35 DOCTOR WHO Actors & Actresses
by AaronCapenBanner | created - 21 May 2013 | updated - 21 May 2013 | PublicThese people who appeared onscreen represent the series to me. First five Doctors only!
1. William Hartnell
Actor | Murder in Reverse?
William Hartnell was born on 8 January 1908, just south of St. Pancras railway station in London. In press materials in the 1940s he claimed that his father was a farmer and later a stockbroker; it turns out that he had actually been born out of wedlock, as his biography "Who's There?" states.
At ...
2. Carole Ann Ford
Actress | The Day of the Triffids
Carole Ann Ford was born in June 1940 and first appeared in a film at the age of eight. Following acting and elocution lessons, she started doing commercials and walk-on work, and her first proper role was in the play "Women of the Streets." She continued working in theatre, film (including The Day...
3. William Russell
Actor | The Great Escape
William Russell was born William Russell Enoch on 19 November 1924, in Sunderland, County Durham, England, to Eva Compston (Pile) and Alfred James Enoch. He became interested in acting at an early age. He was involved in organizing entertainments during his national service in the Royal Air Force ...
4. Jacqueline Hill
Actress | Doctor Who
Born in 17 December 1929, Jacqueline Hill was orphaned as a toddler and raised by her grandparents. She was taken out of school at the age of 14 to enable her younger brother to continue. She then worked at Cadbury's, which had an amateur dramatics society. She was encouraged to apply for, and was ...
5. Maureen O'Brien
Actress | The Lost Boys
After studying for a teaching diploma at the Central School of Speech and Drama, Maureen O'Brien became a founding member of the Everyman Theatre in her native Liverpool. About three months later she was persuaded to audition for the part of Vicki on Doctor Who. She was reluctant to accept the role...
6. Peter Purves
Actor | Girl in a Black Bikini
Peter Purves was born in New Longton, Lancashire on 10 February 1939. After leaving school he took a four-year teacher-training course. In 1961, after only one year as a teacher, he turned to acting, initially with the Barrow-in-Furness Repertory Company and later with the Wimbleton Theatre Company.
...
7. Adrienne Hill
Actress | Doctor Who
Plymouth-born Adrienne Hill trained in acting at the Bristol Old Vic, then spent some time with the Old Vic Company in London, followed by eight years' work in repertory theatre. Having been spotted by Doctor Who production assistant Viktors Ritelis while understudying for Maggie Smith in a play ...
8. Jackie Lane
Actress | Doctor Who
Jackie Lane was born 10 July 1941 in Manchester, England. In 1963 she was playing the part of the secretary in "Compact" when she was offered the part of the Doctor's grand-daughter, Susan, but decided that she did not want to be tied down to a year's contract. In 1966, however, having had only ...
9. Anneke Wills
Actress | The Avengers
Anneke Wills made her acting debut at age eleven in a film called Child's Play (1954). She then studied at a drama school, the Arts Educational, for about four years, winning many children's TV and theatre roles. Subsequently, she enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, but did not complete ...
10. Michael Craze
Actor | Doctor Who
Michael Craze was born on 29 November 1942 in Cornwall and got into acting quite by chance as, at the age of twelve, he discovered through Boy Scout Gang Shows that he had a perfect boy soprano voice. This led him to win parts in "The King and I" and "Plain and Fancy", both at Drury Lane, and "Damn...
11. Patrick Troughton
Actor | The Omen
Patrick Troughton was born in Mill Hill, London and was educated at Mill Hill School. He trained as an actor at the Embassy School of Acting in the UK and at Leighton Rollin's Studio for for Actors at Long Island, New York in the USA. During World War II he served in the Royal Navy and after the ...
12. Frazer Hines
Actor | Emmerdale Farm
Frazer Hines has a particular distinction in the world of Doctor Who (1963) as the most prolific companion in the original 26-year run of the series; only the first four Doctors, William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, appeared in more episodes. He was born and raised in ...
13. Deborah Watling
Actress | The Invisible Man
Born on 2 January 1948, Deborah Watling grew up in an acting family. She attended stage school after failing her O level exams, but left after three weeks and got herself an agent. She then landed the part of Alice in a BBC play "The Life of Lewis Carroll" (aka The Wednesday Play: Alice (1965)). ...
14. Wendy Padbury
Actress | The Blood on Satan's Claw
Wendy Padbury trained at the Aida Foster Stage School and made her TV debut on the BBC arts programme "Monitor" soon after starting the course. More TV work followed and, by the age of seventeen, she had landed a regular role in the ATV soap opera Crossroads (1964). Soon after this, she applied for...
15. Nicholas Courtney
Actor | Doctor Who
Nicholas Courtney was born in Egypt, the son of a British diplomat. His early years were spent in Kenya and France and he was called up for National Service at the age of 18. After 18 months of duty in the British forces, Courtney joined the Webber Douglas drama school. He spent two years there and...
16. John Levene
Actor | BeetleBorgs
John Levene (real name John Anthony Woods) left home at the age of 21 and travelled to London. He was working in a men's clothing store when he met Telly Savalas (who was making the film "The Dirty Dozen") and he was inspired to become an actor. He joined an agency which provided walk-on actors. He...
17. Jon Pertwee
Actor | Doctor Who
Jon Pertwee is best known for his portrayal of the Third Doctor on the BBC's science-fiction television series Doctor Who (1963) from 1970 to 1974. He was also the first to play the role following the transition of BBC One from black and white to colour. His 60-year entertainment career included ...
18. Caroline John
Actress | Love Actually
Caroline John was a classically trained actress who did some significant and prestigious stage work, but she is best remembered for one television role which she played for less than a year (and only four serials) - that of Dr. Elizabeth Shaw in Doctor Who (1963). Of the many satellites that have ...
19. Richard Franklin
Actor | Doctor Who
Best known for his regular role as Captain Mike Yates during the Jon Pertwee era of the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who (1963), Richard Franklin joined the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1963 and his first professional acting work was with the Century Theatre. He was offered ...
20. Katy Manning
Actress | When Darkness Falls
Katy Manning trained as an actress at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. In 1971, she became known to millions of British television viewers when she joined Doctor Who (1963) as the companion Jo Grant, which she played for three seasons opposite Jon Pertwee as the Doctor until 1973. ...
21. Roger Delgado
Actor | Doctor Who
Born of a Spanish father and French mother in Whitechapel. Although most often called upon to play the villain (due to his dark good looks and sinister beard), he also had a career as a voice actor on BBC Radio appearing on such programs as the "Morning Story". He was a notable 'The Master' in many...
22. Elisabeth Sladen
Actress | Doctor Who
Elisabeth Sladen was born in Liverpool, England. She attended drama school for two years before joining the local repertory theatre in her home town of Liverpool. She met actor Brian Miller during her first production there and they were later married after meeting again in Manchester, three years ...
23. Tom Baker
Actor | Doctor Who
One of Britain's most recognizable (and most larger-than-life) character actors, Tom Baker is best known for his record-setting seven-year stint as the Fourth Doctor in Doctor Who (1963). He was born in 1934 in Liverpool, to Mary Jane (Fleming) and John Stewart Baker. His father was of English and ...
24. Ian Marter
Actor | Doctor Who
Ian Marter left university in 1969 and joined the Bristol Old Vic as an acting stage manager. In 1970, producer Barry Letts considered him for the role of Captain Mike Yates in Doctor Who: Terror of the Autons: Episode One (1971), but it ultimately went to Richard Franklin. However, Letts ...
25. Louise Jameson
Actress | Doctor Who
Louise Jameson is a classically trained actress whose first love is the stage, but she also became known to millions of British television viewers through her roles in such hugely popular television series as Doctor Who (1963), Tenko (1981), Bergerac (1981) and EastEnders (1985).
Jameson had formal ...
26. John Leeson
Actor | Doctor Who
After leaving school, John Leeson worked in a bookshop, and then as a porter in the Leicester Royal Infirmary Hospital. He joined the Leicester Dramatic Society and ultimately applied for and won a place at RADA. On leaving the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he worked in repertory and pantomimes, ...
27. Mary Tamm
Actress | Doctor Who
Mary Tamm was an English actress from Bradford, with Estonian and Russian descent. She is primarily remembered for portraying Romana I, the first incarnation of the female Time Lord Romana in the long-running science fiction television series "Doctor Who" (1963-1989). Tamm portrayed the character ...
28. Lalla Ward
Actress | Doctor Who: Shada
Lalla Ward born Sarah Ward, daughter of Lord Bangor - Edward Ward - and his writer wife, Marjorie Banks. She always wanted to act, paint and draw, and so joined the Central School of Speech and Drama in 1967. When she left in 1970, it was straight into a part in the Hammer film Vampire Circus (1972)...
29. Matthew Waterhouse
Actor | Doctor Who
Matthew Waterhouse was born the son of a company solicitor. He joined the BBC as a clerk, working in the news and information department, while also pursuing an acting career. His first TV role was as a public schoolboy in "To Serve Them All My Days" (1980). He had not even started working on that ...
30. Sarah Sutton
Actress | Doctor Who
Sarah Sutton was born on 12 December 1961 and began her acting career at the age of seven when, while attending the Elm Hurst Ballet School, she was picked to play the part of Roo in a Phoenix Theatre production of "Winnie the Pooh". By the age of eleven she had landed a number of TV roles, ...
31. Janet Fielding
Actress | Doctor Who
Janet Mahoney - now better known by her stage name of Janet Fielding - was born in Brisbane, Australia, in 1953. She gained A levels in Physics, Chemistry and Maths and joined Queensland University, where she first took up acting. After leaving university she worked with an English writer/director ...
32. Anthony Ainley
Actor | Doctor Who
Anthony Ainley was a notable British actor and a member of a distinguished British acting family. His brother was Richard Ainley (1910-1967) and his father Henry Ainley (1879-1945). He worked in the theatre for many years and eventually found work in various historical film dramas in the 1970s. ...
33. Peter Davison
Actor | Doctor Who
Peter Davison was born as Peter Malcolm Gordon Moffett on 13 April 1951 in Streatham, London. A decade later, he and his family - his parents, Sheila and Claude (an electrical engineer who hailed from British Guiana), and his sisters, Barbara, Pamela and Shirley, moved to Knaphill, Woking, Surrey, ...
34. Mark Strickson
Actor | Doctor Who
Born in Statford-on-Avon, Mark Strickson was brought up in the small village of Ilmington. His father was a professional musician and Strickson had learned to play several instruments - as well as singing in the Trinity Church choir - by the time he went to grammar school, where he continued his ...
35. Nicola Bryant
Actress | Doctor Who
Nicola Bryant was born the daughter of a heating engineer, in 1960, in Surrey, England. She began her training in dance and music at the age of three, studying classical ballet, then jazz and tap dance, the piano, flute and guitar, and finally acting at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. ...
Tell Your Friends