- .Sophie Hunter, 36, from London is an accomplished theatre director
- .She attended Oxford and released music album with Guy Chambers
- .Sophie also performed in 2004 film Vanity Fair opposite Reece Witherspoon
As Benedict Cumberbatch announced his engagement to Sophie Hunter in the marriages section of The Times, thousands of hearts shattered across the western world.
Hours after the announcement, the internet was alight with wailing women, especially his group of most diehard fans, who call themselves The Cumberbitches (a group who make the Directioners look like lambs in comparison).
The British actor has long been seen as one of the hottest bachelors of the showbiz world, with his accomplished career, good looks and public school charm.
Sophie Hunter, 36, is an accomplished theatre director. The Londoner (pictured with Benedict Cumberbatch at the French Open earlier this year) also released music album with Guy Chambers performed in 2004 film Vanity Fair opposite Reece Witherspoon
As the tweets and Facebook messages started flooding in, they included messages like: 'One of the Cumberbatch is engaged. She is Sophie Hunter. More like Sophie Hunt-her. #cumberbitches.'
Another wrote: 'Cumberbatch is engaged. Internet explodes. Girl goes into hiding from swarths of #cumberbitches.'
And one of the star's biggest devotees said: 'My family and friends have actually messaged me asking if i'm okay cause benedict cumberbatch is engaged.'
So who is the woman who bagged one of the UK’s most eligible men? In dating terms, it seems Benedict has well and truly met his match.
The 36-year-old Londoner is a theatre director with several critically acclaimed shows under her belt, despite her young age.
Twitter was alight with distraught women this morning after the news of Benedict Cumberbatch's engagement surfaced
Like Benedict, Sophie comes from a distinguished family line – her grandfather is the late General Sir James Michael Gow GCB, Knight Grand Cross, Order of the Bath.
He was equerry to Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester in the 1950’s and became Commander-in-Chief British Army of the Rhine and Commander Northag, the Northern Army Group of Nato.
She grew up in Hammersmith, west London as the eldest of five children.
Her father Charles was an Insurance Executive who went on to become a professional card player and her mother Sophie worked as an administrator, but the couple sadly divorced.
Sophie in 2005 with her former boyfriend, the famous sculptor Conrad Shawcross
After developing a love of languages at school, Sophie went on to study French and Italian at Oxford University and then L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris – an education which means she is now fluent in French.
It was at Oxford where she met her first long-term boyfriend – the artist Conrad Shawcross and the couple’s early successes in the arts world led them to being seen as one of London’s IT couples.
Conrad was ‘one to watch’ for his work with sculptures and in 2004 he was listed in the Observer’s list of 80 Most Talented Young People.
He was also a protégé of the art collector Charles Saatchi, who bought one of his early works for £26,000.
Sophie undertook a spot of modelling when she was younger, but has previously confessed that she does not consider herself in the 'beautiful actress' bracket
After two years of dating, the couple moved into together – into a converted warehouse that also served as Conrad’s studio.
Sophie said of the relationship at the time: 'We met at Oxford and we were really good friends there, things went from there and we are very happy together.
‘To be perfectly honest, I can't imagine getting married. I've got a lot to do before I have children - they are way off.'
While Sophie and Conrad were the darlings of the art world, they eschewed much of the party scene, preferring to hang out in a close knit circle of friends that chooses nights at the theatre over nightclubs and busy bars.
Sophie in the 2007 television programme Mumbai Calling, alongside Henry Goodman (left) and Sanjeev Bhaskar
She told The Evening Standard in 2004: ‘I don't go to launches or hang out with stars.
'Posing for the camera like this isn't my career. It's just a small part of it.'
Her attitude towards work has served her career well.
Although Sophie Hunter isn’t as well known a face among the general public, her CV matches the Sherlock star point for point.
She was awarded the prestigious Samuel Beckett Award in 2007 for writing and directing the play The Terrific Electric at The Barbican Theatre in central London when she was just 29 years old, which received rave reviews.
She also co-founded the Lacuna Theatre Company and directed several successful plays and operas across Europe, the Middle East and America, including the 2010 revival of Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts at Access Theatre on Broadway in New York.
Sophie and Benedict acting alongside each other in the 2009 film Burlesque Fairytales
In 2012, she directed the North American tour of 69° S. (The Shackleton Project) – a play about the near-fatal 1914-16 Antarctic expedition led by Sir Ernest Shackleton, where the actors used stilts to give the appearance of marionette puppetry.
In the interview with the Evening Standard, she said of her work: 'I was always encouraged to think; (my parents) championed the idea of the independent woman.
'You spend a lot of time studying and you want to do something with that.
'Something that's tangible like creating a show, writing a screenplay, making a difference.'
While directing and writing plays appear to be her true life’s work, Sophie also has an extensive acting history in both theatre and film.
She and Benedict acted together in the 2009 film Burlesque Fairytales, a thriller set one night in a 1930's London theatre.
Sophie in the music video for Cher Isis, written by Guy Chambers
Her breakout acting performance though, was as Maria Osborne in the 2004 film Vanity Fair, starring Reece Witherspoon, where she was hailed as the new Sienna Miller or Keira Knightley.
She also recorded a French Language album in 2005 with Guy Chambers – the man who wrote the Robbie Williams hit Angels – which is now rather embarrassingly called the Isis Project.
Far from being an ode to the newly-formed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the record was in fact a tribute to Guy’s daughter Isis, who was then four.
But although she enjoyed working with Guy, the project was Sophie's only foray into professional singing and she has previously said that she had no interest in becoming a pop star.
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