Acting · Hammersmith, London, England, UK · Born July 19, 1976
Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch (born July 19, 1976) is an English actor. Known for his roles on the screen and stage, he has received various accolades throughout his career, including a Primetime Emmy Award, a British Academy Television Award, and a Laurence Olivier Award. Cumberbatch won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play for Frankenstein and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for Sherlock. His performances in the dramas The Imitation Game (2014) and The Power of the Dog (2021) earned him nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Golden Globe Award, all for Best Actor in a Leading Role. For playing the title role in five-part drama miniseries Patrick Melrose, he won a BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. In 2014 Time magazine included him in its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, and in 2015 he was appointed a CBE by Queen Elizabeth II in the 2015 Birthday Honours for services to the performing arts and to charity. A graduate of the Victoria University of Manchester, Cumberbatch 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 made his West End debut in Richard Eyre's revival of Hedda Gabler in 2005. Since then, he has starred in the Royal National Theatre productions After the Dance (2010) and Frankenstein (2011). In 2015, he played the title role in Hamlet at the Barbican Theatre. Cumberbatch's television work includes his performance as Stephen Hawking in the television film Hawking in 2004. He gained worldwide recognition for his performance as Sherlock Holmes in the BBC series Sherlock from 2010 to 2017. He has also headlined Tom Stoppard's adaptation of Parade's End (2012), The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses (2016), Patrick Melrose (2018), and Brexit: The Uncivil War (2019). In films, Cumberbatch has starred in Amazing Grace (2006) as William Pitt the Younger, Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) as Khan, 12 Years a Slave (2013) as William Prince Ford, The Fifth Estate (2013) as Julian Assange, and The Imitation Game (2014) as Alan Turing. He also acted in the historical dramas The Current War (2017), 1917 (2019) and The Courier (2020), and received critical acclaim for his performance in Jane Campion's Western drama The Power of the Dog (2021). From 2012 to 2014, through voice and motion capture, he played the characters of Smaug and Sauron in The Hobbit film series. Cumberbatch portrays Dr. Stephen Strange in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, beginning with Doctor Strange (2016), and also voiced the character in the animated series What If...? (2021).
MovieWife & Dog
2027
MovieHow to Live on Earth
2026
as Self
MovieConfessions II – The Film
2026
as Self
MovieDavid Attenborough's 100 Years on Planet Earth
2026
as Self
MovieThe Thing with Feathers
2025
as Dad
MovieTogether for Palestine
2025
as Self
MovieThe Roses
2025
as Theo Rose
Tilda Swinton: The Wildcards
2025
as Self
MovieThe Phoenician Scheme
2025
as Uncle Nubar
MoviePlacebo: This Search for Meaning
2024
as Self
TVEric
2024
as Vincent
MovieThe Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More
2024
as Henry Sugar / Max Engelman / Harry (archive footage)
MovieThe Book of Clarence
2024
as Benjamin
MovieMog's Christmas
2023
as Mr. Thomas (voice)
MovieThe End We Start From
2023
as AB
MovieJames Blunt: One Brit Wonder
2023
as Self (archive footage)
MovieArctic: Our Frozen Planet
2023
as Narrator
MoviePoison
2023
as Harry Pope
MovieThe Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
2023
as Henry Sugar / Make-Up Artist
MovieMinions & More Volume 1
2022
as The Grinch (voice)
TVSuper/Natural
2022
as Self - Narrator (voice)
MovieThe Tiger Who Came to Tea
2022
as Daddy (voice)
TVRunning Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge
2022
as Self
MovieMarvel Studios Assembled: The Making of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
2022
as Self - Doctor Stephen Strange
MovieDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
2022
as Doctor Stephen Strange
MovieBehind the Scenes with Jane Campion
2022
as Self (archive footage)
MovieReframing the West: Behind the Scenes of Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog
2022
MovieSpider-Man: No Way Home
2021
as Doctor Strange
MovieMarvel Studios' 2021 Disney+ Day Special
2021
as Stephen Strange / Doctor Strange (voice) (archive footage)
MovieThe Power of the Dog
2021
as Phil Burbank
MovieThe Electrical Life of Louis Wain
2021
as Louis Wain
TVWhat If...?
2021
as Doctor Strange (voice)
MovieLetters Live from the Archive: Union Chapel
2021
as Self
MovieLetters Live from the Archive: Freemasons’ Hall
2021
MovieThe Mauritanian
2021
as Lt. Stuart Couch
TVMarvel Studios Legends
2021
as Stephen Strange / Doctor Strange (archive footage) (uncredited)
MovieAntarctica
2020
as Self - Narrator
MovieChadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King
2020
as Self
MovieThe Courier
2020
as Greville Wynne
Movie1917
2019
as Colonel MacKenzie
MovieBetween Two Ferns: The Movie
2019
as Benedict Cumberbatch
TVThe Kelly Clarkson Show
2019
as Self
TVGood Omens
2019
as Satan (voice)
MovieAvengers: Endgame
2019
as Doctor Strange
MovieCindy-Lou's Yule Log
2019
as The Grinch
MovieThe Dog Days of Winter
2019
as The Grinch (voice)
MovieBrexit: The Uncivil War
2019
as Dominic Cummings
MovieMowgli: Legend of the Jungle
2018
as Shere Khan (voice)
MovieThe Grinch
2018
as Grinch (voice)
MovieThe Child in Time
2018
as Stephen Lewis
TVPatrick Melrose
2018
as Patrick Melrose
MovieAvengers: Infinity War
2018
as Doctor Strange
MovieThe Current War
2018
as Thomas Edison
MovieThor: Ragnarok
2017
as Doctor Strange
MovieWalk with Me
2017
as Narrator (voice)
MovieNaples '44
2016
as Norman Lewis (voice)
MovieDoctor Strange
2016
as Dr. Stephen Strange
MovieShakespeare Live! From the RSC
2016
as Self - Performer
MovieZoolander 2
2016
as All
MovieMark Gatiss: A Study in Sherlock
2016
as Himself
MovieSherlock: The Abominable Bride
2016
as Sherlock Holmes
MovieNational Theatre Live: Hamlet
2015
as Hamlet
MovieBlack Mass
2015
as Billy Bulger
TVThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015
as Self - Guest
TVVariety Studio: Actors on Actors
2014
as Self
MovieThe Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
2014
as Smaug / Sauron (voice)
MoviePenguins of Madagascar
2014
as Classified (voice)
MovieThe Imitation Game
2014
as Alan Turing
MovieWalking with Dinosaurs: Prehistoric Planet 3D
2014
as Narrator (Voice)
MovieThe Penguins of Madagascar - Operation: Penguin Takeover
2014
as Agent Classified (voice)
MovieCristiano Ronaldo: World at His Feet
2014
as Narrator
TVLate Night with Seth Meyers
2014
as Self
TVThe Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
2014
as Self - Guest
Movie9 Kisses
2014
as Man at Costume Party
MovieUnlocking Sherlock
2014
as Himself / Sherlock Holmes
MovieHow to Be Sherlock Holmes: The Many Faces of a Master Detective
2014
as Self
MovieAugust: Osage County
2013
as Little Charles Aiken
MovieSherlock: Many Happy Returns
2013
as Sherlock Holmes
MovieThe Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
2013
as Smaug / Sauron
MovieJerusalem
2013
as Narrator (voice)
MovieLittle Favour
2013
as Wallace
MovieNational Theatre Live: 50 Years on Stage
2013
as Rosencrantz
Movie12 Years a Slave
2013
as William Ford
MovieThe Fifth Estate
2013
as Julian Assange
MovieStar Trek Into Darkness
2013
as John Harrison / Khan
MovieThe Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
2012
as Necromancer
MovieGirlfriend in a Coma
2012
as Dante (voice)
TVWWI's Tunnels of Death: The Big Dig
2012
as Narrator (Voice)
MovieFrankenstein: A Modern Myth
2012
as Self / Frankenstein / The Monster
TVStephen Hawking's Grand Design
2012
as Narrator (voice)
TVParade's End
2012
as Christopher Tietjens
TVThe Hollow Crown
2012
as Richard
TVWhy did you come to Japan?
2012
as Self
MovieSherlock: Uncovered
2012
as Sherlock, Self
The Dreams of William Golding
2012
as Reader
MovieWar Horse
2011
as Maj. Jamie Stewart
MovieWreckers
2011
as David
MovieTinker Tailor Soldier Spy
2011
as Peter Guillam
TVThe Jonathan Ross Show
2011
as Self
MovieThe Rattigan Enigma by Benedict Cumberbatch
2011
MovieNational Theatre Live: Frankenstein
2011
as The Creature / Victor Frankenstein
TVConan
2010
as Self - Guest
MovieThe Whistleblower
2010
as Nick Kaufman
MovieUnlocking Sherlock
2010
as Himself
TVSherlock
2010
as Sherlock Holmes
MovieThird Star
2010
as James
MovieFour Lions
2010
as Negotiator
TVInto the Universe with Stephen Hawking
2010
as Stephen Hawking
MovieVan Gogh: Painted with Words
2010
as Vincent Van Gogh
MovieBurlesque Fairytales
2010
as Henry Clark
TVSmall Island
2009
as Bernard
MovieCreation
2009
as Joseph Dalton Hooker
MovieThe Turning Point
2009
as Guy Burgess
TVSouth Pacific
2009
as Self - Narrator (voice)
MovieThe Other Boleyn Girl
2008
as William Carey
TVThe Last Enemy
2008
as Stephen Ezard
MovieStuart: A Life Backwards
2007
as Alexander Masters
MovieInseparable
2007
as Joe / Charlie
MovieAtonement
2007
as Paul Marshall
TVThe Graham Norton Show
2007
as Self
MovieAmazing Grace
2006
as William Pitt
MovieStarter for 10
2006
as Patrick Watts
TVThe One Show
2006
as Self - Guest
TVBroken News
2005
as Will Parker
MovieThe Man Who Predicted 9/11
2005
as Narrator (voice)
TVTo the Ends of the Earth
2005
as Edmund Talbot
TVNathan Barley
2005
as Robin
TVAgatha Christie's Marple
2004
as Luke Fitzwilliam
MovieHawking
2004
as Stephen Hawking
TVDunkirk
2004
as Lt Jimmy Langley
TVFortysomething
2003
as Rory Slippery
MovieTo Kill a King
2003
as Royalist
TVCambridge Spies
2003
as Edward Hand
TVJimmy Kimmel Live!
2003
as Self - Guest
TVTipping the Velvet
2002
as Freddy
TVTop Gear
2002
as Self
TVTimeshift
2002
as self
Fields of Gold
2002
as Jeremy
MovieHills Like White Elephants
2002
as The Man
TVSpooks
2002
as Jim North
TVThe View
1997
as Self
TVLeute heute
1997
as Self
TVThe Daily Show
1996
as Self
TVSilent Witness
1996
as Warren Reid
TVGMTV
1993
as Self
TVHeartbeat
1992
as Toby Fisher
TVHave I Got News for You
1990
as Self - Host
TVThe Simpsons
1989
as Severus Snape / Prime Minister (voice)
TVLIVE with Kelly and Mark
1988
as Self
TVSaturday Night Live
1975
as Self - Host
TVThe Oscars
1953
as Self
Blood on Snow
as The Fisherman
MovieMorning
as Frank
Last Flight
as Kirk Wallace Johnson
TVHave I Got a Bit More News for You
as Self - Presenter
