Saturday 19 July 2014

Happy Birthday - Benedict Cumberbatch (38)

Happy 38th Birthday to Benedict Cumberbatch!

Every now and then, there comes an actor that really blows your mind! Last year Benedict did just that for me (click). His acting is superb and I can't stop rave about how awesome he is!

Benedict was born in Hammersmith, London. He grew up in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. He attended boarding schools from the age of eight and was involved in numerous Shakespearean works at school and made his acting debut as Titania, Queen of the Fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream when he was 12. Ben took a gap year to volunteer as an English teacher at a Tibetan monastery in Darjeeling, India and then attended the University of Manchester, where he studied Drama. He continued his training as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art graduating with an MA in Classical Acting.

ACTING (TV and MOVIES)
Television portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in the series Sherlock put him on the map for sure. His first major film role was William Pitt's film Amazing Grace in 2006 and he has since appeared in the films Atonement (2007), The Other Boleyn Girl (2008), The Whistleblower (2010), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) and Steven Spielberg's War Horse (2011). Since 2012 he has portrayed the characters of Smaug and the Necromancer through voice and motion capture in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy. Last year he featured in the films Star Trek Into Darkness, 12 Years a Slave, The Fifth Estate and August: Osage County. He is also the narrator/voice in Cristiano Ronaldo: World at His Feet.

Current and future
Earlier this month the BBC One announced that Sherlock would be returning with both a special and three brand new episodes! The special (assumed to be a Christmas special) will start filming in January 2015 and will pick up where the end of His Last Vow left off.

Beside the last part of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, we'll see him in biography The Imitation Game and hear his voice in Penguins of Madagascar. Benedict is currently filming action drama Black Mass with Johnny Depp.

Benedict will also be appearing at the San Diego Comic Con on Thursday 24th July in Hall H as part of Dreamworks Animation’s panel. This will be Benedict’s first appearance at the San Diego Comic Con. He’ll be there alongside John Malkovich to promote the already mentioned The Penguins of Madagascar in which he plays Agent Classified.


AWARDS
He has received four BAFTA nominations, three Emmy Award nominations, two SAG Award nominations and a Golden Globe nomination, among several others. It's only the beginning, I'm telling you!

PERSONAL
In 1999 he began dating actress Olivia Poulet, whom he met at university. They broke up after 12 years together. He dated artist Anna James in late 2011 but the couple separated in 2012.

While Benedict was in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa in 2005, he and two friends were abducted overnight and held at gunpoint by a group of locals. In the end, their abductors drove them into unsettled territory and set them free without explanation. Cumberbatch said of the incident: "It taught me that you come into this world as you leave it, on your own. It's made me want to live a life less ordinary."


Stay amazing Benedict and Happy Birthday! All the Cumberbitches around the world and I wish you all the best and that you keep up the good work and astonish us with new exciting projects! Love u!


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