Benedict Cumberbatch

Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch (born 19 July 1976) is an English actor and film producer who has performed in film, television, theatre and radio. The son of actors Timothy Carlton and Wanda Ventham, he graduated from the University of Manchester and continued his classical acting training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He first performed at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park in productions such as Love's Labour's Lost (2001), A Midsummer Night's Dream (2001), and Romeo and Juliet (2002). He also portrayed George Tesman in Richard Eyre's revival of Hedda Gabler in 2005 and since then has starred in the Royal National Theatre productions After the Dance (2010) and Frankenstein (2011).

Cumberbatch's television work includes appearances in Heartbeat (2000), Silent Witness (2002) and Fortysomething (2003) before starring as the title character in Hawking in 2004. He has played Sherlock Holmes in the series Sherlock since 2010. He has also starred in Tom Stoppard's adaptation of Parade's End (2012), as well as providing the voices of the British Prime Minister and Severus Snape on the animated series The Simpsons (2013).

His first film appearance was in To Kill a King (2003) and he went on to play William Pitt the Younger in Amazing Grace in 2006 and has since appeared in the films Atonement (2007), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), War Horse (2011), Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), and 12 Years a Slave (2013). From 2012 to 2014, through voice and motion capture, he played the characters of Smaug and the Necromancer in The Hobbit film series.

Cumberbatch received two Olivier Award nominations, winning the Best Actor in a Play for Frankenstein, and has also received four BAFTA nominations, three Emmy Award nominations, winning Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for Sherlock, two SAG Award nominations and a Golden Globe nomination among others. In 2013, he was honoured by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts with a Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year for his "masterful performances in television, film and theatre." In 2014, Time magazine included him in its annual Time 100 as one of the "Most Influential People in the World".

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