Portrait of David Tennant

Birthday profile

David Tennant

David Tennant, Scottish actor

Born
April 18, 1971
Age in 2026
55
Zodiac sign
Aries
Birth year
1971

About David Tennant

David John Tennant is a Scottish actor. He is best known for portraying the lead character in Doctor Who, headlining the show as the Tenth Doctor from 2005–2010, and returning as the Fourteenth Doctor in 2023. His other notable screen roles include portraying Barty Crouch Jr. in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), DI Alec Hardy in Broadchurch (2013–2017), Crowley in Good Omens (2019–present), and various fictionalised versions of himself in Staged (2020–2022). Tennant was awarded his first major TV role as Campbell Bain in the BBC Scotland drama series Takin' Over the Asylum (1994), after impressing director David Blair during filming of another drama – Strathblair (1992). Tennant attended Saturday classes at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland before passing an official audition at the age of 16, becoming one of their youngest students and studying there between the ages of 17 and 20. After discovering that there was another David McDonald already represented by the actor's union Equity, he created his stage name by adopting the surname of Pet Shop Boys frontman Neil Tennant, whom he had seen in Smash Hits.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

The world when David Tennant was born

David Tennant was born in 1971. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1971

  • #1 song"Joy to the World" – Three Dog Night
  • Top movieThe French Connection
  • Top TV showAll in the Family
  • Best-selling bookThe Exorcist – William Peter Blatty

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentMuhammad Ali vs Joe Frazier "Fight of the Century"
  • Top headlinePentagon Papers published
  • Technology milestoneFirst email sent by Ray Tomlinson
  • Defining fadHot pants
  • Notable inventionEmail (Ray Tomlinson)
  • World population3.78 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderRichard Nixon
  • Sports championPittsburgh Pirates (World Series)
  • Also wonMilwaukee Bucks (NBA)
  • U.S. population207.7M

1971 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in David Tennant's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19712026
Gas$0.36$3.45/gal
Average home$18,100$435,000
Average income$11,800$67,500
Minimum wage$1.60$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$1.65$11.95
Postage stamp$0.08$0.73
Population207.7M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, IMDb. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.