David Tennant

David Tennant (born David John McDonald on April 18, 1971) is a Scottish actor and voice actor. He is best known for his role in the British television series Doctor Who for portraying the tenth and fourteenth incarnations of the Doctor. In 2012, Tennant voiced the droid Huyang in two episodes of the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, having been offered the role by supervising director and Doctor Who fan Dave Filoni. Tennant's performance impressed Filoni and Star Wars creator George Lucas, and he won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for his work. Tennant voiced the character again in 2023 for the live-action Disney+ series Ahsoka. As Huyang was portrayed through the use of props, Tennant recorded an early version of the droid's dialogue to allow the other actors to more effectively interact with his character. He returned once more in 2024 for the Young Jedi Adventures episode "Nubs's Big Mistake."
==Biography==
===Doctor Who===
David Tennant is a Scottish actor, born as David John McDonald in Bathgate, Scotland on April 18, 1971. He notably played the role of Barty Crouch Junior in the 2005 film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and rose in popularity for portraying the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who from 2005 to 2010. He additionally voiced the character in two animated serials: The Infinite Quest and Dreamland. Dave Filoni, supervising director of the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, was introduced to Doctor Who by his wife, E. Anne Convery, and the couple especially enjoyed Tennant's time in the series and his interactions with his companion Rose Tyler.
Filoni mentioned his enjoyment of Doctor Who in an interview with Jonathan Wilkins for the one hundred and twenty-fifth issue of the magazine Star Wars Insider, first published to United States newsstands on April 26, 2011.Star Wars Insider 124 Wilkins mentioned that Tennant was a Star Wars fan and could do a voice role on The Clone Wars, which Filoni commented was "not a bad idea" as he had admired the range and intensity Tennant had demonstrated as the Doctor. The issue of Insider also featured an image of Tennant in his Doctor Who costume standing back to back with a 3D model of the character Anakin Skywalker from The Clone Wars.
===The Clone Wars===
Filoni later said that he knew he had to contact Tennant to discuss a role at that moment, as he found that actors who were fans of Star Wars were more likely to accept roles in The Clone Wars. He enjoyed the idea of merging the "fan-worlds" of Doctor Who and Star Wars and hoped to have a high quality role with which to entice Tennant. After Filoni and writer Christian Taylor created the character of Huyang, an ancient droid that assists younglings in constructing their lightsabers, the role was offered to Tennant, who accepted.
Filoni described Tennant as "perfect" in the role and stated that his performance had impressed Star Wars creator George Lucas, who especially enjoyed Huyang's interactions with the droid R2-D2. Tennant's casting was revealed in an article published on StarWars.com on November 7, 2012, which also included a preview clip from Huyang's debut episode: "A Test of Strength." It was the seventh episode of the series' fifth seasonStar Wars: The Clone Wars: Episode Guide and premiered on November 10, 2012. The character appeared but did not have any dialogue in the eighth episode "Bound for Rescue" (aired November 17, 2012), and was voiced by Tennant again in the ninth episode: "A Necessary Bond" (aired November 24, 2012).
For his performance, Tennant was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program at the 40th Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Awards. Two other actors from The Clone Wars were nominated: Jim Cummings for his portrayal of Hondo Ohnaka and Sam Witwer for his portrayal of Darth Maul. The nominations were announced on May 1, 2013 and Tennant won the award at the ceremony on June 14, 2013. Filoni was delighted at Tennant's win and made a congratulatory Facebook post in response.
===Later career and Ahsoka===
In 2015, Tennant portrayed the villain Kilgrave in the Marvel Netflix series Jessica Jones. The Star Wars novel Brotherhood by Mike Chen, published on May 10, 2022 included a rumor amongst the members of a Jedi Initiate Clan that "Professor Huyang was so old that the ancient droid supposedly arrived at the Jedi Temple in a big blue box thousands of years ago."Brotherhood In Doctor Who, the Doctor—played by Tennant amongst other actors—is an ancient being who travels in a time machine that looks like a blue police box from the 1960s. In the same year, Tennant returned to the Doctor Who franchise in the role of the Fourteenth Doctor, with his first appearance airing on October 23, 2022.
Tennant reprised his role as Huyang for the live-action Disney+ series Ahsoka, which started production on May 9, 2022. As a droid, Huyang was portrayed through props, so Tennant recorded an early version of his dialogue prior to filming so that the other cast members were able to more effectively interact with the character. Tennant's involvement in the series was not publicly confirmed until its first teaser trailer debuted on April 7, 2023, at Celebration Europe. The trailer featured a glimpse of Huyang with one line of dialogue, and Filoni, Ahsoka creator and showrunner, confirmed Tennant was reprising the role. The first two episodes of Ahsoka—"Part One: Master and Apprentice" and "Part Two: Toil and Trouble"—premiered simultaneously on August 22, 2023, and Tennant voiced Huyang in every episode of the show's first season. A YouTube short featuring character posters for the series, including Huyang, was released on August 24, and included a caption that alluded to the character's Doctor Who connection. Tennant later reprised his role in "Nubs's Big Mistake," the first part of the fourth episode in the animated series Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures second season, which aired on August 14, 2024.
==Works==
===Filmography===
Year	Title 	Series 	Contribution(s)	Notes
2012	"A Test of Strength" (S5E7) 	Star Wars: The Clone Wars 	Huyang 	Voice
2012	"A Necessary Bond" (S5E9) 	Star Wars: The Clone Wars 	Huyang 	Voice
2023	"Part One: Master and Apprentice" (S1E1) 	Ahsoka 	Huyang 	Voice
2023	"Part Two: Toil and Trouble" (S1E2) 	Ahsoka 	Huyang 	Voice
2023	"Part Three: Time to Fly" (S1E3) 	Ahsoka 	Huyang 	Voice
2023	"Part Four: Fallen Jedi "(S1E4) 	Ahsoka 	Huyang 	Voice
2023	"Part Five: Shadow Warrior "(S1E5) 	Ahsoka 	Huyang 	Voice
2023	"Part Six: Far, Far Away (S1E6) 	Ahsoka 	Huyang 	Voice
2023	"Part Seven: Dreams and Madness "(S1E7) 	Ahsoka 	Huyang 	Voice
2023	"Part Eight: The Jedi, the Witch, and the Warlord" (S1E8)	Ahsoka 	Huyang 	Voice
2024	"Nubs's Big Mistake" (S2E4) 	Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures	Huyang 	Voice
==Awards and nominations==
Ceremony 	Institution 	Award 	Series 	Role 	Result
40th Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Awards	National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences	Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program	Star Wars: The Clone Wars	Huyang	Won
==Sources==
==Notes and references==
==External links==
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Category:Ahsoka voice actors
Category:Star Wars: The Clone Wars voice actors