David Tennant

About David Tennant

David Tennant (born David John McDonald; 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. Already a well-known theatre actor, Tennant achieved wider fame for his TV roles in Casanova and Doctor Who, as well as his film role as Barty Crouch Jr in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. He was ranked the 24th most influential person in the British media, on the 9 July 2007 MediaGuardian supplement of The Guardian. Tennant also appeared in the paper's annual media rankings in 2006.

David Tennant was born in Bathgate, West Lothian and grew up in Ralston, Renfrewshire, where his father (the Reverend Alexander ("Sandy") McDonald) was the local Church of Scotland minister (and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1997). Tennant was educated at Ralston Primary and Paisley Grammar School where he enjoyed a fruitful relationship with English teacher Moira Robertson, who was among the first to realise his true potential. He also was educated at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, where he was friends with Louise Delamere.

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 any British 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 Equity union. His second choice for a stage name was David Brandon and his third choice was Chris McDonald.