About
Benedict Cumberbatch is an English actor best known for portraying Sherlock Holmes on BBC’s TV crime drama seriesSherlock On Tumblr and elsewhere the web, he has developed a large fan base who call themselves “Cumberbitches.”
Acting Career
Cumberbatch began his acting career in the early 2000s through minor role appearances in British TV movies and miniseries, before landing supporting roles in the feature films Atonement and The Other Boleyn Girl released in 2008. After finding fame through Sherlock in 2010 Cumberbatch has acted in many high profile films such as Twelve Years a Slave,August: Osage County, and War Horse.
Online History
On February 11th, Urban Dictionary[19] user missCumberbatch submitted an entry for the term “Cumberbitch” defined as:
“A refernce given to people who admire the beautiful features of Benedict Cumberbatch. ex- his green eyes, beautiful cheekbones, sexy toussled hair.”
On August 9th, 2010 a Facebook page for Benedict Cumberbatch[20] was launched. As of January 2014, the page has 235,000 likes.
On October 11th, 2013, Cumberbatch hosted a Reddit AMA, during which he jokingly confirmed he had “cheek polishing parties”[21] with actors Matt Smith and Tom Hiddleston and made some more serious comments on fame.
A clip from The Jimmy Kimmel Show was uploaded to Youtube on Decemeber 5th, 2013, showing Cumberbatch reading the lyrics to “Genius,” a song by R. Kelly. The video has gained over 2,000,0000 views. Cumberbatch had previously read the lyrics to Sir-Mix-a-lot’s “I Like Big Butts” on an October 2013 episode of Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.
Sherlock Fandom
Many members of the show’s fandom convene on Tumblr. Popular tags include #Sherlock[1] and #Sherlock BBC[3], as well as ones dedicated to the characters and actors themselves. Various blogs dedicated to the show can also be found, such as Fuck Yeah, Sherlock[4] and Sherlock Holmes Fanart[5]. Many artists upload their fan works to Tumblr, such as Sdkay[8], Reapersun.[9] DeviantArt also hosts various fanworks when searching for Sherlock[10] and Sherlock BBC.[2] The site also has two Sherlock dedicated groups: BBC-Sherlock[6] and Sherlock-2010.[7] In October 2011, The Beginner’s Guide to the Sherlock Fandom[44] Fans have also compiled a glossary[43] of popular terms within the fandom, which has more than 100 entries relating to pairing names for shipping purposes, fanfiction terms and inside jokes relating to actual dialogue from the show.
Related Memes
Benedict Cumberbatch Name Generator
On August 27th 2013[11] Tumblr user Wandaventham[12] created the Benedict Cumberbatch Name Generator[13], a program that suggests names at random that poke fun at Cumberbatch’s funny sounding multi-syllabic name. Some examples of names generated include Beetlejuice Cumberbund, Boilerdang Snugglesnatch, and Bulbasaur Countryside.
Otters Who Look Like Benedict Cumberbatch
Using an otter to represent Sherlock became popular after the Tumblr photoset “Otters Who Look Like Benedict Cumberbatch: A Visual Examination”[14][15] created by Red Scharlach[16] went viral in March 2012. [17] The idea expanded beyond otters with a Buzzfeed post published on October 22, 2003 titled “13 Things Benedict Cumberbatch Looks Like”[18] which included milk, a foot, and E.T.
Top Gear Photo
A photo from a shoot uploaded to TopGear.com[22] on July 12th, 2013 showing Cumberbatch stricking an open mouthed pose holding onto the shoulder of a race car driver was soon encorpated into other photos including Sherlock stills and otters.
Personal Life
Cumberbatch was born on July 19th, 1976 in London, England to actor parents. Early in his schooling he studied visual arts, but he eventially went on to study theater at Manchester University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
External References
[1]Tumblr – Tagged #Sherlock
[2]DeviantArt – Search: Sherlock BBC
[3]Tumblr – Tagged #Sherlock BBC
[4]Tumblr – Fuck Yeah, Sherlock
[5]Tumblr – Sherlock Holmes Fanart
[6]DeviantArt – BBC-Sherlock
[7]DeviantArt – Sherlock-2010
[10]DeviantArt – Search: Sherlock
[11]Buzzfeed- The Benedict Cumberbatch Name Generator Is The Best Thing Online
[12]Tumblr – Wandaventham
[13]Tumblr – Benedict Cumberbatch Generator
[14]Tumblr –
[15]Tumblr – <a href="http://redscharlach.tumblr.com/post/19565284869/otters-who-look-like-benedict-cumberbatch-a">Otters Who Look Like Benedict Cumberbatch</a>
[16]Tumblr – <a href="http://redscharlach.tumblr.com/">Red Scharlach</a>
[17]The Huffington Post – <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/03/19/otters-who-look-like-benedict-cumberbatch_n_1362375.html">Otters Who Look Like Benedict Cumberbatch (PICTURES)</a>
[18]Buzzfeed- <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicamisener/13-things-benedict-cumberbatch-looks-like">13 Things Benedict Cumberbatch Looks Like</a>
[19]Urban Dictionary- <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cumberbitch">Cumberbitch</a>
[20]Facebook- <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Benedict-Cumberbatch/138224756215112">Benedict Cumberbatch</a>
[21]Buzzfeed- <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jordanzakarin/benedict-cumberbatchs-sex-fantasy-with-tom-hiddleston-and-ma">Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sex Fantasy With Tom Hiddleston And Matt Smith Is Melting The Internet</a>
[22]TopGear- <a href="http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/Behind-the-scenes-at-top-gear-2013-07-11?imageNo=11">Behind the scenes at this week’s Top Gear</a>
[43]Google Drive – <a href="https://docs.google.com/a/cheezburger.com/document/d/1BueXx9a4JmlpXGckaH_ODSPLGcRmw4AuxyT79UO6zLI/edit">Sherlock Fandom Dictionary</a>
[44]Tumblr – <a href="http://thesherlockfandom.tumblr.com/">">The Sherlock Fandom