Who portrayed Alan Turing in the 2014 film The Imitation Game?

Benedict Cumberbatch portrayed Alan Turing in the 2014 film The Imitation Game.

Directed by Morten Tyldum and written by Graham Moore, the film is a biographical thriller based partly on Andrew Hodges’s biography Alan Turing: The Enigma. Cumberbatch plays Turing during several periods of his life, with the story focusing especially on his wartime codebreaking work at Bletchley Park and his later prosecution for homosexuality.

The film also stars Keira Knightley as Joan Clarke, Matthew Goode as Hugh Alexander, and Mark Strong as Commander Stewart Menzies. It was released in 2014 and received eight Academy Award nominations. Graham Moore won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.

The film introduced Turing’s life to a large international audience, but it takes substantial dramatic liberties. Some relationships, events, and aspects of the Bombe’s development were simplified or invented. Cumberbatch’s casting and performance, however, are firmly associated with the film’s portrayal of the mathematician and codebreaker.