LOS ANGELES: British actor Benedict Cumberbatch and his fiancée Sophie Hunter are expecting their first child, a representative of Cumberbatch said on Wednesday.

"They are both over the moon," the actor's representative Karon Maskill said in a statement.

Cumberbatch, 38, was nominated nominated for best actor at Sunday's Golden Globe Awards for his role as mathematician Alan Turing in The Imitation Game.

Last year, he won the accolade in the television category for his portrayal of detective Sherlock Holmes in BBC's Sherlock.

His engagement to British actor Hunter was formally announced in UK newspaper The Times last November.

According to The Guardian, the duo kept their relationship out of the limelight and were only confirmed as a couple after they were pictured together earlier in 2014.

Sophie Hunter studied modern language at Oxford and co-starredwith Cumberbatch in 2009 film Burlesque Fairytales.