Meet Benedict Cumberbatch. He's been in a zillion BBC productions, was Scarlett Johansson's husband in The Other Boleyn Girl, and will soon play a spy in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. He parents are famous British actors, and he has white girl problems:

Benedict Cumberbatch has complained that his privileged background and elite schooling have left him typecast. The 35-year-old actor grew up in Kensington, West London, and was educated at Harrow—where fees are £30,930 a year—before studying drama at Manchester University.

As a consequence, he claims he suffers from ‘class-typing' in his career. Cumberbatch, who also starred in this year's film version of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, said: ‘I was brought up in a world of privilege. It can ostracise you from normal codes of conduct in society. Being a posh actor in England you cannot escape the class-typing from whatever side you look at it. I realised from quite early on that, although I wasn't trying to make a class specialty of it, I was playing slightly asexual, sociopathic intellectuals.'

I don't know about the class thing, but I suspect Benedict's somewhat creepy face contributes to the typecasting. Ed Westwick suffers from a similar affliction, on account of looking "more like a serial killer than a romantic lead." Obviously, the solution was romantic sociopath roles, which is really the best of both worlds. As a sidenote, Cumberbatch would make a good brainiac superhero, wouldn't he? I have a feeling he'd look heroic in a half-mask, or Cyclops-style laser goggle thingees. [Daily Mail, Celebitchy, image via Getty]