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Cumberbatch attended boarding schools from the age of eight;[15] he was educated at Brambletye School in West Sussex and was an arts scholar at Harrow School.[16][17][18] He was a member of The Rattigan Society, Harrow's principal club for the dramatic arts, which was named after Old Harrovian and playwright Terence Rattigan.[19] He was involved in numerous Shakespearean works at school and made his acting debut as Titania, Queen of the Fairies, in A Midsummer Night's Dream when he was 12.[20] Cumberbatch's drama teacher, Martin Tyrell, called him "the best schoolboy actor" he had ever worked with.[21]
In February 2011, Cumberbatch 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 Royal National Theatre.[32][33]Frankenstein was broadcast to cinemas as a part of National Theatre Live in March 2011.[34] Cumberbatch achieved the "Triple Crown of London Theatre" in 2011 when he received the Olivier Award, Evening Standard Award and Critics' Circle Theatre Award for his performance in Frankenstein.[35]
Cumberbatch was a part of a cast featuring members of the Royal National Theatre Company in 50 Years on Stage, the Royal National Theatre's landmark event for its 50th anniversary on 2 November 2013. He played Rosencrantz in a selected scene from Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.[36] The show was directed by Sir Nicholas Hytner and was broadcast on BBC Two and in cinemas worldwide as a part of National Theatre Live.[37]
In 2005, Cumberbatch portrayed 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 in South Africa, managing to escape.[45] He made brief appearances in the comedy sketch show Broken News and the Channel 4 sitcom Nathan Barley in 2005 and featured alongside Tom Hardy in the television adaptation of Stuart: A Life Backwards, which aired on the BBC in September 2007.[46]
In 2008, Cumberbatch played the lead character in the BBC miniseries drama The Last Enemy, earning a Satellite Award nomination for Best Actor in a Miniseries or TV Film. In 2009, he appeared in Marple: Murder Is Easy as Luke Fitzwilliam. He played Bernard in the TV adaptation of Small Island, earning him a nomination for BAFTA Television Award for Best Supporting Actor.[47] Cumberbatch featured in Michael Dobbs' play, The Turning Point,[48] which aired as one of a series of TV plays broadcast live on Sky Arts. The play depicted an October 1938 meeting between Soviet spy Guy Burgess, then a young man working for the BBC, and Winston Churchill.[49] Cumberbatch portrayed Burgess; Churchill was played by Matthew Marsh, who had played a supporting role in Hawking.[50] He narrated the 6-part series South Pacific (US title: Wild Pacific), which aired from May to June 2009 on BBC 2.[51]
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."[52] In the same year, Cumberbatch began playing Sherlock Holmes in the joint BBC/PBS television series Sherlock, to critical acclaim.[53][54][55] The second series began on New Year's Day 2012 in the United Kingdom[56] and was broadcast on PBS in the United States in May 2012.[57] The third series aired on PBS over a period of three weeks in January to February 2014. Cumberbatch won an Emmy as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for the third episode of the third series of the show entitled His Last Vow. Cumberbatch has one of the most aggressive fanbases to date, part of the 'Big Three' fandoms on the social media site Tumblr, called SuperWhoLock.[58] In April 2015, Cumberbatch was nominated for his sixth British Academy Television Award for Best Leading Actor for the third series of the Sherlock.[59][60] In 2016, he was once again nominated for an Emmy as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie, this time for Sherlock: The Abominable Bride.[61]
Cumberbatch has repeatedly expressed his affection for radio and has done numerous productions for the BBC.[94] Among his best-known radio work is the adaptation of John Mortimer's novel Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders in 2009. He played Young Rumpole, and went on to play the part in nine more adaptations of Mortimer's works. Between 2008 and 2014, he played Captain Martin Crieff in the BBC's sitcom Cabin Pressure. He then went on to play the Angel Islington in the 2013 BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. In the same year, he led the BBC Radio 3 adaptation of Michael Frayn's play Copenhagen wherein he played theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg.[95]
For the 70th anniversary of the Normandy landings, on 6 June 2014 Cumberbatch read the original BBC radio bulletins from June 1944 for BBC Radio 4.[96]
Narration
Cumberbatch has narrated numerous documentaries for the National Geographic and Discovery channels. He has also read for several audiobooks, including Casanova, The Tempest, The Making of Music, Death in a White Tie, Artists in Crime, Tom and Viv, and Sherlock Holmes: The Rediscovered Railway Mysteries and Other Stories. He has done voice-overs for several commercials, including for major names Jaguar, Sony, Pimms, and Google+, performing the Seven Ages of Man monologue. For the 2012 London Olympics, he featured in a short film on the history of London, which began the BBC coverage of the opening ceremony.[97] He made appearances for two Cheltenham Festivals, in July 2012 for Music when he read World War I poetry and prose accompanied by piano pieces[98] and in October 2012 for Literature when he discussed Sherlock and Parade's End at The Centaur.[99] In 2012, he lent his voice to a four-part, spoken-word track titled "Flat of Angles" for Late Night Tales based on a story written by author and poet Simon Cleary, the final instalment of which was released on 9 May 2014.[100][101]
Cumberbatch, Adam Ackland, writer-director Patrick Monroe, action coordinator Ben Dillon, and production manager Adam Selves launched a production company, SunnyMarch Ltd., in late 2013.[112]
Their first project under the company's banner was the £87,000 crowd-funded short film Little Favour, written and directed by Monroe with Cumberbatch in the lead role. The 30-minute action-thriller became internationally available on iTunes on 5 November 2013.[112][113]
Tatler listed Cumberbatch in the "Most Eligible Bachelors in the United Kingdom" in 2012.[121] In the same year, Cumberbatch described a cyberstalking incident in which he discovered that someone had been live-tweeting his movements in his London home.[122] Coming to terms with it, he said, it is "an ongoing process. To think that somebody knew everything I'd done in a day and told the rest of the world in real time!"[123] His photograph taken at the Garrick Club by Derry Moore, 12th Earl of Drogheda was the cover of Moore's 2012 book An English Room.[124]
In 2014, Cumberbatch was included in The Sunday Times "100 Makers of the 21st Century", cited as this generation's Laurence Olivier."[128][129] Film critic Roger Friedman stated that "Cumberbatch may be the closest thing to a real descendant of Sir Laurence Olivier."[130] GQ identified him as one of the "100 Most Connected Men" in the UK in 2014.[131] In the same year, Country Life magazine labelled him as one of its "Gentlemen of the Year".[132]
In April 2014, Cumberbatch was regarded as a British cultural icon, with young adults from abroad naming him among a group of people that they most associated with UK culture, which included William Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth II, David Beckham, J. K. Rowling, The Beatles, Charlie Chaplin, Elton John and Adele.[133][134] The same month, Time magazine included him in its annual TIME 100 as one of the Most Influential People in the World.[135] Cumberbatch was the inspiration and focus of the play Benedict Cumberbatch Must Die which, despite its title, was a "love letter" and portrait of the fan obsession surrounding the actor. It premiered in June 2014 at BATS Theatre in New Zealand.[136] The Tennessee Aquarium named one of its otters "Benny" in reference to Cumberbatch's first name after a naming contest on the zoo's website.[137]
A wax figure of Cumberbatch has been on display at Madame Tussauds London since October 2014.[138] In 2015, he was named one of GQs 50 best dressed British men.[139] In 2018, PETA declared Cumberbatch and director Ava DuVernay to be the Most Beautiful Vegan Celebs of 2018.[140]
While in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, in 2005, Cumberbatch and two friends (Theo and Denise Black)[141] were abducted, after bursting a tyre, and held at gunpoint by a group of locals. Eventually their abductors drove them into unsettled territory and set them free without explanation. Cumberbatch said of the incident: "It taught me that you come into this world as you leave it, on your own. It's made me want to live a life less ordinary."[142][143] Before the burst tyre, they had been listening to "How to Disappear Completely" by Radiohead. Following this experience, whenever Cumberbatch hears the song it "reminds [him] of a sense of reality [... and] a reason for hope".[141]
Cumberbatch (blue shirt, back row) and the cast of The Children's Monologues, at the Old Vic Theatre in London on 14 November 2010. It was performed on behalf of Dramatic Need, a UK-registered charity that sends international arts professionals (such as musicians, artists and actors) to host workshops in underprivileged and rural communities in Africa.
Together with Prince Philip, Cumberbatch presented 85 young people with the Duke of Edinburgh's Award at St James's Palace on 19 March 2014.[164] "Our ambition is to extend this opportunity to hundreds of thousands across the UK", Cumberbatch said on behalf of the youth awards programme.[165]
In May 2014, he joined Prince William and Ralph Lauren at Windsor Castle for a cancer awareness and fundraising gala for the benefit of The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. Cumberbatch stated, "Cancer isn't a disease that needs much awareness, but it does need continued funding for research."[166][167] In September 2014, he participated in a video campaign for Stand Up To Cancer.[168] Cumberbatch posed for photographer Jason Bell for an exhibition at Pall Mall, London from 16-20 September 2014 to mark 10 years of the "Give Up Clothes For Good" charity campaign, which has raised £17 million for Cancer Research UK.[169] In 2014, Cumberbatch publicly backed "Hacked Off" and its campaign for UK press self-regulation by "safeguarding the press from political interference while also giving vital protection to the vulnerable."[170][171]
In a November 2014 cover story for Out promoting The Imitation Game, Cumberbatch opened up about sexual experimentation during his time in boarding schools stating, "While there was experimentation, it had never occurred to me as, 'Oh, this is that!' It was just boys and their penises, the same way with girls and vaginas and boobs. It wasn't out of desire." LGBT group Stonewall released a statement praising Cumberbatch's comments, saying, "Seeing someone in the public eye - especially somebody as influential as Benedict - talking positively around gay issues, is powerful for young lesbian, gay and bisexual people. It is often difficult for those growing up to find role models who demonstrate that it is equally okay to be gay or straight."[172][173]
Cumberbatch is a founding member of the "Save Soho" campaign which aims "to protect and nurture iconic music and performing arts venues in Soho."[174] In an open letter published in The Guardian on 31 January 2015, Cumberbatch, amongst others, asked for pardons of all gay and bisexual men who were convicted under the same now-defunct "indecency" laws as Alan Turing was (whom Cumberbatch portrayed in The Imitation Game).[175][176]
In September 2015, Cumberbatch condemned the UK government's response to the migrant crisis in a speech to theatregoers during a curtain call at a performance of Hamlet, for which he stars. He also fronted a video campaign to help the charity Save The Children in its mission to aid young Syrian refugees. He was one of the signatories of an open letter, published in The Guardian, criticising the government for its actions regarding the refugee problem.[177] He also gave nightly speeches after his curtain call as Hamlet at the Barbican in London, asking for donations to help Syrian refugees. At the end of the run, the audience contributed more than £150,000 for Save the Children.[178]
In 2003, Cumberbatch joined the Stop the War Coalition protest in London against the Iraq War.[182] He addressed activists in a 2010 protest sponsored by the Trade Union Congress in Westminster on the suggested risks to the arts due to spending cuts expected in the Spending Review.[183][184] In 2013, he protested against what he perceived were civil liberties violations by the UK Government.[185][186]
In 2016, Cumberbatch was one of over 280 figures from the arts world who backed a vote for the United Kingdom to stay in the European Union in regards to the June 2016 referendum on that issue.[192]
^[1]Archived 23 January 2019 at the Wayback Machine Igor Lyman, Victoria Konstantinova. The Ukrainian South as Viewed by Consuls of the British Empire (Nineteenth - Early Twentieth Centuries). Volume 1: British Consuls in the Port City of Berdyansk (Kyiv, 2018), p. 271-287
^[2] Lyman Igor, Konstantinova Viktoria. British Consul in Berdyansk Cumberbatch, Great-great-grandfather of Modern Sherlock Holmes, in Scriptorium nostrum, 2017, No 2 (8), p. 195-207.
^"Benedict Cumberbatch plays Edmund Talbot" (Press release). BBC. 19 May 2005. Archived from the original on 5 January 2015. Retrieved 2011. When I heard about the gap year of teaching English at a Tibetan monastery, I knew I had to do something about it really quickly otherwise it was going to get allocated... I worked for six months to drum up the finance as it was voluntary - there was no income. I worked in Penhaligon's the perfumery for almost five months and I did waiting jobs... The monastery was a fantastic experience; you lived your life by very limited means, although you were given board and lodgings.
^Brent Furdyk, "Benedict Cumberbatch, Ava DuVernay Named PETA's 'Most Beautiful Vegan Celebs' Of 2018," ET CanadaArchived 14 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine, 11 July 2018.
^ abcPrince's Trust trading Ltd. (2009). Inspired* by music. London: Shoehorn Arts & Culture Books. pp. 20-25. ISBN978-190714901-6.