38 Facts About Peter Capaldi

Peter Dougan Capaldi is a Scottish actor, director, singer and guitarist.

Peter Capaldi portrayed the twelfth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction series Doctor Who and Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It, for which he received four British Academy Television Award nominations, winning Best Male Comedy Performance in 2010.

Peter Capaldi went on to write and direct the drama film Strictly Sinatra and directed two series of the sitcom Getting On.

Peter Capaldi appeared as Professor Marcus in the stage play The Ladykillers.

Peter Capaldi is married to actress Elaine Collins and the pair have a child together.

Peter Capaldi was born on 14 April 1958 in Glasgow, Scotland, to Gerald and Nancy Peter Capaldi.

Peter Capaldi's parents ran an ice cream business in Springburn, where they were neighbours and acquaintances of the family of Armando Iannucci, creator of The Thick of It, although the two men did not know each other as children.

Peter Capaldi was a fan of Doctor Who as a child, and met Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker while a teenager.

Peter Capaldi is known to have lived in Bishopbriggs while he was an active member of Doctor Who fan club.

Peter Capaldi attended St Teresa's Primary School in Possilpark, St Matthew's Primary School in Bishopbriggs, and St Ninian's High School, Kirkintilloch, before attending the Glasgow School of Art.

Peter Capaldi displayed an early talent for performance by putting on a puppet show in primary school.

The first few years of Peter Capaldi's acting career were marked by sporadic appearances, beginning in a 1974 performance of the play An Inspector Calls; his first onscreen appearance occurred in 1981 as Joe Edwards in the Charles Gormley film Living Apart Together.

Peter Capaldi portrayed roles in theatre such as the servant Fabian in Twelfth Night and the protagonist Jonathan Harker in Dracula, in 1983 and 1984, among many others; and appeared in an episode or two for drama shows such as the legal-drama Shadow of the Noose in 1989, and mystery-drama Agatha Christie's Poirot in 1991.

Peter Capaldi got his first starring role on television as Luke Wakefield, a strange man who imagines he has witnessed a crime, in the BBC drama series Mr Wakefield's Crusade in 1992.

Peter Capaldi featured prominently as the spy chief Mr Vladimir in the drama miniseries The Secret Agent, in 1992, and the protagonist's nemesis Dr Ronnie Pilfrey in the comedy-drama Fortysomething in 2003.

Peter Capaldi has been part of the regular cast on many shows: the protagonist's uncle Rory in the television adaptation of Ian Banks's The Crow Road, and the angel Islington in Neil Gaiman's BBC Two gothic fantasy serial Neverwhere, both in 1996.

Peter Capaldi auditioned for the role of Benjamin Sisko in the sci-fi series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in 1992, though he lost the role to Avery Brooks.

Peter Capaldi wrote and directed the drama film Strictly Sinatra, starring Ian Hart and Kelly Macdonald in 2001.

Tucker is said to be largely, if loosely, based upon Tony Blair's right-hand man Alastair Campbell, although Peter Capaldi has said that he based his performance more on Hollywood power players, such as the often abrasive Harvey Weinstein.

Peter Capaldi won the 2010 BAFTA TV Award for Male Performance in a Comedy Role.

Peter Capaldi won the 2010 and 2012 British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Actor.

Peter Capaldi only held minor roles in films and stage-acting during this time: priests in the horror film Wild Country and comedy film The Best Man, both in 2005, and a small role as therapist Peter VanGellis in the comedy film Big Fat Gypsy Gangster in 2011, written by and starring his Getting On co-star Ricky Grover, the absurdist play Absurdia in 2007 in the Donmar Warehouse; and Professor Marcus in The Ladykillers at the Liverpool Playhouse and Gielgud Theatre in London in 2011.

Peter Capaldi wrote and presented A Portrait of Scotland, a documentary detailing 500 years' history of Scottish portrait painting in 2009; and in 2012, Peter Capaldi and Tony Roche co-wrote, directed and performed in The Cricklewood Greats, a mockumentary about a fictitious film studio, which tracks real developments and trends throughout the history of British cinema.

Peter Capaldi had portrayed characters in Doctor Who before he was cast as the Doctor: Lobus Caecilius in the Doctor Who episode "The Fires of Pompeii".

The start of 2013 saw Capaldi portraying the editor of The Guardian Alan Rusbridger, in The Fifth Estate, starring in Inside the Mind of Leonardo, a documentary about Leonardo da Vinci and appearing as a World Health Organization doctor in World War Z Capaldi directed several episodes of the BBC Four sitcom Getting On.

Peter Capaldi portrayed Cardinal Richelieu in an adaptation of The Three Musketeers on BBC One the next year, though with his casting, he was killed off-screen to avoid clashes with Doctor Who.

Peter Capaldi made his first regular in Doctor Who in the episode "Deep Breath" later that year, leading 40 episodes, consisting of three series and four specials during the next four years.

In 2015 he voiced the Doctor in crossover video game Lego Dimensions In 2016, Peter Capaldi reprised his role as the Twelfth Doctor in the Doctor Who spin-off programme Class, written by young-adult author Patrick Ness.

Peter Capaldi appeared as himself in various short films and documentaries.

On 30 January 2017, in an interview with BBC Radio 2, Peter Capaldi confirmed that the tenth series would be his last.

Peter Capaldi narrated an audiobook version of Nineteen Eighty-Four in 2021, and voiced the recurring character Seamus McGregor in the Netflix series Big Mouth in 2022.

Peter Capaldi starred in the 2021 DC Extended Universe superhero film The Suicide Squad as the Thinker.

Peter Capaldi said that he was a fan of crime shows, but that often there is not much character development over the course of the show; therefore, they created a show where the plot changes the character and has a real impact on their life.

Peter Capaldi married Elaine Collins in Strathblane near his home city of Glasgow in 1991.

Singer-songwriter Lewis Peter Capaldi is his distant cousin, and the two have worked together on one of the video versions of Lewis' "Someone You Loved".

Peter Capaldi grew up Catholic but is an atheist.

Peter Capaldi has been nominated for various awards including three British Academy Television Award nominations and one win for Malcolm Tucker in In the Thick of It.

Peter Capaldi won an Academy Award for his short film Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life.