotation	Narrator	BBC Radio 4
2005	Fieldstudy: The Field	Narrator	BBC Radio 4
2005	'	Peter Quilpe	BBC Radio 4
2006	'	Nikolai Stavrogin	BBC Radio 3
2008	'	Tadanobu	BBC Radio 4
2008	Blake 7 The Early Years	Townsend
2008	'	GF	BBC Radio 4
2008	At War with Wellington	Duke of Wellington	BBC Radio 4
2008	Chatterton: The Allington Solution	Thomas Chatterton	BBC Radio 4
2008	Spellbound	Dr Murchison	BBC Radio 4
2008	Rainy Season	Narrator	BBC Radio 4
2008	'	Narrator	BBC Radio 4
2008	Words and Music: Italian Fantasy	Narrator	BBC Radio 4
2008	Doctor Who: Forty-Five	Howard Carter Thing 2
2008"present	Cabin Pressure	Capt. Martin Crieff	BBC Radio 4
2008	Metamorphosis	Narrator	BBC Radio 7
2009	Good Evening	Dudley Moore	BBC Radio 4
2009	Little Red Hen	Narrator	Ladybird
2009	Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders	Young Rumpole	BBC Radio 4
2010	Rumpole and the Family Pride	Young Rumpole	BBC Radio 4
2010	Rumpole and the Eternal Triangle	Young Rumpole	BBC Radio 4
2010	Words for You: The Next Chapter	Narrator
2011	Tom and Viv	T. S. Eliot	BBC Radio 7
2012	Rumpole and the Man of God	Young Rumpole	BBC Radio 4
2012	Rumpole and the Explosive Evidence	Young Rumpole	BBC Radio 4
2012	Rumpole and the Gentle Art of Blackmail	Young Rumpole	BBC Radio 4
2012	Rumpole and the Expert Witness	Young Rumpole	BBC Radio 4
2013	Copenhagen	Werner Heisenberg	BBC Radio 3
2013	Neverwhere	Angel Islington	BBC Radio 4

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2011	'	Narrator	Voice

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Title	Result
2001	Ian Charleson Awards " Best Classical Stage Performance	Love's Labor Lost
2004	Golden Nymph for Television Films " Best Performance by an Actor	Hawking
2004	BAFTA Television Award " Best Actor	Hawking
2005	Golden Nymph for Mini-Series " Best Performance by an Actor	To the Ends of the Earth
2005	Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role	Hedda Gabler
2005	Ian Charleson Awards " Best Classical Stage Performance	Hedda Gabler
2006	London Film Critics Circle Award for British Breakthrough	Amazing Grace
2008	Satellite Award " Best Actor in a Miniseries or TV Film	'
2009	BAFTA Television Award " Best Supporting Actor	Small Island
2010	Evening Standard Theatre Awards " Best Actor	After the Dance
2010	Crime Thriller Awards " Best Actor	Sherlock
2011	Broadcasting Press Guild Awards " Best Actor	Sherlock
2011	Banff Rockie Awards " Best Arts & Performing Program	Van Gogh: Painted with Words
2011	National Television Awards " Outstanding Drama Performance	Sherlock
2011	BAFTA Television Awards " Best Leading Actor	Sherlock
2011	TV Choice Awards " Best Actor	Sherlock
2011	Whatsonstage.com Awards " Best Actor in a Play	After the Dance
2011	British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actor	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
2011	Chlotrudis Award for Best Cast	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
2011	Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
2011	Georgia Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
2011	GQ U.K. magazine Actor of the Year
2011	Evening Standard Theatre Awards " Best Actor (with Jonny Lee Miller)	Frankenstein
2011	YouMovie Award for Best Cast	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
2012	YouMovie Award for Best Supporting Actor	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
2012	Italian Online Film Actors & Dubbers Award for Best Foreign Cast	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
2012	Olivier Award for Best Actor (with Jonny Lee Miller)	Frankenstein
2012	Critics' Circle Theatre Awards " Best Actor	Frankenstein
2012	Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Movie/Miniseries Actor	Sherlock
2012	Primetime Emmy Award " Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie	Sherlock
2012	BAFTA Television Awards " Best Leading Actor	Sherlock
2012	TV Choice Awards " Best Actor	Sherlock
2012	Crime Thriller Awards " Best Actor	Sherlock
2012	Satellite Award for Best Actor " Miniseries or Television Film	Sherlock
2013	Golden Globe Award " Best Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture made for TV	Sherlock
2013	National Television Awards " Outstanding Drama Performance	Sherlock
2013	Broadcasting Press Guild Awards  " Best Actor	Sherlock and Parade's End
2013	Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Movie/Miniseries Actor	Parade's End
2013	Primetime Emmy Award " Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie	Parade's End
2013	BAFTA Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year