Sherlock - Benedict Cumberbatch Forged Ahead With Acting Dream After Father's Blessing

Cumberbatch's parents, Timothy Carlton and Wanda Ventham, both carved out careers in acting and appeared in a number of British Tv shows, but they were concerned about their son following suit due to the uncertainty of landing jobs.

However, Carlton pushed the Brit to follow his dreams after watching his performance in a production of Amadeus, and the 36 year old admits to breaking down with emotion after landing his dad's support.

He tells Britain's The Sun, "They just saw the pitfalls of it every day. You don't know where your next job is coming from and it's unstable, into which they were having a child - me - and you want stability for your children.

"You want something better. And everything that was bad about it for them, they wanted me to be free of for me. But I just kept on doing it, kept on doing it, at school and university. Eventually my dad said, when I played Salieri in Amadeus, 'You are better than I was or ever will be. You will have a really good time doing this for a living.' And I cried. And from that moment I thought, 'Ok, if I've got his blessing, I'm going to do it.'"

The star has gone on to achieve enormous success, landing roles in big screen hits War Horse, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and the upcoming Star Trek Into Darkness.