David Tennant is a Scottish actor who is best known for his roles as the Tenth Doctor in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who (2005-2010) and Bartemius “Barty” Crouch Junior in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. David Tennant was born David John McDonald on April 18, 1971, in the town of Bathgate in West Lothian, Scotland. After he found out that there was another David McDonald in the British actor’s union, David changed his surname from McDonald to Tennant after learning of Neil Tennant, the frontman for the Pet Shop Boys.
David Tennant officially became the 10th Doctor on the Doctor Who series on April 16, 2005, replacing Christopher Eccleston and becoming the youngest actor to ever play the role. Tennant’s first full episode as the Doctor was in Doctor Who’s annual Christmas episode, “The Christmas Invasion”, which aired on 25th December 2005. He continued in the role until 2010 when he was replaced by Matt Smith.
In 1987, David Tennant, at only the age of 16, became a student at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama after a successful audition.
After graduating from drama school in 1991, David Tennant found work in plays and made a guest appearance in the Scottish television comedy series Rab C. Nesbitt.
In his debut role on the BBC, Tennant appeared in the BBC Scotland drama series Takin’ Over the Asylum in 1994. The series was directed by David Blair, who previously worked with David on the drama series Strathblair in 1992.
In 1996, Tennant joined the Royal Shakespeare Company. He made his RSC debut as Touchstone in As You Like It, which was widely hailed as one of the best in recent years. He played Jack Lane in the play The Herbal Bed which was about an adulterous affair between a haberdasher and Susanna Hall, daughter of William Shakespeare. He also received critical acclaim for leading roles in Romeo and Juliet and Antipholus of Syracuse in The Comedy of Errors and as Captain Jack Absolute in The Rivals. He received a 2000 Ian Charleson Award nomination for best classical actor under thirty for his work in The Comedy of Errors.
The actor’s popularity reached its zenith in 2005 when he took the lead role as the 10th Doctor in the acclaimed British sci-fi series Doctor Who. Tennant traveled around the universe in a time-traveling British phone box called the Tardis. The show was so popular that it achieved cult status in many countries. He, Matt Smith, and Billie Piper reprised their roles in the 50th anniversary special of the show titled ‘The Day of the Doctor.’
Tennant was nominated for several awards and accolades for Doctor Who, including the 2007 Best Actor award at the Royal Television Society Programme Awards.
David Tennant went on to appear in two animated spin-offs of the series produced by the BBC: the 2007 animated serial Totally Doctor Who, The Infinite Quest and the 2009 six-part animated series Dreamland.
He played the 10th Doctor for the second, third, and fourth series of the Doctor Who revival. In October 2008, he announced that he would be stepping down from the role. He played the Doctor for five more episodes in 2009: The Next Doctor, Planet of the Dead, The Waters of Mars, and The End of Time Parts One and Two. At the end of the episode The End of Time Part Two that aired on January 1, 2010, the 10th Doctor regenerates into the 11th Doctor, played by Matt Smith.
In 2008, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company to play the role of Hamlet which made the play one of the most expensive in London. Ticket sales were astronomical, with all ‘Hamlet’ tickets selling out in 3 hours. There were more than 200 lined up around the block and many people even camped out overnight in front of London’s West End theater to get tickets.
He was later cast in ITV’s British crime drama Broadchurch and BBC2’s political drama miniseries The Politician’s Husband. David Tennant also voiced the character of Professor Huyang in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, who was an ancient droid who oversaw the construction of lightsabers. This role won him an Emmy award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program.
In September 2021, he won the National Television Award for Best Drama Performance for his role as serial killer Dennis Nilsen in the true crime drama Des. In November 2021, he picked up the International Emmy for Best Performance by an Actor for the same role.
David Tennant married Georgia Moffett in 2011. She is 14 years younger than the actor and played his daughter, Ty, in the 2008 episode of Doctor Who. Georgia Moffett also has a son, Wilfred. The couple’s relationship has been public since the actor and his wife married in 2011.
