He’s played Sherlock Holmes, Marvel’s Doctor Strange and the wartime code-breaker Alan Turing.
Now in his latest role, Benedict Cumberbatch is portraying a lesser-known figure – one of the most influential campaigners behind Brexit.
The star, 41, appears as Vote Leave chief Dominic Cummings in a Channel 4 drama about the EU referendum.
Richard Goulding (pictured, left) as Boris Johnson, Oliver Maltman (pictured, middle) as Michael Gove and Benedict Cumberbatch (pictured, right) as Dominic Cummings
He is joined by actors playing Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage and Michael Gove in the two-hour film, which will look at both sides of the campaign and the different tactics employed in the lead-up to the historic June 2016 vote.
The drama, due to air next year, is based on two books, All Out War: The Full Story of How Brexit Sank Britain’s Political Class by Tim Shipman, and Unleashing Demons: The Inside Story of Brexit by David Cameron’s former spin doctor Craig Oliver – who is played by Rory Kinnear in the film.
Vote Leave was the official Brexit campaign during the referendum and was backed by Cabinet ministers including Mr Johnson and Mr Gove.
Pictures of the actors show Richard Goulding, star of Channel 4’s The Windsors, looking uncannily similar to Mr Johnson in a bright blond wig and red tie.
The former foreign secretary, who stepped down last week in criticism of Theresa May’s Chequers cabinet strategy on Brexit, was a key figure in the Vote Leave campaign.
Mr Gove, meanwhile, is played by Oliver Maltman who can be seen wearing the Environment Secretary’s distinctive glasses.
Lee Boardman (pictured, left) as Arron Banks and Paul Ryan (pictured, right) as Nigel Farage
Former Ukip leader Mr Farage is played by Paul Ryan, whose collar is being protected from his distinctive fake tan by tissues. Ukip donor Arron Banks is played by Lee Boardman.
The Crown’s John Heffernan will play political lobbyist Matthew Elliott, Call the Midwife’s Liz White will star as Mary Wakefield – a journalist and Mr Cummings’s wife – and Poldark’s Kyle Soller will take the role of Zack Massingham, founder of a data technology company that helped target voters through social media.
Written by playwright James Graham, the ‘timely and compelling new political thriller’ – with the working title ‘Brexit’ – will explore how the opposing campaigns were run and the behind-the-scenes decisions that led to Britain’s vote to leave the EU.
Mr Graham, known for politically-themed West End plays such as Ink and This House, said: ‘I hope by going behind the scenes of the campaign, we’re able to interrogate the consequences of what happened during these eight weeks that have changed the country forever.’