Benedict Cumberbatch is loved by fans across the world for his roles in Sherlock, The Imitation Game, Atonement, Hamlet and other performances. This Sunday, he'll find out whether he's taking home the BAFTA TV Leading Actor award for Patrick Melrose, where he's up against Hugh Grant, Chance Perdomo and Lucian Msamati. If Benedict, 42, does grace the red carpet in London, the actor will most likely be supported by his wife Sophie Hunter. But who is his real-life leading lady? Here are ten things you need to know about Sophie…
1. Sophie, 41, was born on 16 March 1978.
2. Her friendship with Benedict dates back to 2009 when they starred in the fairytale thriller Burlesque Fairytales.
3. Like her husband, who is the great-grandson of Queen Victoria's consul general in Turkey, she comes from an illustrious family. Her maternal grandfather was General Sir James Michael Gow, who was a royal equerry.
© Photo: Getty ImagesBenedict and Sophie have been married since February 2015
4. The actress/director appreciates old fashioned romantic gestures. Benedict flew to Edinburgh to ask the permission of her mother Katharine before he proposed. Their engagement was announced in the Forthcoming Marriages section of The Times in 2014.
Benedict spoke to HELLO! shortly after, saying: "It's an amazing thing to find somebody you love. It's amazing to find somebody you love at all, let alone somebody who loves you back in the same way and to the same degree. And if that is amazing, well, considering how busy both Sophie and I are, it's a minor miracle that we met each other at all in the way we did." He added: "To have Sophie in my life is something I am extremely grateful for and very excited about. It's a bit of a golden moment for me right now and I am loving it."
Benedict and his pregnant wife pictured in 2018
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5. Sophie and Benedict tied the knot three months later in February 2015, marrying on Valentine's Day at the 12th-century Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Mottistone on the Isle of Wight, followed by a reception at Mottistone Manor.
6. Sophie and Benedict share two sons together: Christopher, who was born in 2015, and Hal, who has just turned two. Last year, it was reported that Sophie was expecting their third child.
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7. Sophie studied French and Italian at Oxford University, followed by a stint at the prestigious Jacques Lecoq theatre school in Paris and Saratoga International Theatre Institute in New York.
8. Her skills include puppetry. The cerebral beauty directed 69° South, an experimental play about the fateful voyage of Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton by having performers on stilts manipulate marionettes.
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9. Sophie's also a songbird, once recording French-language music album The Isis Project in collaboration with Guy Chambers, who is Robbie Williams' songwriting partner.
10. Travel is a passion of hers: she's directed work in Palestine, Italy and Africa.
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