Benedict Cumberbatch is a versatile actor who has tried some unconventional roles and surprised the audience. Apart from his most distinctive roles, Cumberbatch was seen as Satan in Good Omens and William Ford in 12 Years a Slave.
Cumberbatch earned two Oscar nominations for best performance in a leading role, for The Imitation Game and The Power of a Dog. He seems to be a chameleon who can take the shape of any role he gets into.
Here are five of his best roles that people cheered for and in some cases have become his sole identity.
Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock (2010-2017)
When you hear Benedict Cumberbatch’s name, you are reminded of Sherlock. Undoubtedly, this is one of his matchless roles which has left an exceptional memory in the minds of viewers.
The detective role demanded extraordinary intelligence and depicted a great inclination for cold behaviour, making Cumberbatch outshine like never before. It would not be wrong to say that this specific role led him to gain international stardom.
A constant but quirky sense of alienation from the world, yet the unrivalled observational skills to solve a case was a fresh adaptation of modern times Sherlock that everyone loved unconditionally.
How could we ignore Cumberbatch’s phenomenal ability to deliver dialogues at a speed never seen before. The audience was constantly in awe in every episode since his navigational smoothness for solving mysteries was what the audience fell in love with.
The entire series has gained a 9.1 rating on IMDb and 78 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.
Alan Turing in The Imitation Game (2014)
Alan Turing was a gifted man who helped in decrypting messages from German intelligence to help the British Government during World War II. Here came Cumberbatch to crack the enigma code despite being socially awkward.
Cumberbatch was able to crack this role with grace since Turing, in real life, was not accepted by society due to his homosexuality, not even by the government. The great rejection by the British government with an intertwining of his personal life helped Cumberbatch grab his first Academy Award nomination.
His spellbinding character left a mark on the viewers as no other actor could have done justice for paying homage to a genius mathematician of that time who was sensitive to the injustice around him.
The movie earned a rating of 8 on IMDb and 90 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.
Doctor Stephen Strange in Doctor Strange (2016)
Doctor Stephen Strange is his quintessential role in the Marvel Universe. In the movie, he once used to be a brilliant neurosurgeon who lost his ability to use his hands effectively in a car accident.
Gradually, he was then able to learn to recover from the accident and go back to his former life with a significant spiritual and magical journey of change. This was the time when he learned things beyond his imagination, becoming the Sorcerer Supreme with mystic art powers.
Viewers loved how Doctor Strange put up a one-man show with his quick wit and excellent intelligence that all seemingly came from his determination to heal.
The role of Doctor Strange is seen in other Marvel movies too, like his fight against Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Spiderman: No Way Home.
Doctor Strange (2016) gained a 7.5 rating on IMDb and 89 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.
Smaug in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
This is a unique role that Cumberbatch tried his luck on and was conspicuously successful. He had provided his voice acting for the role of a gigantic evil dragon Smaug.
Smaug would be remembered as one of the most prominent villains of the last two decades where Cumberbatch gave exceptional vocals for a fearsome dragon.
Alongside his voice, he made his role memorable by bringing it to life with CGI infusion. The movements (motion capture) and voice characteristics of human terror are some on-spot acting skills that shone Benedict Cumberbatch’s role here.
The arrogance and swagger were infused just right with Cumberbatch’s unique voice and the special conversation with Bilbo, which has now become inseparable from the iconic role of Smaug.
The trilogy movie was a PG-13 that got a rating of 7.8 on IMDb and 74 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.
Patrick Melrose (2018)
This was Benedict Cumberbatch’s role of the same name for the mini-series based on semi-autobiographical novels by Edward St. Aubyn. Cumberbatch’s was the central role in the five-part series where he was seen as an Englishman trying to overcome his addictions for more than 50 years.
This role gave Cumberbatch the deserving praise and his top-notch performance helped him earn Emmy nominations. Not only that, he was able to bag a top prize at the British Academy Television Awards.
The series gained an overall rating of 8 on IMDb and 90 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.