David Tennant
David Tennant (born David McDonald, 18th April 1971 in Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland) is the tenth actor to portray the Doctor, assuming the role from Christopher Eccleston at the conclusion of "The Parting of the Ways."
Biography
David grew up in Ralston, Renfrewshire, where his father was the local minister, and later Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. At the age of three, David told his parents that he wanted to become an actor because he was mad about Doctor Who. Although such an aspiration might have been common for a Scottish child of the 1970s, Tennant says he was "absurdly single-minded" in pursuing his goal. He adopted the professional name "Tennant" — inspired by Neil Tennant, the lead singer of the Pet Shop Boys — because there was another David McDonald already on the books of the actors' union Equity.
Moving to London in the early 1990s, Tennant lodged with comic actress and writer Arabella Weir, with whom he became close friends and later godfather to one of her children. (He later appeared as a guest in her spoof television series Posh Nosh.) Tennant began his career in the British theatre, frequently performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company for whom he specialised in comic roles such as Touchstone in As You Like It, Antipholus of Syracuse in The Comedy of Errors and Captain Jack Absolute in The Rivals, although he also played the tragic role of Romeo in Romeo and Juliet.
He has appeared in several high-profile dramas for the BBC, including He Knew He Was Right (2004), Blackpool (2004), Casanova (2005) and The Quatermass Experiment (2005). In film, he has appeared in Stephen Fry's Bright Young Things, and as Barty Crouch Jr. in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. One of his earliest big screen roles was in Jude (1996), in which he shared a scene with his Doctor Who predecessor Christopher Eccleston, playing a drunken undergraduate who challenges Eccleston's Jude to prove his intellect.
He has also performed in several audio plays based on the Doctor Who television series by Big Finish Productions – not playing the Doctor – as well as having a small role in the BBC animated webcast Scream of the Shalka. Not originally cast in the production, Tennant happened to be recording a radio play in a neighbouring studio, and when he discovered what was being recorded next door managed to convince the director to give him a small role. He has appeared in several more Doctor Who-related audio plays and also played the title role in Big Finish's adaptation of Bryan Talbot's The Adventures of Luther Arkwright (2005). Tennant also narrated Doctor Who: A New Beginning, a behind-the-scenes special broadcast just before the premiere of the revived series in 2005, which itself became the pilot for Doctor Who Confidential.
Tennant's name was put forward as a possible candidate to take on the role of the Ninth Doctor for the new series that began in March 2005, although the role eventually went to Christopher Eccleston. With Eccleston's announcement on 30 March that he would not be returning for a second series, the BBC confirmed Tennant as his replacement in a press release on 16 April. He made his first, brief appearance in the episode The Parting of the Ways (2005) after the regeneration scene, and also appeared in a special 7-minute mini-episode shown as part of the 2005 Children in Need appeal, broadcast on 18 November 2005.
He began filming the new series of Doctor Who in late July 2005. His first full-length outing as the Doctor was a 60-minute special, The Christmas Invasion, which was broadcast on Christmas Day 2005, and followed by "Attack of the Graske," a special interactive story available to BBC Red Button subscribers. . He was also seen in early December in the ITV drama Secret Smile. In December 2005, The Stage newspaper listed Tennant at #6 in its "Top Ten" listing of the most influential UK television artists of the year, citing his roles in Blackpool, Casanova, Secret Smile and Doctor Who.
Unlike his predecessor, Christopher Eccleston, who confessed to having only a passing interest in Doctor Who in the past, Tennant is a longtime fan of the series, and has exhibited extensive knowledge of its history and trivia in interviews, podcasts and DVD commentaries. He has often expressed enthusiasm about fulfilling his childhood dream. He remarked to an interviewer for GWR FM, "Who wouldn't want to be the Doctor? I've even got my own TARDIS!" He has stated that his personal favorite past Doctor is Peter Davison and this was the subject of a metafictional reference in the script when Tennant co-starred with Davison in Time Crash. Tennant is credited with asking producers to change the closing credits of the series to credit his character as "The Doctor" instead of "Doctor Who" as had been done during Eccleston's tenure. Although Tennant is not the first Doctor actor to be born after the start of the classic series -- that distinction belongs to Eccleston -- Tennant was the first to be born after the series had become well-established on television.
Outside the TV series itself, Tennant has hosted several installments of the documentary series Doctor Who Confidential, conducting interviews for the programme. He has also parodied the Doctor on several occasions, such as in a Comic Relief skit with future companion Catherine Tate, a Dead Ringers skit in which he portrayed a "regenerated" Tony Blair, and as the Doctor himself in the final episode of Extras. He also recorded extensive behind the scenes video diaries of his work on Doctor Who, which became highlights of the Series 2 and 3 DVD box sets.
In January 2006, Tennant took a one-day break from shooting Doctor Who to play Richard Hoggart in a dramatisation of the 1960 Lady Chatterley's Lover obscenity trial. Written by Andrew Davies and directed by Doctor Who's James Hawes for digital television channel BBC Four, Hoggart's son Simon Hoggart praised Tennant's portrayal in the drama in The Guardian newspaper. "[E]xtremely convincing — the suit, the hair, the Yorkshire accent, and trickiest of all, the speech rhythms. The only thing wrong is his sideburns. To do this film he had to take 24 hours off from making Doctor Who in Cardiff and, as he explained, the sideburns wouldn't grow back in a day."[1]
Also in January 2006, readers of the British gay and lesbian newspaper The Pink Paper voted Tennant the "Sexiest Man in the Universe" over David Beckham and Brad Pitt. Tennant has also on several occasions unseated perrennial favourite Tom Baker in the "Favourite Doctor" category in recent polls conducted by Doctor Who Magazine.
In 2007 it was announced that Tennant would be taking a break from Doctor Who to appear in a production of Hamlet opposite Patrick Stewart. This led the BBC to rearrange Doctor Who's production schedule so that rather than air a full season in 2009, a series of specials would be broadcast instead, with the series returning as a weekly offering in 2010. Although Tennant's future with the series has been the subject of frequent media speculation, with rumors that he might leave the series at the end of the 2008 season, after the 2008 Christmas special, during one of the 2009 specials, or sometime during the 2010 series, no official announcement has been made as of the spring of 2008.
Tennant has been romantically linked with two of his Doctor Who co-stars -- Sophia Myles (The Girl in the Fireplace) and, most recently, the media has reported a relationship with Georgia Moffett (The Doctor's Daughter) -- who happens to be the real-life daughter of Tennant's favorite Doctor Who actor (apart from himself), Peter Davison.
List of credits
Television
- Takin' Over the Asylum (1994) (Campbell McBain)
- Duck Patrol (1998) (Darwin)
- Posh Nosh (2003)
- Trust (2003) (Gavin MacEwan) episode 6
- The Deputy (2004)
- He Knew He Was Right (2004) (Rev Gibson)
- Blackpool (2004) (DI Carlisle)
- Casanova (2005) (Giacomo Casanova)
- The Quatermass Experiment (2005) (Dr Briscoe)
- Doctor Who (2005 - Present) (The Doctor),(John Smith)
- Secret Smile (2005) (Brendan Block)
- The Romantics (2006) (Jean-Jacques Rousseau)
- Recovery (2007) (Alan Hamilton)
Film
- Jude (1996)
- Bite (1997)
- L.A. Without a Map (1998)
- The Last September (1999)
- One Eyed Jacques (2001)
- Sweetnightgoodheart (2001)
- Nine 1/2 Minutes (2003)
- Bright Young Things (2003)
- Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire (2005) (Barty Crouch Jr.)
- 2027 (2005) (Valeri K.)
- Free Jimmy (2006) (in production)
Radio
- Much Ado about Nothing Benedick BBC Radio 4 (2001)
- Dixon of Dock Green PC Andy Crawford BBC Radio 4 (2005)
Theatre
- The Princess and the Goblin Curdie
- Antigone
- Jump the Life to Come
- The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
- Scotland Matters
- What the Butler Saw Nick (1995) Royal National Theatre
- Vassa — Scenes from Family Life Pavel (1996) Albery Theatre
- As You Like It Touchstone (1996)Royal Shakespeare Company
- The General From America Hamilton (1996) Royal Shakespeare Company
- The Herbal Bed Jack Lane (1996) Royal Shakespeare Company
- Hurly Burly Mickey (1997)
- Black Comedy Brinsley Miller
- Edward III (staged reading) Edward, the Black Prince (1999)
- An Experienced Woman Gives Advice Kenny (1999)
- Comedy of Errors Antipholus of Syracuse (2000) Royal Shakespeare Company
- The Rivals Jack (2000) Royal Shakespeare Company
- Romeo and Juliet Romeo (2000) Royal Shakespeare Company
- Comedians (2001)
- The Real Inspector Hound Moon
- The Lobby Hero Jeff (2002) Donmar Warehouse
- Push-Up Robert (2002) Royal Court Jerwood Theatre
- The Glass Menagerie Tom
- Long Day's Journey Into Night Edmund
- Tartuffe Valere
- Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf Nick
- Hay Fever Simon, Edinburgh Royal Lyceum
- Merlin Arthur, Edinburgh Royal Lyceum
- King Lear Edgar
- The Pillowman Katurian (2003) Royal National Theatre
- Twelve Angry Men
- Slab Boys Trilogy Alan, Young Vic
- Look Back in Anger Jimmy Porter (2005), Edinburgh Royal Lyceum
- Hamlet Hamlet (2008), Royal Shakespeare Company
- Love's Labours Lost Berowne (2008), Royal Shakespeare Company
Awards
- Theatre Management Association Best Actor Award: The Glass Menagerie
- 2000 — Nominated for Ian Charleson Award (Best classical actor under 30): Comedy of Errors
- 2003 — Nominated for Olivier Award as Best Actor: Lobby Hero
- 2005 — Critics Award for Theatre in Scotland, Best Male Performance: Jimmy Porter in Look Back in Anger
References
External links
- David Tennant at the Internet Movie Database
- David-Tennant.com Official Site
- Page focussing on Tennant's theatre work
- "David Tennant Conquers TV" - BBC News Article (16th April 2005)
- Profile BBC website
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