Benedict Cumberbatch's parents tried to persuade him not to go into acting.

He shared: "[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.

"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."

Despite being keen on becoming a criminal barrister, the 38-year-old actor - who is expecting a baby with his fiancée, Sophie Hunter - chose to follow his "primary dream" and went to Manchester University to study drama.

And after his father saw him in a play, he had some choice words from him, which secured his ambition to become an actor.

Speaking on late-night news show 'Tavis Smiley', he said: "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.

"He said, 'I think you're gonna have a great career and I can't wait to watch you and support you as you fly'. And I was like, 'My God'. And so, the primary motivation for me in my life is to make them proud."