Benedict Cumberbatch

“My first agent dissuaded me from calling myself 'Cumberbatch.' I had six months of not very productive time with her, so I changed agents. The new one said, 'Why aren't you using your family...”

“I'm quite sensitive to people noticing me. There are times when I'm relaxed, then others when it does make me self-conscious.”

“Being a posh actor in England you cannot escape the class-typing from whatever side you look at it.”

“There's a huge raft of roles that actors in our culture perform, and you can see any one of about three Hamlets in a year. It's not something to be completely daunted by.”

“One of the fears of having too much work is not having time to observe. And once you get recognised, there is nowhere for you to look any more. You can't sit on a night bus and watch it all...”

“I wasn't born into land or titles, or new money, or an oil rig.”

“I've realised now that the reality of children is you have to be in the right place with the right person.”

“I've been broody since I was 12, but I can't just get anyone pregnant. It has got to be the right person.”

“I struggle to learn by rote. I've had meltdowns on set. Which is embarrassing and shameful.”

“Upper class to me means you are either born into wealth or you're Royalty.”

“I'll always do 'Sherlock' - it's something I'm not going to give up on.”

“When you're a kid, 'Star Trek' is a slower burn. It's funny, it's entertaining, but it also has a maturity about it - which is its universal appeal, I think.”

“I've always wanted to play a spy, because it is the ultimate acting exercise. You are never what you seem.”

“There's no shame in stealing - any actor who says he doesn't is lying. You steal from everything.”

“I'm interested in art for all. I don't want it to be only the sons and daughters of Tory MPs who get to see my plays.”

“'Benedict' means 'blessed.' My parents liked the sound of the name and felt slightly blessed because they'd been trying for a child for a very long time.”