Benedict Cumberbatch
Birthdate: Jul 19, 1976
Birthplace: Hammersmith, London, England, UK
A definitive leading man of contemporary cinema, Benedict Cumberbatch (birthname: Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch) has the kind of star power that, even in the massive movie machinery of a Marvel Comics Universe vehicle like 2016’s Doctor Strange (and its 2022 sequel, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness), he is unquestionably the biggest (human) draw for audiences.
Almost unique among current movie stars, Cumberbatch has been able to command high critical praise and steady awards attention (he’s twice-nominated for the Best Actor Oscar), and at the same time be the top attraction at such fan-driven events as San Diego Comic-Con and command an intense, international following of female fans who go by the moniker “Cumberbitches.”
Benedict Cumberbatch was at the forefront of British theater in the early years of the 21st century, achieving great acclaim in classical and contemporary roles. One of his great coups was playing Dr. Victor Frankenstein and his creature (on alternating evenings) in the Royal National Theatre’s production of Frankenstein, which earned him the Oliver, the Critics’ Circle Theatre Award, and the Evening Standard Award. He was part of the cast celebrating the National Theatre’s 50th anniversary and made a triumphant stage return as Hamlet at the Barbican Theatre in 2015.
By this point, Cumberbatch had established his star power on film and television, where he became the face of a new kind of Sherlock Holmes in the brilliant BBC series, Sherlock, earning him six British Academy Best Actor nominations. His breakout year in the movies was 2013, in which he appeared in no less than Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, August: Osage County, The Fifth Estate (as a spooky Julian Assange), and as Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness.
Cumberbatch distinguished himself in a phenomenally wide range of supporting roles in major films, including (Smaug and The Necromancer) in The Hobbit film series (2012-14), Tomas Alfredson’s elegant adaptation of John le Carré’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2011), Steven Spielberg’s War Horse (2011), Joe Wright’s Atonement (2007) and Four Lions (2010).
Benedict Cumberbatch’s name may be a mouthful for some, but, in 2014, it took on global reach, with Sherlock reaching huge international popularity and an Oscar nomination for his affecting performance as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game. He then took on the role of Doctor Strange in the MCU in 2016, which brought him into the ensemble of Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), two of the biggest box-office hits of all time.
After a brief but striking appearance in Sam Mendes’ ambitious World War I drama, 1917 (2019), Cumberbatch completed a string of wonderful vocal performances in several animated features, including The Grinch (2018) and Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018). 2021 ended in more triumph, with his stunning turn as an emotionally conflicted cowboy in Jane Campion’s acclaimed The Power of the Dog.
Cumberbatch was the actor/producer of the big-screen U.K. version of screenwriter Alice Birch’s adaptation of Megan Hunter’s 2017 novel, The End We Start From (2023), with Jodie Comer, Katherine Waterston, Mark Strong, Joel Fry, and Neil Bell under Mahalia Belo’s direction, premiering at the Toronto Film Festival and released by Signature Entertainment. Cumberbatch joined the large ensemble of director/writer/producer Jeymes Samuel’s Biblical comedy-drama, The Book of Clarence (2023), starring LaKeith Stanfield, Omar Sy, RJ Cyler, Anna Diop, David Oyelowo, Michael Ward, Alfre Woodard, Teyana Taylor, Marianne Jean-Baptiste and James McAvoy, receiving fine reviews but disappointing box office ($6 million gross on a $40 million budget).
Benedict Cumberbatch was lead and producer of the independent British film by director/writer Dylan Southern, The Thing with Feather (2025), with Richard and Henry Boxall, David Thewlis and Vinette Robinson, launching at the Sundance Film Festival before a release by Vue Lumiere, and then Cumberbatch appeared in a brief but colorful role in Wes Anderson’s globe-hopping comedy-drama, The Phoenician Scheme (2025), starring Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Mathieu Amalric, Richard Ayoade, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Rupert Friend and Hope Davis, selected for competition at the Cannes Film Festival but failing at the box office with a poor $39 million take, barely above costs, for Focus Features/Universal Pictures.
Cumberbatch was again star/producer, this time in The Roses (2025), directed by Jay Roach and written by Tony McNamara (adapting Warren Adler’s 1981 novel, The War of the Roses), co-starring Olivia Colman, Andy Samberg, Kate McKinnon, and Allison Janney, and released widely by Searchlight Pictures. Cumberbatch returned to his ongoing Marvel character, Dr. Stephen Strange, for the fifth Avengers movie, Avengers: Doomsday (2026), joining a massive cast led by Chris Hemsworth, Vanessa Kirby, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Letitia Wright, Paul Rudd, Wyatt Russell, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Simu Liu, Florence Pugh and Robert Downey in his new MCU role as Doctor Doom, produced by Marvel Studios and released by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
Benedict Cumberbatch replaced his longtime British acting cohort, Tom Hardy, in the lead of co-screenwriter/producer Jo Nesbø’s screen adaptation of his novel, Blood on Snow (date to be announced), co-starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Eva Green, Emma Laird, and Ben Mendelsohn under the direction of Cary Joji Fukunaga, who also produced. Cumberbatch co-starred opposite Rosamund Pike in director/writer/producer Guy Ritchie’s black comedy about the British aristocracy, Wife & Dog (date to be announced), with Anthony Hopkins, Cosmo Jarvis, James Norton, and Paddy Considine, and produced by Black Bear Pictures.
Benedict Cumberbatch Photos and Videos
Personal life
Born in London to parents, actors Timothy Carlton and Wanda Ventham, Benedict Cumberbatch comes from a distinguished family of British war veterans and diplomats. Cumberbatch attended Harrow School, where he was an art scholar and studied drama, then continued his studies at Manchester’s Victoria University, and earned a Masters in classical acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He is married to theater director-playwright-actor Sophie Hunter. The couple has three children. Cumberbatch’s height is 6’.
Benedict Cumberbatch Movies
actor
Upcoming (1)
Previous (41)
- 2025 |
The Thing with Feathers
asDad
After a tragic loss, a grieving father tries to raise his young sons whilst dealing with an unlikely, unpredictable and uninvited houseguest.
- 2025 |
- 2025 |
- 2024 | The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three Moreas Henry Sugar
- 2023 | James Blunt: One Brit Wonder
- 2022 |
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
asDoctor Stephen Strange
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Doctor Strange teams up with a mysterious teenage girl who can travel across multiverses, to battle other-universe versions of himself which threaten to wipe out the multiverse. They seek help from the Scarlet Witch, Wong and others.
- 2021 | The Electrical Life of Louis Wainas Louis Wain
- 2021 |
Spider-Man: No Way Home
asDoctor Strange
With Spider-Man's identity now revealed, Peter asks Doctor Strange for help. When a spell goes wrong, dangerous foes from other worlds start to appear.
- 2021 |
The Power of the Dog
asPhil Burbank
Charismatic rancher Phil Burbank inspires fear and awe in those around him. When his brother brings home a new wife and her son, Phil torments them until he finds himself exposed to the possibility of love.
- 2021 |
The Courier
asGreville Wynne
Businessman Greville Wynne is asked by a Russian source to try to help put an end to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
- 2020 | Antarcticaas Narrator
- 2017 | The Current Waras Thomas Alva Edison
- 2019 |
The Current War
asThomas Alva Edison
The dramatic story of the cutthroat race between electricity titans Thomas A. Edison and George Westinghouse to determine whose electrical system would power the modern world.
- 2019 |
Avengers: Endgame
asDoctor Strange
After the devastating events of Avengers: Infinity War (2018), the universe is in ruins. With the help of remaining allies, the Avengers assemble once more in order to reverse Thanos' actions and restore balance to the universe.
- 2018 |
Amazing Grace
asWilliam Pitt
A documentary presenting Aretha Franklin with choir at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Watts, Los Angeles in January 1972.
- 2018 | Mowgli: Legend of the Jungleas Shere Khan
- 2018 | The Grinchas The Grinch
- 2018 |
- 2018 |
Avengers: Infinity War
asDoctor Strange
The Avengers and their allies must be willing to sacrifice all in an attempt to defeat the powerful Thanos before his blitz of devastation and ruin puts an end to the universe.
- 2017 |
Naples ’44
asNorman Lewis
A British Intelligence Officer in Naples at the end of World War II: Norman Lewis's acknowledged masterpiece about a war-torn city and its unforgettable humanity.
- 2017 |
Thor: Ragnarok
asDoctor Strange
Imprisoned on the planet Sakaar, Thor must race against time to return to Asgard and stop Ragnarök, the destruction of his world, at the hands of the powerful and ruthless villain Hela.
- 2017 |
Walk With Me
asNarrator
'Walk With Me' is a meditative film about a community of Zen Buddhist monks and nuns who have dedicated their lives to mastering the art of mindfulness with their world-famous teacher Thich Nhat Hanh.
- 2016 |
Doctor Strange
asDr. Stephen Strange
While on a journey of physical and spiritual healing, a brilliant neurosurgeon is drawn into the world of the mystic arts.
- 2015 | Hamletas Hamlet - Prince of Denmark
- 2015 |
- 2015 |
Black Mass
asBilly Bulger
The true story of Whitey Bulger, the brother of a state senator and the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston, who became an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family invading his turf.
- 2014 | Cristiano Ronaldo: World at His Feetas Narrator
- 2014 |
The Imitation Game
asAlan Turing
During World War II, the English mathematical genius Alan Turing tries to crack the German Enigma code with help from fellow mathematicians while attempting to come to terms with his troubled private life.
- 2014 |
Penguins of Madagascar
asAgent Classified
Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private join forces with undercover organization The North Wind to stop the villainous Dr. Octavius Brine from destroying the world as we know it.
- 2013 |
August: Osage County
asLittle Charles Aiken
A look at the lives of the strong-willed women of the Weston family, whose paths have diverged until a family crisis brings them back to the Oklahoma house they grew up in, and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them.
- 2013 | The Fifth Estateas Julian Assange
- 2013 |
Star Trek Into Darkness
asKhan
After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one-man weapon of mass destruction.
- 2012 | Girlfriend in a Comaas Dante
- 2011 | National Theatre Live: Frankensteinas The Creature
- 2011 | Wreckersas David
- 2011 |
- 2011 |
National Theatre Live: Frankenstein
asThe Creature
National Theatre Live: Frankenstein
Childlike in his innocence but grotesque in form, Frankenstein's bewildered creature is cast out into a hostile universe by his horror-struck maker. Meeting with cruelty wherever he goes, the Creature determines to track down his creator.
- 2010 | Third Staras James
- 2009 | Burlesque Fairytalesas Henry Clark
- 2008 | The Other Boleyn Girlas William Carey
- 2007 |
producer
Previous (2)
- 2024 |
We Live in Time
An up-and-coming chef and a recent divorcée find their lives forever changed when a chance encounter brings them together, in a decade-spanning, deeply moving romance.
- 2021 |
The Mauritanian
Mohamedou Ould Slahi fights for freedom after being detained and imprisoned without charge by the U.S. Government for years.
Facts About Benedict Cumberbatch
Fan Club: Benedict Cumberbatch’s intense female following, especially during the run of Sherlock, gave themselves the tag name, ‘Cumberbitches.’ When asked what he thought, the actor said that it was flattering, but that he wished they had called themselves something more respectable, like ‘Cumberhumans.’
Family Tree: Cumberbatch’s great-great-great-grandfather was a slave owner in Jamaica, and he is the third cousin 16 times removed from King Richard III, whose re-burial he attended in 2015 and whose character he depicted in a U.K. television adaptation of Shakespeare’s play.
Stage Debut: Benedict Cumberbatch made his stage debut at age 12 as Titania, Queen of the Fairies, in a school production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
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