Benedict Cumberbatch

Trivia:

The actor's father used to read J R R Tolkien's "The Hobbit" to him as a child, even changing his voice for each character, accordingly. "A feast for a child's imagination," Cumberbatch said. "It's the audiobook that will never exist."

Before studying drama at Manchester University, the actor took a gap year at a Tibetan monastery, where he taught English to the resident monks. Cumberbatch was astonished at the monks ability to focus and revered their sense of purpose when working.

He ranked #1 in Empire Magazine's '100 Sexiest Movie Stars' in 2013.

Cumberbatch is known for donating his own drawings and sketches for charities and fund-raisers.

His voice has been creatively described by a journalist as a "jaguar hiding in a cello". According to a film critic, his voice is "so sepulchrally resonant that it could have been synthesized from the combined timbres of Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart and Alan Rickman holding an elocution contest down a well.".

In 2013, he was ranked fifth place in the 'Most Fascinating People in Britain' list of Tatler Magazine, ranking higher than the Duchess of Cambridge and just below Queen Elizabeth II.

He is fond of extreme sports like skydiving, hot-air ballooning, scuba diving, skiing and high-speed motorcycling.

Has a condition called heterochromia, the "groovy" mutation that his friend James McAvoy describes in X-Men: First Class (2011). There's a difference in coloration in his irises, each has a different combination of blue, green and gold.

He originally wanted to pursue law in university.

His great-grandfather was Queen Victoria's Consul General in Turkey, Henry Arnold Cumberbatch who was a member of the Order of St Michael and St George for his services to foreign and Commonwealth affairs.

He accidentally got dual voice roles in The Simpsons (1989) when he visited Fox's studio for a completely unrelated appointment. He voiced the UK's Prime Minister (patterned from Hugh Grant's character in "Love, Actually") and did an Alan Rickman impression to voice Snape for the Special Valentine Episode that aired February 2013.

For his role as Sherlock Holmes, Cumberbatch made the creative decision to lose a significant amount of weight to give the impression that Holmes high intelligence outweighs his physical limitations -- in a "mind-over-matter" sort of way.

His character Sherlock's warm relationship with Mrs. Hudson is influenced by Cumberbatch's own real-life relationship with Una Stubbs, as she is a good friend of his mother's and she has seen him grow-up.

While on location in South Africa for To the Ends of the Earth (2005), Cumberbatch experienced a horrific carjacking in which he was kidnapped, but talked his way into getting released. He subsequently wrote about the shocking moment in an article for The Prince's Trust, a charity organization founded in 1976 by Prince Charles.

He went to Harrow, one of the oldest, most-respected and expensive all-male boarding schools in the United Kingdom.

Son of actor Timothy Carlton and actress Wanda Ventham.

Met Professor Stephen Hawking twice before filming Hawking (2004) to prepare for the role. He then subsequently provided the voice of the physicist in "Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking" in 2010 and "Stephen Hawking's Grand Design" in 2012 which both aired in Discovery Channel.

Received his Master's degree in Classical Acting for the Professional Theatre at the prestigious London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), United Kingdom's oldest drama school.

Personal Quotes:

If he hadn't become an actor, Cumberbatch wishes he would have a responsible job "that required a mind-blowing skill" and was seriously important.

When asked if he could be anyone, living or dead, for a day, Cumberbatch responded with, "It's got to be Elvis, the post-war phenomena at the Star Dust in Vegas. Or someone like that." Who doesn't want to be the king, right?

[on his 'Sherlock Holmes' series] It's a rare challenge, both for the audience and an actor, to take part in something with this level of intelligence and wit. You have to really enjoy it. It's a form of mental and physical gymnastics.

[on his role in Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)] I don't really believe in good and evil. I don't really believe in heroes and villains. His reasons for what he does are quite profoundly persuasive. One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter, and the fact that he's a shadow self of Kirk - same coin, different sides - is what makes him interesting to play.

Sometimes as an actor you're looking for the infinite. If you can hold that, if you can remember that in the chaos, [it will] anchor you and give you grace and ease.