David Tennant


(David McDonald)

1971 -

Actor, who became the tenth Dr Who. Born David McDonald in Bathgate (West Lothian), Tennant was the son of a clergyman who became Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. He was brought up in Paisley where he was educated at the Grammar School. Tennant wanted to be an actor from an early age and trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, graduating in 1991. He performed with the 7:84 Theatre Company, a political theatre group based in Glasgow, at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh, Dundee Repertory Theatre and with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). With the RSC he became a respected classical actor and was nominated for an Ian Charleson Award (2000).

Nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for his stage performance in Lobby Hero in 2003, he starred in the film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) and his television work includes the lead role in Casanova (2005) for the BBC. Tennant was cast as the tenth Dr Who, in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series of the same name, in 2005.


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