"The Imitation Game" gave Benedict Cumberbatch his Oscar's nomination for his role as Alan Turing and won a critical acclaim for his performance in "Sherlock" on TV. He has now becoming regular in the red carpet and one of the most recognizable faces in the show business.
Cumberbatch had played powerful and challenging roles. Alan Turing, a brilliant, eccentric British mathematician, who lead the team to break the code used by the German forces encrypted for their radio transmissions in the World War, is one of them.
In his interview with Fresh Air's Dave Davies, he explained how he was able to play his role. He said that since there was no radio or any visual recordings during that time, he was just relying on the verbal descriptions made by Turing's family.
"The nieces I met...were fantastically candid and had incredibly fond memories of this wondrous man and talked of him as someone who made them feel as children...They loved his company. They remember being very at ease; they don't remember being embarassed or awkward about his stammer or him being embarassed or awkward around them." Cumberbatch said.
He added, "That told me a lot. That told me a lot about who this man is - the arrested development in him; the idea that he could sympathize with the innocence of children because of everything the world had thrown at him to corrupt him, to destroy him, to make him an outsider."
He also revealed as cited in Huffington Post that his family once had discouraged him to do acting. However, due to some circumstances, while becoming a barrister, he insisted and followed his dream instead. Contact Music detailed that he was almost got himself as a barrister. His parents, Wanda Ventham and and Timothy Carlton, were both actors.
Cumberbatch said that "acting is a very odd, peripatic, crazed, out of control work and social schedule". With acting, there would be difficulty to have a family life as he have seen in his parents. They had worked very hard for his education with less knowledge where their checks were coming from.
"For a while, I wanted to be a barrister because there's definitely a crossover with criminal law - with trying to persuade an audience and a jury and a judge of the case and your client's story so I did go down that root for a little bit. I think they would be happy if I ended up there," Cumberbatch said.
His father discovered his acting skills when he saw him in a play. Afterwards, his father secured him to be an actor. He followed his "primary dream" when he pursued to study drama in Manchester University while being engaged with Sophie Hunter, pregnant to his baby.
Cumberbatch is also starred in HBO's mini series "Parade's End" and movie "The Fifth Estate" as Wikileaks founder Julian Assenge. He has other film credits to "War Horse", "12 Years a Slave", "August: Osage County" and "The Hobbit" as the Smaug the dragon's voice.
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