Coming after Peter Davison’s Fifth Doctor, Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi will celebrate his 62nd birthday today.
When David Tennant gave up the mantle of the Lonely God to Matt Smith, Whovians thought that the young actor had a very tough act to follow. Flash forward a couple of years and the Eleventh Doctor proved to be one of the best incarnations of the Time Lord in the history of the show.
But when Smith regenerated in “The Time of the Doctor,” everyone wondered about the kind of Doctor that Capaldi would turn out to be. Such is the emotional cycle Whovians must go through, where at first we’re skeptical of a new Doctor but end up loving him/her even more than the previous incarnations. Capaldi’s grumpy 12th was no exception to the rule, and he ended up exceeding our expectations by delivering such a powerful performance as to make his predecessors pale in comparison.
Capaldi’s journey as the Twelfth Doctor wasn’t an easy one, either. Paired with Clara Oswald, the two of them roamed the infinity of time and space, saving the universe, until a tragic twist of fate ended their streak of companionship, leading the Doctor to spend several billion years trying to bring her back to life, but in vain.
Twelfth went out on a high note, though, saving countless lives by standing up alone against the Cybermen in “The Doctor Falls,” without hope, without witness, without reward, proving that he was, indeed, a good man.
While the actor is credited with many other stellar performances through his years of work, including an Oscar win for directing 1994’s short film, Franz Kafka’s It’s a Wonderful Life, we’re willing to bet that his time as the Doctor will be the one for which he’ll be remembered.
Peter Dougan Capaldi was born on April 14th, 1958, which makes him 62 years old today. And on behalf of all Doctor Who fans: Happy birthday, Peter!
