Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch CBE 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 training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, obtaining a Master of Arts in Classical Acting. He first performed at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park in Shakespearean productions and has portrayed George Tesman in Richard Eyre's revival...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth19 July 1976
CityLondon, England
Talking about class terrifies me. There is no way of winning.
Any irrational fears?no, i'm quite a rationalist. i'm not superstitious, i think life is too full of natural wonders and logical complexities to worry about illogical things.
I know he [Julian Assange] is a man of fierce determination, and now living under the strain of house arrest in the Ecuadorean embassy as a "political exile," as he calls himself.
You have to sometimes just run with the problem rather than trying to solve it with hi-tech wizardry and lots of planning.
I'd shift disciplines, whether it was musical instruments or sports or whatever, and it's the same with that [reading].
I think playing any iconic role when you're stepping into big shoes, into the shadow of people who have come before you and you can't process that.
Our daily lives are so mundane, we get taken over by what is immediately in front of us and we don't see beyond that.
We all want to escape our circumstances, don't we? Especially if you are an actor.
You come into this world as you leave it, on your own. It's made me want to live a life slightly less ordinary.
Mum did a lot of commercial theatre and farces in the 1980s and '90s to make sure the school bills were paid.
If you have an over-preoccupation with perception and trying to please people's expectations, then you can go mad.
Pull the hair on my head the wrong way, and I would be on my knees begging for mercy. I have very sensitive follicles.
I've never done a lead role in a film this big [like Doctor Strange], in a franchise this big. One of the reasons was, I wanted to know what the toy box was like. And it's just insane, the amount of facility that everyone gets, but the amount of artistry and craft that's brought to every aspect of filmmaking. I mean, you go to your first costume fitting and it's one of thirty. It's a myriad, but it's for a reason. There are so many incredible costumes in this.
I really discovered [Dr.Strange] through hearing about this film and first meeting Scott [Derrickson] and getting into it and just opening up and saying, "Okay, this is, like all comics, very much of its era," and my first question was, 'How do you make this film? Why do you make this film now?' and the answers were so enticing that I was like, "I'm in."