Which actor played Stephen Hawking in the 2004 BBC television film 'Hawking'?

Which actor played Stephen Hawking in the 2004 BBC television film Hawking? The answer is Benedict Cumberbatch.

Cumberbatch starred as Hawking in the BBC Two biographical drama, which premiered in the United Kingdom on 13 April 2004. The film focuses on Hawking's early years as a Cambridge doctoral student, including his developing scientific ideas and diagnosis with motor neurone disease.

The production follows Hawking's relationship with Jane Wilde and dramatizes his engagement with cosmology, Roger Penrose's work on singularities and the question of whether the universe had a beginning. It is a dramatized account, not a documentary biography.

This role came years before Cumberbatch became internationally famous as Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Strange. His performance earned a Golden Nymph for best performance by an actor in a television film or miniseries.