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This is the Internet's Number One Internet Resource for information on David Tennant.
Background
Tennant was born David McDonald but had to change his name for acting purposes. "David Tennant is actually a pseudonym, my real name is David McDonald," he explains. "Equity forbade me from using it. There's a guy at the Glasgow Citizen's Theatre called Richard David McDonald who I think may have got there first."
He was brought up in Bathgate, the post-industrial town between Edinburgh and Glasgow immortalised in a song by The Proclaimers ("Bathgate, no more", they sing). "I was certain this was what I wanted to do from a ridiculously young age, three or four," David says. "I wanted to be the people on the television. Then I realised those characters were pretend. Then I wanted to be the people who pretended." Tennant was appearing on screen before he was even out of school, after being talent-spotted by Scottish TV at a Saturday youth theatre club, an offshoot of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama where he later trained (see below).
A big fan of Honeynut Shredded Wheat, David despises McDonalds and the Tories. "I have no idea how to describe myself," he said in 1996. "Tall, skinny and Scottish. Overall, I am fairly happy. Maybe a bit bewildered."
His father was a Presbyterian minister, now in the Scottish Cabinet. His brother is the managing director of Sony Music Publishing for Great Britain.
Study with the Royal Scottish Academy
David joined the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama as "a single-minded youngster" at the tender age of 17, and graduated aged about 20. He notes of this period that "Drama school is a pretty intense experience and I think it changes who you are. I think I grew up at drama school (which was fairly useful personally as much as professionally) and I certainly got exposed to a huge range of ideas, techniques and practices that I had no previous experience of. I wouldn't have known what I was doing as an actor if I hadn't gone."
Professional debut with the 7:84 Troupe
Upon graduation, David auditioned for the 7:84's touring production of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Uiith. He landed the part of Giri the Hitman, his first professional part.
It was scarcely the big budget performance we are now used to him being in. The 7:84 was a Scottish theatre company formed by John McGrath in the 1970s, which tours two or three shows a year around the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, performing one night at each town, or occassionally longer in the larger towns. This was still all very exciting to David, who recalls "I was fresh out of college and really rather green, but I was earning a proper wage and having enormous fun touring Scotland in a small van. Three of us had been at drama school together, and I was terrifically excited."
There were only six or so actors in the production,"for monetary reasons rather than artistic ones". This should have proven a problem, as Arturo Ui is one of those Brecht plays with a cast of thousands. They simply divvied up the roles between them - "With the help of a few wigs and fake noses."
Their first stop was Motherwell Civic Hall, and the first performance was an absolute disaster. They hadn't had time to finish the technical rehearsal, let alone attempt a dress rehearsal. With so many costumes and character changes, David couldn't simply wing it. "It was utter chaos on stage as we struggled past the point at which we had ended the technical run," David says. "I remember thinking at one point: This is my professional debut, and it is all falling apart." David paints an almost comic picture of his first professional performance: "We might have managed had the production not been so complicated. But we were a group of travelling players who unpacked and made themselves up on stage so, of course, everyone was changing, swapping props, losing props and mislaying wigs."
It was shit, but David relishes the memory: "It may have been rusty and received terrible reviews, but the whole thing had a vibrancy and energy that I adored. And, of course, I thought we were excellent."
Crying as King Arthur
He performed so badly in his second job, as King Arthur in an Edinburgh production, that a critic's harsh words even made him cry. David recalls, "the review in The Scotsman said: The cast of 18 are uniformly excellent, with the exception of David Tennant, who lacks any charm or ability whatsoever. Which I have to say floored me for quite a while."
Takin' Over the Asylum
Tennant played Campbell Bain, who was cheered up by Eddie McKenna (played by Ken Stott), in the BBC's award-winning Takin' Over The Asylum. The plot revolved around the relationship between manic depressive Campbell and alcoholic Eddie, a double-glazing salesman who moonlights as a DJ for the St Jude’s Asylum radio. With Eddie’s help, Campbell begins to get his life on track and control his illness. In contrast, Eddie’s life declines and he finally realises that he needs to face his chronic alcoholism.
Tennant calls this the role that “changed [his] life” and recalls that “they needed someone who could believably act 19 and bonkers.” He could and did, to much acclaim.
"After Takin’ Over The Asylum, I didn’t want to hang around waiting for a part in EastEnders," he says. "My first London agent told me that the way to build a long career was in the theatre." Thus, Tennant moved on to the heady heights of the RSC.
The Royal Shakespeare Company
After a much praise for his peformance streaking around as the page boy in What The Butler Saw at the Lyttelton, David had his first season with the RSC in 1996, aged just 25. He was a fine success, and his Scottish version of Touchstone in As You Like It was praised as the most memorable in years - both manic and ferociously clever. He was also applauded for his freewheeling comic performance in The Herbal Bed, in which he played Jack Lane, a Stratford gentleman who slanders Shakespeare's daughter. In between he played Washington's right-hand man in The General From America.
With little idea of the glories to come, David was happy to appreciate what he already had, "Only recently the National, the RSC, they seemed a million miles away. Then suddenly Dame Judi Dench is across the corridor." Still, all was not well in the RSC. In the same year, Victoria Hamilton broke her foot, Joseph Fiennes dislocated his shoulder and Tennant crippled his ankle.
Television stardom beckons
Whilst forging his name in the theatre, Tennant also dipped his toe into the world of television, starring in episodes of The Deputy, Foyle's War, The Mrs Bradley Mysteries, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Rab C Nesbitt, Holding The Baby and the multi-award winning People Like Us. Following these minor triumphs, it was a triumvirate of major parts that began to get him noticed by a wider audience.
He Knew He Was Right
In 2004, Tennant starred as Rev Gibson, in the latest of Andrew Davies' classic adaptations for the BBC. A dark story, based around the destruction of a marriage due to a husband's passionate jealousy, Tennant provided the character for a comic sub-plot playing a blithely flirtatious clergyman who finds himself fought over by a pair of squabbling sisters.
Blackpool
Tennant moved from period drama to musical in the well-received BBC One drama Blackpool. Tennant played police officer DI Carlisle investigating a murder in the arcade owned by Ripley Holden (David Morrissey). In the role, he utilised both acting and dancing skills and received positive reviews from critics, being described as bringing "a tremendous burst of energy" by the Hollywood Reporter and Variety describing him as "splendid".
Casanova
Shown on both BBC One and BBC Three and written by Russell T. Davies, Casanova gave Tennant his first starring role. He played the young version of the 18th Century Italian adventurer and well-reknowned lover Giacomo Casanova as a romantic addict of love, which acted as a counter-point to Peter O'Toole's tragic and destitute older Casanova. The story starts off lightly, but slowly descends into melancholy, as Casanova searches for the woman he loves and comes to realise the consequences of his flighty life-style. Tennant once again attracted great reviews, with Davies describing him as perfect for the role: "David's not your classical screen god; instead he's interesting and intelligent, with a lightness to his acting that not many straight actors have." The Independent described him as acting the part with "mischevious relish" and as "completely convincing as the romantically inclined lothario, a man in thrall to his heart as much to his libido."
Film Roles
A user has kindly filled this in for us with the extensive information which follows:
film roles = harry potter! x
This is true. I watched most of 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' on the plane. He was in it for about 60 seconds in total. 
- Welcome home Mnki. --r
Dr Who
There have been no known instances of David Tennant acting in Doctor who.
- A user writes to ask, "Isn't it about time to update the Doctor Who entry on this page?"
The Tongs respond: "okay, here goes:"
These have been thirty-one known instances of David Tennant acting in Doctor Who, and a further one suspected instance has been reported:
Season 27
- THE PARTING OF THE WAYS -- a brief appearence, and lick of the teeth.
Specials
- CHILDREN IN NEED SPECIAL -- this was missed by all but a handful of viewers. (Available on YouTube? now!)
- THE CHRISTMAS INVASION -- Tennant pulls it off with a sword.
Season 28
- NEW EARTH -- the Face of Bo recovers from his illness.
- TOOTH AND CLAW -- BBC ident becomes violent.
- SCHOOL REUNION -- K9 dies and is resurrected.
- THE GIRL IN THE FIREPLACE -- wench entices fey robots from the future.
- RISE OF THE CYBERMEN -- Cybermen take advantage of the GoogleEarpiece.
- THE AGE OF STEEL -- Suit is somewhat improbably recovered from factory.
- THE IDIOT'S LANTERN -- Scriptwriter struggles to find a single original idea.
- THE IMPOSSIBLE PLANET - Brilliant special effects include drawing one someone's face with biro.
- THE SATAN PIT - More fun in a quarry as the Dr faces the "Devil".
- LOVE AND MONSTERS - Dr Who geeks get absorbed by an uber-geek. (I loved this episode. It's like they're trying to recreate all the cheesy bits of old DrWho? as well as the more serious bits.
)
- FEAR HER - Remember, the London 2012 olympic flame is more than a beacon of hope, it's also a beacon of love.
- ARMY OF GHOSTS - they're cybermen
- DOOMSDAY - cybermen v. daleks. rose slips into an alternate reality.
Special
THE RUNAWAY BRIDE - Catherine Tate bothered by a TARDIS.
Season 29
- SMITH AND JONES - Judoon platoon on the moon
- THE SHAKESPEARE CODE - 17th century witchy goings-on, made relevant by Harry Potter references
- GRIDLOCK - Cats in cars battle massive crabs
- DALEKS IN MANHATTAN - Sec's in the City
- EVOLUTION OF THE DALEKS - Flappers and mutants and the daleks are back...again. (Yawn)
- THE LAZARUS EXPERIMENT - The Doctor uses his big organ to kill a monster
- 42 - Real-time action as a planet gets its revenge on a greedy space crew
- HUMAN NATURE - John Smith wanders why he keeps dreaming about a blue box
- THE FAMILY OF BLOOD - The Doctor returns and is a bit evil
- BLINK - Sally Sparrow saves the day in a big ball of timey-wimey goodness
- UTOPIA - Jack's back. Derek Jacobi is THE MASTER!! Awesome
- THE SOUND OF DRUMS - John Simm is the MASTER!! Even more awesome
- LAST OF THE TIME LORDS - Disappointing end to a great season as the Doctor dumps Martha because she's not a blonde. The the Titanic turns up. (What?)
Specials
- CHILDREN IN NEED SPECIAL 2 (TIME CRASH) - Doctor Ten meets Doctor Five. (Brilliant! "You were my Doctor" - aw. Also: "Does the Master still have a rubbish beard?" "No, well, he does have a wife." Hee!)
- VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED - Upcoming Kylie at Christmas!
Other roles
Despite spending 9 months of the year in Cardiff, David has managed to squeeze in a few other roles.
- THE CHATTERLEY AFFAIR - a brief cameo appearance as Richard Hoggart. Not worth sitting through all the boring sex for.
- RECOVERY - Loses memory, gets naked. Haven't seen this one - any reviews out there?
- COMIC RELIEF - Plays opposite Catherine Tate again, as a teacher who isn't the Doctor. OR is he? Very funny - seek it out on You Tube
- DEAD RINGERS - Search for "regenerated Tony Blair" on You Tube and laugh for a while
- LEARNERS - Upcoming: Teaches the woman from Spaced how to drive. Review once it's been on.
- EINSTEIN AND EDDINGTON - Upcoming: Science fun with Gollum.
User Feedback
- A patriotic user writes to say, "I'm a patriotic Scot who's thrilled David got a chance to show his true Paisley colours in Tooth and Claw! I go to his old school and he's amazing!"
- An image-concious user informs us, David my friend LOVES you and cut your beard of!!
NEW! Ask our Resident Expert
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See answers to your questions at /AskOurResidentExpert!
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NEW! David Tennant in the nude - over 25s only please: /DavidNaked