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David Tennant

File:David_Tennant_-_Los_Angeles_Comic_Con_2025.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

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David Tennant

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Also known as David John McDonald, David McDonald, David John Tennant

Scottish actor (born 1971)

OverviewAI-generated

David Tennant is a British male actor who works in television, film, and on stage. Born David John McDonald on April 18, 1971, in Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland, he is a citizen of the United Kingdom. He received his education at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. His acting career began in 1989, and he is noted for his roles in *Doctor Who* and *Good Omens*. Other works include *Broadchurch* and *Spy in the wild*.

Tennant has received a Daytime Emmy Award. He is married to Georgia Tennant, and the couple has five children. He speaks English as his native language.

Synthesized by Vinony from 40 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, Open Library, MusicBrainz, Last.fm, TMDb, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born
1971
Works
2

Top works

  • Broadchurch
  • Spy in the wild

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

Acting · Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland, UK

David John Tennant (né McDonald; 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. He is best known for portraying the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in the sci-fi series Doctor Who (2005–2010; 2013). In 2022, he returned to the show as the fourteenth incarnation. His other notable screen roles include DI Alec Hardy in the crime drama series Broadchurch (2013–2017) and its 2014 remake, Kilgrave in the…

Known for

  • Good Omens - Season 3: An Ineffable Goodbye — self2026
  • Twenty Twenty Six — Narrator2026
  • The Thursday Murder Club — Ian2025
  • Macbeth — Macbeth2025
  • Doctor Who: Wish World & The Reality War — The Doctor / The Doctor (archive footage) (uncredited)2025
  • The Genius Game — The Creator2025
  • The Hack — Nick Davies2025
  • The Assembly — Self - Interviewee2025
  • The Four Seasons — Gianpiero2025
  • Comic Relief 2024: Funny for Money — Self2024

via TMDB

Music · MusicBrainz

Type
Person
Gender
Male
Origin
United Kingdom
Active from
1971
doctor who

Discography

Member of

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
15,191
Total plays
226,119

Tags

doctor whoAudiobooki want to ruffle his hairUKbritish

David Tennant, the stage name of David MacDonald, (born 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor, from Bathgate, West Lothian, best known as the tenth actor to portray the Doctor in the television series Doctor Who. Already a well-known theatre actor, he achieved wider fame in the United Kingdom for his TV roles in Casanova and Doctor Who. International audiences know him best for playing Barty Crouch Jr. in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. <a href="https://www.last.fm/musi

via Last.fm · David Tennant

Quotes

  • I often stop when I'm doing something, in the middle of rehearsals or some other job, and I try to take a minute to think "Okay, this might be as good as it gets, so drink it in, appreciate it now". So far, I've been lucky because another job has always come along to equal the last.
  • The Doctor does have some long speeches and he talks very quickly. Learning all his babble can take a while, but it's very well written babble so I don't mind and you do get quicker. When I filmed Recovery during the break in Doctor Who I would sit down at the weekend and learn the script in an hour and I was like 'Hang on??' You do get used to it though.
  • Billie and I got chased through the traffic once in a car. You expect paparazzi to do that, but when it's normal people you start to think the world's gone a bit mad.
  • Back in 2005, when I was Christopher Eccleston, we saw one of the largest increases on record, of CO2 in the atmosphere. Unless we keep the rise in global temperature to under 2 degrees, by the time I'm Daniel Radcliffe or wee Jimmy Crankie, I won't be able to save the planet. I won't be here to help you -- well I might, but I'll be that bloke who won Any Dream Will Do.
  • I was once asked for my autograph in the shower on one of my rare visits to the gym. I was washing my hair, facing the wall, when I was tapped on the shoulder so already it's quite inappropriate. I turned round and there was another naked man standing there with a piece of paper. And I think 'if you can't see how inappropriate this I am just going to have to play along' so I took the paper, which is slowly becoming mulch, and carved my name in it.
  • Getting the call to be in The Goblet of Fire was like being welcomed into the most exclusive upper circle of some elite actors' club. You sit on set with the cream of the National Theatre and the RSC, all clutching wands or wearing witches' hats.

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

~25 min read

Encyclopedic overview

David John Tennant (né McDonald; born 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. He is best known for portraying the lead character in Doctor Who, headlining the show as the Tenth Doctor from 2005–2010, and returning as the Fourteenth Doctor in 2023. His other notable screen roles include portraying Barty Crouch Jr. in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), DI Alec Hardy in Broadchurch (2013–2017), Crowley in Good Omens (2019–2026), and various fictionalised versions of himself in Staged (2020–2022).

Tennant has worked extensively on stage, including a portrayal of the title character in a 2008 Royal Shakespeare Company production of Hamlet that was later adapted for television. He is also a voice actor, featured in the animated series DuckTales (2017–2021) as the voice of Scrooge McDuck. In 2015, he was the recipient of the Special Recognition Award at the National Television Award.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “David Tennant” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (9)