Over the duration of his 27-year acting career, David Tennant has left a trail of memorable characters over an expansive and diverse array of film, television and on-stage credits.
Tennant was most recently seen on HBO’s Camping. Co-written by Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner, who were also showrunners, Camping centers on Walt (Tennant), whose 45th birthday was supposed to be a delightful weekend back to nature, at least according to his obsessively organized and aggressively controlling wife Kathryn (Jennifer Garner). But when the camping trip gathers Kathryn’s meek sister, holier than thou ex-best friend and a free-spirited tagalong in one place, it becomes a weekend of tested marriages and woman-on-woman crime that won’t soon be forgotten.
Next, Tennant will be seen in the upcoming Ama
Over the duration of his 27-year acting career, David Tennant has left a trail of memorable characters over an expansive and diverse array of film, television and on-stage credits.
Tennant was most recently seen on HBO’s Camping. Co-written by Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner, who were also showrunners, Camping centers on Walt (Tennant), whose 45th birthday was supposed to be a delightful weekend back to nature, at least according to his obsessively organized and aggressively controlling wife Kathryn (Jennifer Garner). But when the camping trip gathers Kathryn’s meek sister, holier than thou ex-best friend and a free-spirited tagalong in one place, it becomes a weekend of tested marriages and woman-on-woman crime that won’t soon be forgotten.
Next, Tennant will be seen in the upcoming Amazon Original series Good Omens. The show, based on Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s book of the same name, is set on the brink of an apocalypse as humanity prepares for a final judgment. Aziraphale (Michael Sheen), a somewhat fussy angel, and Crowley (Tennant), a demon, aren’t enthusiastic about the end of the world, and can’t seem to find the Antichrist. The show will consist of six one-hour episodes.
On the silver screen, Tennant most recently portrayed John Knox in Focus Features’ Mary Queen of Scots. The film is a historical drama based on John Guy’s biography “Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart” and stars Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie.
In Spring 2018, Tennant was also seen in Daisy Aitkens’ romantic comedy You, Me and Him, which co-stars Lucy Punch and Faye Marsay. The film tells the story of a lesbian couple’s differing experiences with pregnancy and Tennant plays John, their obnoxious neighbor who is closely linked to one of the women.
Tennant currently voices Scrooge McDuck in Disney XD’s animated television series Duck Tales.
In December 2017, Tennant lent his voice to the character of Angus in 20th Century Fox’s Ferdinand. The film tells the story of a giant bull, Ferdinand (John Cena), with a big heart, who after being mistaken for a dangerous beast, is captured and torn from his home. Determined to return to his family, he rallies a misfit team on the ultimate adventure.
In February 2017, Tennant starred as the world-renowned Scottish psychiatrist RD Laing in Robert Mullan’s Mad to be Normal alongside Elizabeth Moss. The story follows Dr. Laing and his unique community at Kingsley Hall, East London during the 1960’s.
From 2013 – 2017, Tennant played detective Alec Hardy on the critically acclaimed ITV crime series Broadchurch. Tennant’s character was brought to the small town of Broadchurch to investigate the murder of an 11-year-old local boy. In its second season, Broadchurch was nominated and won several awards, including the 2014 BAFTA TV Award for Best Drama Series. Season 3 of the series premiered in the UK in February 2017 and premiered in the US on BBC America on June 28.
In 2017, Tennant was seen on-stage as Don Juan in Patrick Marber’s Don Juan in Soho. Loosely based on Moliére’s tragicomedy “Don Juan,” this hilarious modern update transports the action to contemporary London and follows the final adventures of its debauched protagonist - a cruel seducer who lives only for pleasure. The play ran for a limited season at Wyndham Theatre and closed on June 10.
In 2016, Tennant was seen on-stage as the title character in Shakespeare’s Richard II as a part of the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s King & Country: Shakespeare’s Great Cycle Of Kings series. The series marked the celebration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death and ran at the BAM Harvey Theater for six weeks.
In November 2015, Tennant starred as the villainous Dr. Zebediah Kilgrave, otherwise known as The Purple Man opposite Krystin Ritter in the Netflix Marvel series Jessica Jones. The streaming service aired the 13-episode in its entirety on November 20, 2015.
Tennant starred alongside Rosamund Pike in the British comedy What We Did on Our Holiday as the dad of a family who struggles to keep any secret quiet on their family trip. Lionsgate released the film in the US and on VOD on July 10, 2015.
Tennant is most recognizable for his portrayal as the 10th Doctor on the widely beloved series Doctor Who. The BBC science fiction series itself has become a pop culture fixture and a fifty-year cult favorite. It depicts the adventures of the time-traveling humanoid alien Doctor as he defends himself against foes and protects whole civilizations and people in need. In November 2013, and 2015 as part of Doctor Who’s 50th Anniversary celebrations, Tennant’s Doctor was voted “The UK’s Favourite Doctor” in a survey held by the Radio Times magazine. Tennant has appeared in many spin-offs of the series. These include his directorial debut on the 2007 “Doctor Who Confidential” episode; a small role in the show’s webcast Scream of the Shalka; an appearance as the Doctor in an animated version of the show for CBBC’s Totally Doctor Who, The Infinite Quest; and a starring role as the Doctor in another animated six-part Doctor Who series entitled Dreamland. An enthusiast and loyal supporter of the series, Tennant announced that he would be stepping down from the role in 2008 after his participation in the 50th-anniversary special, “The Day of the Doctor.” For his part in the show, Tennant won three TV Quick Awards, three SFX Awards, four National Television Awards, and two BAFTA awards, among numerous other nominations throughout his four-year Doctor tenure.
Following Doctor Who, Tennant went on to star in a series of prodigious film roles. In April 2012, he played the lead in a one-off drama entitled The Minor Character for Sky Arts. Between April and June of the same year, Tennant played the lead role of Jean-François Mercier in the BBC Four mini-series Spies of Warsaw. In 2010 he starred as a widowed father in the British drama Single Father, which followed his character, Dave, as he struggled to raise five children after the death of his partner. For this role, he was nominated as Best Actor at the Royal Television Society Programme Awards. Among his other accolades was a 2009 Critics Choice Award for Best Shakespearean Performance for his titular role in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Hamlet.
In November 2008, Tennant starred in the BBC and HBO biopic Einstein and Eddington. The TV movie featured him in the role of Sir Arthur Eddington, who was the first physicist to lend a helping hand to Albert Einstein as he sought to prove his experimental and controversial theories.
In February of 2007, Tennant starred in Recovery, a 90-minute BBC One drama written by Tony Marchant. He played Alan, an ambitious site-manager attempting to rebuild his life after a tragic brain injury. Later that same year, Tennant starred in the BBC comedy-drama Learners. The film, written by and starring Jessica Hynes, featured Tennant as Christian driving instructor Chris, who finds himself the unsolicited object of a student’s affection.
In 2005, the National Video Archive of Performance recorded Tennant as Jimmy Porter in the Theatre Royal play Look Back in Anger for the Victoria and Albert Museum Theatre Collection. Further solidifying his place as one of the UK’s elite, Tennant made an appearance in the popular J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series as Barty Crouch Jr. in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in the same year. Also in 2005, Tennant portrayed the younger Casanova in the British television comedy-drama serial Casanova.
As well as being a seasoned professional actor, he is an award-winning voice-over actor. He has lent his voice to a wide range of characters, including Huyand in animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Spitelout in How to Train Your Dragon, and Twigs in Tree Fu Tom, among others.
In 1996, at 25 years old, Tennant joined the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company) as Touchstone in As You Like It and went on to play Jack Lane in The Herbal Bed, the leading role in Romeo and Juliet, and Antipholus of Syracuse in The Comedy of Errors (for which he received a nomination in the 2000 Ian Charleson awards for Best Classical Actor under 30).
He returned to the RSC to play Berowne in Love’s Labour’s Lost and a much-acclaimed Hamlet in 2008, which the BBC made into a TV film version starring Tennant in 2009. It was also the subject of a recent documentary as part of the BBC’s Shakespeare Unlocked series in 2012.
From his first projects with the Royal Shakespeare Company to his first role in the 1996 Touchstone production of As You Like It, to his present-day resume of timeless characters in all areas of performance, Tennant continues to amass an ever-growing fanbase worldwide.
