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David Tennant - Biography

"I was three years old when I decided I wanted to be an actor," says David Tennant. "I just loved watching people on the telly. I think I had a conversation with my parents about who these people were in the TV and as soon as I had an understanding that this was a job, that people got paid for telling stories, that was what I wanted to do."

david tennant

The little boy not only grew up to be one of the people "on the telly", he also won the title role in the favourite series of his boyhood. On Christmas day 2005 he became the tenth actor to play Doctor Who in the BBC sci-fi classic - and in doing so brought a whole legion of new female fans to the series.Born on April 18, 1971, in Bathgate, West Lothian, David John MacDonald was raised in Paisley, where his father was a minister of the Church of Scotland. He changed his surname to Tennant - inspired by Pet Shop Boys frontman Neil Tennant - after discovering there was already a David MacDonald on the books of the actors' union Equity.In the early Nineties, following his time at the Royal Scottish Academy Of Music And Drama and a stint with the political theatre group 7:84, David moved to London. There he proceeded to carve out a successful career in theatre, performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company and in Royal National Theatre productions.He moved onto the small screen with roles in several BBC productions, such as Takin' Over The Asylum, Blackpool and He Knew He Was Right. It was his starring role in 2004's Casanova, however, that really brought him to the attention of audiences. According to one interviewer he "reinvented the famous seducer… as an audacious, almost puppyish enthusiast whose appeal lay in his energetic lust for life".His small screen credentials were cemented a year later when his Dr Who role was unveiled. Fans were enthusiastic about his portrayal of the Time Lord and he was voted most popular Doctor of all time by readers of the series' fanzine.One of David's earliest acting jobs was a part in a 1996 big screen adaptation of the Thomas Hardy novel Jude - in which he shared a scene with his Doctor Who predecessor Christopher Eccleston. Other movie appearances include Harry Potter And the Goblet Of Fire, in which he played the evil Barty Crouch Jr. While he prefers to keep his love life under wraps, David has dated Underworld actress Sophia Myles and includes Anne-Marie Duff among his past flames. In 2011 he married Georgia Moffett after meeting her on the set of the time travel drama. Fourteen years his junior, she played his daughter in one episode. She is also coincidentally the daughter of the fifth Doctor Peter Davison. The couple are parents to Olive, born March 2011, and Ty, who is Georgia's son from a previous relationship. He was born in 2002 and David adopted him shortly before their wedding.In 2013, the duo announced they were to become parents again, with the baby expected in the summer.

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