11 Doctor Who Actors Who Were Nominated For Oscars

9. Benedict Cumberbatch

Best Actor, 2014 Despite frequent rumours that he's set to play either a Doctor (he batted away rumours that he had turned down the Eleventh Doctor) or a villain (including a new version of either The Master or The Valeyard), Benedict Cumberbatch has so far resisted the draw of the TV series, but he has played a character in the wider universe before. And it was his velvety, deep vocal notes - the same ones that made him the perfect choice for Peter Jackson's Smaug - that got him the job. In Big Finish audio story "Forty-Five", the distinctively voiced actor played adventurous archeologist Howard Carter, leading his team in the blistering heat of the Egyptian desert to find the lost tomb of Userhat, a servant of the god Amun. Inevitably they found something else entirely, changing the way humanity would consider their own history. Cumberbatch is now the latest Who actor to join the Oscar nominations club, thanks to the not unexpected recognition for his performance as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game.