This guy loves to surf. Photo: Screenshot//Live With Kelly and Mark
Surfing has a habit of bringing unlikely people together. Out in the lineup, you could see anyone, from celebrities to off-duty pros. As it turns out, one of those faces you might see in the water is English actor Benedict Cumberbatch. In a recent appearance on Smartless, a podcast hosted by actors Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Sean Hayes, Cumberbatch revealed that he has a passion for the sport that started while he was locked down in New Zealand during COVID.
The moment came near the end of the episode. After discussing Cumberbatch’s prolific career, Bateman turned the interview towards more personal pursuits. He asked the accomplished thespian if there was anything he’d like to be half as good at as he is an actor, to which Benedict instantly answered “surfing.”
“I started in my 40s and I’m near the end of my 40s and I’m still feeling like I’m starting,” he elaborated, though he admitted that a shoulder operation to repair a torn rotator cuff had kept him out of the water for the last six months.
His entry into the hobby started in New Zealand, of all places, where the actor was shooting the Jane Campion film Power of the Dog. When the production was shut down due to COVID lockdowns, Cumberbatch and his family decided to stay, on account of his two octogenarian parents and young children.
“It was a bit scary to begin with, but utterly magical and extraordinary,” he continued. “One of the best places on Earth to be, as it turned out. And there was a little right-hand break in Te Awanga in Hawke’s Bay. It was where I learned.
“I really fell in love with it. I fell in love with the view of the coastline. I fell in love with that connection to the ocean, how present you are and the community as well. This extraordinary group of people where all is kind of forgiven – as long as you don’t take their wave. You know, the drug dealer would be there and the head of the local police force would be there. Just all of human life was around you. I can’t explain to anyone who hasn’t surfed what that feeling is, of nature giving you a ride from somewhere out in the ocean towards the shoreline. It’s just magic when it works.”
Check out the full interview below.
