Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch, CBE (born 19 July 1976) is an English actor. He portrayed Luke Fitzwilliam in the Agatha Christie's Marple adaptation of Murder is Easy. His parents are actors Timothy Carlton and Wanda Ventham. His father portrayed a judge in the Agatha Christie's Poirot episode Sad Cypress.
After starting his career with well received turns in the biographical telefilm Hawking (in a BAFTA nominated performance as the famed physicist) and BBC radio sitcom Cabin Pressure, Cumberbatch became a household name for playing Sherlock Holmes in the hit BBC series Sherlock co-created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, and co-starring Martin Freeman as Dr. John Watson, Una Stubbs as Mrs Hudson, Rupert Graves as Inspector Greg Lestrade, Gatiss as Mycroft Holmes and Amanda Abbington as Mary Watson.
Since Sherlock, Cumberbatch has become a major fixture in both the UK and Hollywood. Subsequent roles have included Alan Turing in The Imitation Game, Peter Guillam in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Smaug/Sauron in The Hobbit Trilogy, Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness, William Ford in 12 Years a Slave, Doctor Stephen Strange in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thomas Edison in The Current War, Colonel McKenzie in 1917, and Phil Burbank in The Power of the Dog.
Cumberbatch has been nominated for two Academy Awards (for The Imitation Game and The Power of the Dog), nine BAFTAs (winning for Patrick Melrose), seven Emmys (winning for Sherlock), four Golden Globes, seven Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Olivier Awards (winning for Frankenstein). In 2014, Cumberbatch was named one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in the world. In 2015, he was made a Commander of the British Empire for services to the performing arts and charity, and in 2022, was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.