Acting might have been in his blood, but the ‘Sherlock’ star’s parents were hoping their son would follow a more conventional career path.
Despite coming from an acting family, Benedict Cumberbatch has revealed his parents didn’t want him to become an actor, instead, they held out hope that their son would become a barrister. Speaking to Britain’s Mirror newspaper the ‘Sherlock’ star said his parents urged him not to follow their footsteps into acting.
Imagine barrister Cumberbatch
Cumberbatch, whose parents are esteemed theatre actor Timothy Carlton and Wanda Ventham who has appeared in episodes of ‘Only Fools and Horses’ and ‘The Saint’, explained, ”[Acting is] a very odd, peripatetic, crazed, out of your control work and social schedule.”
"It's very hard to plan a family life, yet alone know where the next pay cheque is coming from so they worked very, very hard as my parents, and actors, to afford me an education whereby I had the opportunity and the privilege to try and channel myself towards other goals.”
More: 'Sherlock' Tops BBC iPlayer Views
"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,” the 38 year old continued. “I think they would have been very happy if I ended up there.”
More: Benedict Cumberbatch Reveals He Was Close To Turning Down 'Sherlock Holmes' Role
However once Cumberbatch’s mind was made up, his parent’s were quick to recognise his acting talents. "Much to dad's amazing selflessness as a man, and I hope to echo that when my time comes to be a dad, he said to me in a car park after a play I'd done at Manchester University, when I was a student there, he said, 'You're better now than I was or ever will be,' which is a huge thing for a man to say to his son.”
Cumberbatch’s parents have since appeared in episodes of ‘Sherlock’ playing their son’s onscreen mother and father. Of course they’d probably agree now that Benedict certainly made the right career choice, the actor has just picked up his first Best Actor Oscar nomination for his role as Alan Turning in the Imitation Game.
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