David Tennant
David Tennant
David Tennantis a Scottish actor known for his roles as the Tenth Doctor in the British television series Doctor Who, Alec Hardy in Broadchurch, Giacomo Casanova in the TV serial Casanova, Kilgrave in Jessica Jones, and Barty Crouch, Jr. in the film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. In addition to his appearances on screen, he has worked as a voice actor and in theatre, including a critically acclaimed stage production of Hamlet. In January 2015, Tennant received the...
NationalityScottish
ProfessionTV Actor
Date of Birth18 April 1971
CityBathgate, Scotland
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.
I think doing different accents is part of the job of acting really. It's something else that I quite enjoy the challenge of, to be honest.
I mean, you know, while I'm acting on stage I'm ranking quite high, but in a room with Barack Obama I'm probably into negative digits. I never feel very famous...
All roads seem to have come back to Doctor Who in our life. But, no, it was a huge part of my growing up. I was a massive fan and it certainly inspired me to get into acting and to be ... one of those people that tells stories on TV. That was a huge part of my childhood.
When you're playing a real person there's a balance between playing the person in the script and playing the person as he was in life. You have to be respectful and true to who that person was, but at the same time tell the story in the film.
It's very hard to be objective about something you're in, especially when you set it up against things that you experienced as a child.
I'm a good person, I hope. But I'm never as good as I want to be, never as nice as I want to be, never as generous as I want to be.
I was always going to act, literally ever since I was tiny. In fact, I have Doctor Who to thank for that. I wanted to become an actor after being obsessed with Tom Baker, the fourth Doctor Who, in the 1970s. His was the definitive performance of all time in anything.
How galling to watch someone who looks like you, who basically is you, do all the shagging you didn't get to do.
Twitter! It's like being stalked by committee!
I'm quite happy to leave it still feeling that way, leave it before it starts feeling like a job. ... I have such fond memories of watching 'Doctor Who' when I was a kid and growing up, that if I've left anybody anywhere with memories as fond, then I feel like I've done my job.
To have someone who's got a strong individual voice that is allowed to be heard is quite increasingly rare. These people need to be cherished.
I love characters who are clever and smart, and you have to run to catch up with. I think there's something very appealing and rather heroic in that.
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.