| David Tennant |
Article Index for David |
Website Links For David |
Information AboutDavid Tennant |
|
David Tennant (born '''David McDonald''', 18 April 1971 ) is a Scottish actor 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 his native Britain for his TV roles in '' Casanova '' and ''Doctor Who''. He has subsequently achieved international fame in '' Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire ''. 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''.1 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 .2 A poll of over 10,000 women for the March 2006 issue of '' New Woman '' magazine ranked him 20th in their list of the "Top 100 Men".3 PERSONAL LIFE Tennant was born David McDonald in in Bathgate , West Lothian but grew up in Ralston , Renfrewshire , where his father was the local Minister , and later a Moderator Of The General Assembly of the Church Of Scotland . Tennant was educated at Ralston Primary, Paisley Grammar School , and the Royal Scottish Academy Of Music And Drama where he was friends with Louise Delamere . Moving to London , England in the early 1990s , Tennant lodged with comic actress and writer Arabella Weir , with whom he became close friends and then godfather to one of her children. (He later appeared as a guest in her spoof television series '' Posh Nosh ''). As of 2006, Tennant is dating actress Sophia Myles , who appears with him in the upcoming ''Doctor Who'' episode '' The Girl In The Fireplace ''. CAREER '' magazine in 2005.]] At the age of three, Tennant 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 4 — because there was another David McDonald already on the books of the actors' union Equity . His first professional role upon graduating from drama school was in a staging of ''. Tennant developed 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 ''. Tennant appeared in several high-profile dramas for the BBC, including '' Takin' Over The Asylum '' (1994), '' 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. ''Doctor Who'' Tennant's name was put forward as a possible candidate for 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 sixty-minute special, '' The Christmas Invasion '', first broadcast on Christmas Day 2005. He was also seen in early December in the ITV drama '' Secret Smile ''. Tennant has 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 !" Perhaps because of this personal enthusiasm, he had previously 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. In 2004 Tennant played a lead role in the Big Finish Audio Play series '' Dalek Empire III ''. He played the part of Galanar, a young man who is given an assignment to discover the secrets of the Dalek s. 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 ). Other work 2005- Tennant's casting in ''Doctor Who'' has not prevented him from taking on other roles. 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, '' The Chatterley Affair ''. 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 performance in '' The Guardian '' newspaper. " {Link without Title} 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."6 On 17 March 2006 , the '' Daily Mirror '' reported that Tennant would star in an upcoming adaptation of H. G. Wells ' comic novel '' The History Of Mr Polly '' for ITV . There has, however, been no official confirmation of this, and it was later denied on the fan website davidtennant.com On 18 April 2006 , '' The Guardian '' announced that Tennant would star in ''Recovery'', a 90-minute BBC1 drama written by Tony Marchant . Tennant will play Alan, a self-made building site manager who attempts to rebuild his life after suffering a debilitating brain injury in a car accident.7 LIST OF CREDITS Television
Film
Radio and CD audio drama
Theatre
AWARDS
REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|