"Benedict is this sort of beautiful, exotic creature. He’s never going to play an ordinary man, ‘cause he couldn’t. That’s not what he’s like, but he will tell the stories of great men."
Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch, CBE (born July 19th 1976) is a British stage, film, television, and voice actor. Despite being in the entertainment business for ten years, he skyrocketed into international stardom with his BAFTA, Golden Globe nominated and Emmy winning portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in the BBC's worldwide hit Sherlock and earned an Oscar nomination for Best Lead Actor due to his role as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game. Now amongst the most sought-after people in showbiz, he has been hailed as one of the best actors of his generation.Cumberbatch is well known for his smooth baritone voice and memetic cheekbones. The Times has described his voice as a "jaguar hiding in a cello", and the Jaguar marketing team agrees
with this.An unlikely sex symbol, he landed the #1 spot on The Sun's "Sexiest Man Alive" list two years in a row in 2012 and 2013 (apparently he "hadn't taken anything less seriously in all his life") by a landslide thanks to his devoted fanbase. He was also hailed by Empire Magazine's 50, 000 international readers as "World's Sexiest Actor" in 2013. It looks like brainy is the new sexy after all!In 2014 he won an Emmy for Sherlock Series 3, and in 2015 he was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to the performing arts and to charity.His notable works include:
- Hawking (2004) as Stephen Hawking. Seems to be the go-to guy for Stephen Hawking. He's also done Professor Hawking's narration on the documentaries Stephen Hawking's Grand Design and Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking.
- To the Ends of the Earth (2005) as Upper-Class Twit Edmund Talbot.
- Atonement (2007) as Paul Marshall, an Upper-Class Twit and child rapist.
- Starter for 10 as Patrick Watts, a Gentleman Snarker and University Challenge team captain.
- Inseparable as Joe and Charlie.
- Sherlock (2010 - present) as Sherlock Holmes.
- The Last Enemy as Stephen Ezard, a socially inept mathematician with OCD.
- Nathan Barley as Robin.
- Amazing Grace as William Pitt.
- The Other Boleyn Girl as William Carey (Scarlett Johansson's husband.)
- Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy as Peter Guillam.
- War Horse as Major Jamie Stewart.
- The Hobbit as the voice and motion capture of the dragon Smaug, as well as the Necromancer/Sauron (reuniting with Sherlock co-star Martin Freeman).
- Cabin Pressure as Captain Martin Crieff, an airline pilot.
- Big Finish Doctor Who as Howard Carter and "Thing 2".
- Third Star as James Kimberly Griffith, a dying man who makes one final journey.
- Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) as John Harrison. A.K.A. Khan Noonien Singh.
- The Fifth Estate (2013) as Julian Assange.
- Fortysomething as Rory Slippery.
- Danny Boyle's stage adaptation of Frankenstein, alternating between Victor and the Monster.
- Parade's End as Christopher Tietjens, based on Ford Madox Ford's novel.
- 12 Years a Slave (2013) as William Ford, Solomon Northup's first slaveowner.
- August: Osage County (2013) as Little Charlie.
- The Imitation Game (2014) as Alan Turing.
- Penguins of Madagascar (2014) as Classified.
- Black Mass (2015) as Billy Bulger
- Zoolander 2 as the androgynous model, All.
- Jungle Book: Origins (2016) as Shere Khan.
- Marvel Cinematic Universe (2016 – present) as Doctor Stephen Strange and Dormammu:
- Doctor Strange (2016)
- The Hollow Crown: The War of the Roses as Richard III.
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (2018) as The Grinch
This actor's work exhibits examples of:
- Adorkable: Contrary to what one might assume, his stoic genius roles are not the result of typecasting. Exhibit A: [1]
- Badass Baritone: His voice is quite deep, to say the least. That is used to invoke Evil Sounds Deep.
- Covers Always Lie: The DVD of the Mini Series To the Ends of the Earth pushed Benedict (who was the star) off of the cover in favor of Sam Neill, even though he plays a very minor character.
- Description Porn: If he is to write an article, chances are it will end up having this. Just take a look at the recount of his diving trip, or his thoughts on classical music.
- Dyeing for Your Art:
- He's naturally a ginger, but dyes his hair dark brown for most of his roles (including Hawking), black for roles like Sherlock and Harrison, and a sort of dishwater-blonde for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
- For Third Star he opted to lose a ton of weight instead of shaving his head (which he was growing out for Sherlock) in order to look like a sickly and emaciated cancer patient. He kept the appearance for Sherlock Holmes, who is known for prioritizing work over food.
- Conversely, for Star Trek Into Darkness he worked out daily and went up two suit sizes.
- Despite having a wig, he still dyed his hair platinum blond to portray Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate. He also wore contact lenses and false teeth for the film.
- To make his voice deep enough for Smaug in The Hobbit, he literally tore into his vocal cords.
- Fake American: In The Whistleblower and Doctor Strange.
- It Is Pronounced Tropay: He has a noticeable speech impediment that, among other things, prevents him from pronouncing the word "penguin" properly. Instead, he says it like "peng-wing" and, hilariously and to his embarassment, had to say it repeatedly in a nature documentary and in Penguins of Madagascar.
- Large Ham: Normally plays fairly reserved roles, but can hit Jeremy Irons levels of ham if necessary.
- Male Frontal Nudity: The National Theatre's 2011 production of Frankenstein had Benedict Cumberbatch or Jonny Lee Miller (depending on the night) spending about 20 minutes completely nude as the Monster, as he came to life and learned how to move, walk etc.
- Mean Character, Nice Actor: Not known for playing the most friendly of fictional characters, his version of Sherlock Holmes describes himself as a "high-functioning sociopath" and shows concern for very few people, and that's not even mentioning in Star Trek Into Darkness or The Hobbit films are the Big Bad; the man behind the roles in real life is eloquent and charming, insanely cool and acts about as goofy as any goofy celeb would, self aware or not. MTV even made a video entitled Why is Benedict Cumberbatch so Charming? to prove the point. The press usually describe him as "relentlessly polite" and "both a thinker and a talker".
- Playing Against Type: An early role from him in Atonement has him playing a child molester.
- Serkis Folk: Provides motion capture and the voice for Smaug and the Necromancer in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit.
- "Sesame Street" Cred: He made his debut counting with the Count and Murray-(arty).
- Star-Making Role:
- Sherlock truly made him a star on both sides of the Atlantic, and spring-boarded him into a very busy film career. 2013 saw him star in five films alone.
- And for those unfamiliar with Sherlock, his roles in Star Trek Into Darkness, 12 Years a Slave and The Hobbit count as well.
- Those Two Actors:
- With Martin Freeman in Sherlock and The Hobbit. Both are also part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
- With Mark Gatiss in Starter for 10 and Sherlock.
- With Rebecca Hall in in Starter for 10 and Parade's End.
- With James McAvoy in Starter for 10, Atonement and the radio drama of Neverwhere.
- With Alice Eve in Hawking, Starter for 10 and Star Trek Into Darkness.
- With Tom Hardy in Stuart: A Life Backwards and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
- With Mark Strong in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and The Imitation Game.
- With Charles Dance in Starter for 10 and The Imitation Game.
- With Tom Hiddleston; in addition to often being paired together by their respective fan bases, they appeared in War Horse together, and are both part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
- With Andrew Scott in Sherlock and The Hollow Crown.
- With Keira Knightley in Atonement and The Imitation Game.
- With Naomie Harris in Small Island and Frankenstein (2011).
- With Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years a Slave and Doctor Strange.
- Type Casting: He has tendency to get cast as socially awkward insufferable geniuses or as the Evil Brit in Hollywood blockbusters.
- Upper-Class Twit: Very good at getting cast as these, although lately he's been breaking away from that to avoid typecasting.
- What Could Have Been: Captain Phasma in Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens was originally written with him in mind. However, hoping to improve the cast's diversity, J. J. Abrams decided to cast actress Gwendoline Christie as Phasma.
- When She Smiles: Due to his lack of effervescent roles, we rarely see him smile. When we do, it's cuter than a basket of puppies.
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