compare and contrast: 

Benedict Cumberbatch in costume versus in character as Sherlock Holmes.

His pose is essentially the same albeit posture, expression, and the way Benedict carries himself in both images show a clear distinction between simply being in costume as compared to playing the part.

In the left image, more natural and candid, in the right image, more calculated and poised. He almost looks more gaunt in the right image as well. Costume notwithstanding, there is a clear distinction between actor and character.

What a great actor. Damn, I hate him so much.

I must say, I hardly recognize Benedict when he’s playing Sherlock. I just… can’t see the actor; just the character. It’s almost unsettling how well he plays the whole suspension of disbelief thing; just how good he is into literally stepping into someone else’s shoes.

And this brings me to the topic of the Sherlock pilot, and just how much Benedict’s worked on his representation of Sherlock Holmes between the pilot and A Study in Pink. Just watch them and compare them and tell me just how much he’s improved the character. Just little details and quirks made such a huge difference.

When Benedict steps into character, he becomes the character.

Just look at him when he’s Stephen Hawking, Rory Slippery, or Paul Marshall.

He is so freaking talented in the way he becomes what he plays, I can’t help but hate how much I love him. 

All of this. The subtlety with which he imbues himself into his characters is profound because a lot of people just play themselves. Benedict has said he puts himself into each role, which I can see simply in the way he devotes himself to understanding the intricacies of the character and the entire culture surrounding it. As ^ above said, if Sherlock isn’t enough evidence, look at Hawking and Third Star, etc. He is unrecognizable in all of his roles and he puts so much into appreciating the context in which he portrays them. The range of emotions he is able to express seem to break out of the natural boundary of human emotion.

I just wish this all made it easier to watch him act. You’d think you could just convince yourself it isn’t him, but the fact that he embodies the role so completely makes it ten times worse. Still, it is so refreshing to watch someone and not think “oh he just did something so like that other character he played”, because it’s always different. Genius.

All of ^ that. Just yesterday I watched a video of him where he spoke about Sherlock while he was in costume, and the difference between Benedict as Benedict and Benedict as Sherlock/ every other character he plays is immense. A lot of other actors change the dynamics of the character that they play to suit them, but Benedict completely immerses himself into each role he plays so that Benedict the person melts into whichever character he’s playing. And he’s so ridiculously good at it that you can’t help but be amazed by how he slips into the role the way he does. I imagine being on set with him is amazing. While you’re not filming you’re with Benedict Cumberbatch, but when the scene starts that melts away and suddenly you’re with Sherlock Holmes. And the fact that all of that can be portrayed in the difference between two photos is remarkable. 

This is amazing. He is a real actor. He’s NEVER Benedict Cumberbatch in a movie or show. He’s the character, he’s James, Sherlock, Rory, Stephen. He is amazing.

I’ve always had a personal hatred of admiring/obsessing over actors, especially for looks.  So when I started warming up to Benedict Cumberbatch, I was a bit wary of staring and screaming over him in fear that he would be a bad example — which is always the case in the US with our awesome but philosophically crap actors.

Luckily, the UK rolls a bit differently.

…make that a lot different.

He’s not only a great-lookin’ guy — Benedict approaches acting not as something glamorous or fun, but as a career and an art form.  He really gets acting.  He is not only talented, but also hard-working, wanting nothing less than to do the best he can possibly achieve.  I’ve always believed that the mark of a good actor is one who can transform themself into something completely different in the blink of an eye, moving seamlessly from role to role. An actor is, essentially, someone who is good at being something that is not themselves. Benedict Cumberbatch is one of the few actors I admire who is able to do that.

I set him not as an idol to admire, but as a role model to truly appreciate.  He is seriously someone I want to be like when I go out into the world.  I want to meet this man not because he’s hot, or because he’s Sherlock, or just for the heck of it ‘cause he’s famous — I want to meet him because I genuinely like his character, personality, and philosophy (hell, this man has a philosophy!).

Benedict Cumberbatch is a personification of talent and hard work and sexiness.  If any girl is to have an actor to admire, it should be him.

I just love it when other people talk about him the way I think about him. It makes me just go, “Hey, I’m not crazy after all.”

This is just so accurate. I’m not going to add much here because pretty much everything I think about here was beautifully and accurately expressed above. I love this fandom so much.