Parents didn’t want me to become actor: Benedict Cumberbatch

“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,” Cumberbatch said.

“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. I think they would have been very happy if I ended up there,” he added.