Benedict Cumberbatch is embarrassed by attention received at Obama townhall meeting

British actor Benedict Cumberbatch says he feels embarrassed by the attention he receives.

The 39-year-old Sherlock star actor is among the most in-demand stars on the Hollywood scene, but has revealed he does not consider himself to be good-looking and cannot understand why people are so interested in him, reported Femalefirst.

Cumberbatch cited US president Barack Obama's recent visit to the UK as an instance when he surprisingly became the focus of attention.

"We were right beside the press pack, and there were people there with telephoto lenses. When they realised that Barack was going to be another five minutes, the whole lot just went wumph, onto me, onto the side of my face," Cumberbatch said.

"I was just like, "How many times can you take a photo of a not particularly attractive profile - again and again.' I mean, thank God Sophie (wife) was there, so that kind of drew the eye of the photographs, as it always should. But it was just embarrassing."