Benedict Cumberbatch's parents insisted he take on a different career path than the family acting business.

Cumberbatch is the son of actors Timothy Carlton and Wanda Ventham, seemingly setting him on a path to stardom. However, his parents warned him against following in their footsteps with stark advice.

"I was, if anything pressured the other way, like, 'Don't do what we're doing. It's a stupid way to spend a life,'" he recalled during Monday's episode of "SmartLess," before adding, "'And how family life is a chaotic jumble of loose-end commitments that have to be abandoned at the last minute because dad's got an advert audition.'"

"They did really, really well in their careers. Mom, especially commercially. Dad, brilliantly as well in the theater. He did a lot of the royal court in the early days of kitchen sink drama there. But the point is, you know, they … wanted me to have the opportunities that they didn't, or that they didn't have in their life as my parents. And they afforded me an education where I could have gone on to be a lawyer or something of that."

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Cumberbatch noted that despite his parents' warning, the acting "bug had bit."

"…It was very much to do with watching them … in their prime, doing what they did," he explained.

Cumberbatch’s father is known for roles in "The Scarlet Pimpernel," "Downton Abbey," and numerous British TV series.

Ventham became a familiar face on British TV with roles in "UFO," "Only Fools and Horses," along with guest appearances in "Doctor Who," plus "Holby City."

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"The Roses" star recalled watching his mom transform "just in the blink of an eye" into a character.

"And I thought, ‘What is that? What just happened to my mom? Where did she go?’ And yeah, I kind of got a taste for that. And as an only child, I think you're kind of already locked in a bit too, quite a solitary, imaginary universe."

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Cumberbatch's breakthrough role came in 2010 with the BBC's "Sherlock." He won a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding lead actor in a miniseries or movie in 2014 for the episode "His Last Vow."

The role also earned him multiple BAFTA nominations, and "Sherlock" became a defining career moment as he moved into bigger films.

He has appeared in "The Imitation Game," "Doctor Strange," "12 Years A Slave" and "The Power of the Dog."

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins declared on Monday during an interview about affordability that the American dream is making a comeback under the Trump administration and "real relief" was coming "very soon."

"But as we’re restructuring the entire economy, as we’re bringing down inflation, bringing down fuel, bringing down labor, Americans, we believe, will see real relief very, very soon. Those numbers are already down, but much more to come," she told CNBC.

"This administration has been incredibly focused on getting the American dream back into every American’s home and goals, et cetera. And affordability is a huge piece of that. Of course, I’m the agriculture secretary. So food, food production, supporting our farmers and ranchers is a big piece," she said.

Affordability has been a dominant political topic in 2025, with Democrats like Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral race successfully touting addressing price concerns on the campaign trail. President Donald Trump was elected in 2024 in part on frustration with inflation and affordability under the Biden administration, but new polls show impatience with his economic stewardship.

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Rollins said that the previous administration was a different story.

"And when you look at under Joe Biden the last four years, we had an increase in inputs, interest rates, 73%, fertilizer, 36%, labor increased 47%… No new trade deals during those four years, no way to move the food out," she said. "So when you look at all of that in total, it’s no surprise that what we inherited was an absolute economic mess. But those numbers are coming down."

She added that nonetheless, "There are a few outliers. And you mentioned [Treasury Secretary [Scott] Bessent talked about a couple of those yesterday. We’re working on those extremely diligently."

In response to the trajectory of Trump's tariff agenda, Rollins explained that she has been at Trump’s side for a long time and has seen measurable results.

"His vision of realigning the entire world economy around putting American products first and America first, but also using tariffs as a really important economic tool to make sure that we are doing everything we can for our country and to keep our country at the top of the world," she said. "But what the president did was using these as economic tools, but also important foreign policy tools as well."

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She juxtaposed the Trump administration with the preceding Biden administration again, noting the variety of new trade deals that have emerged.

"What the president did with liberation day, with enacting all these tariffs back in February. We now have dozens of new trade deals, and within Indonesia, Australia, Japan, EU, England, it’s just remarkable. And a lot of these deals people tried for 20, 25 years to get these deals again. Under the last administration, we didn’t have one new trade deal. We went from an agriculture trade surplus under Trump to a deficit, $50 billion deficit in just agriculture," she said. "So think about the effects on our farmers and ranchers. $50 billion is a significant amount when you’re growing corn or soybeans or apples or whatever you’re growing. So being able to solve for that, which now we’re doing again, it’s incredible."

American farmers, she said, have been Trump’s priority since the beginning of his initial campaign and will be receiving forthcoming aid.

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The White House last week pointed to a bevy of deals Trump has made since his return to the Oval Office that underscore his focus on affordability for the American people: cutting regulations to unleash American energy to lower fuel and other costs, multiple deals to lower drug prices and attracting business to set up shop on U.S. soil to promote American jobs. 

Fox News Digital's Emma Colton contributed to this report.