Peter Dougan Capaldi (/kəˈpældi/;^[1] born 14 April 1958) is a Scottish actor and director. He 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. When he reprised the role of Tucker in the feature film In the Loop, Capaldi was honoured with several film critic award nominations for Best Supporting Actor.

Capaldi won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film and the BAFTA Award for Best Short Film for his 1993 short film Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life. He went on to write and direct the drama film Strictly Sinatra and directed two series of the sitcom Getting On. Capaldi also played Mr Curry in the family film Paddington and its sequel Paddington 2.

He appeared as Professor Marcus in The Ladykillers. He won a BAFTA Scotland award for Outstanding Contribution to Film & Television. Capaldi wrote a rock album titled St. Christopher. Capaldi is married to actress Elaine Collins and the pair have a child together.

Capaldi was born in Glasgow, Scotland, to Gerald and Nancy (née Soutar) Capaldi. His paternal grandfather was Italian, while the rest of his ancestry is Scottish and Irish.^[2] His parents ran an ice cream business in the Springburn district, 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.^[3][4] He was educated at St Teresa's Primary School in Possilpark,^[5] St Matthew's Primary School in Bishopbriggs,^[5] and St Ninian's High School, Kirkintilloch,^[6] before attending the Glasgow School of Art.^[7] He was a fan of Doctor Who as a child.^[8][9]

Capaldi displayed an early talent for performance by putting on a puppet show in primary school. While at high school, he was a member of the Antonine Players, who performed at the Fort Theatre in Bishopbriggs. As an art student, he was the lead singer and guitarist in a punk rock band called The Dreamboys, whose drummer was future comedian Craig Ferguson.^[10][11] The pair also performed a cabaret act together as Bing & Dean Hitler^[12] and wrote an alternative pantomime of Sleeping Beauty.^[13][14] Capaldi went on to perform musical comedy cabaret in the guises of "bank clerk about town" Gavin Meekie^[15][16][17] and as one half of husband-and-wife TV evangelists Tom & Sammy Jo.^[18][19]

Capaldi married Elaine Collins in Strathblane near his home city of Glasgow in 1991. Collins is an actress and television producer; they met in 1983 in a touring production for the Paines Plough Theatre Company.^[76] Together they have a daughter, and two grandchildren born in 2021 and 2023.^[77][78] Capald and Collins live together in Muswell Hill, London.^[79]

He grew up Catholic but is now an atheist.^[80]

On 12 September 2016, Capaldi, with Cate Blanchett, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jesse Eisenberg, Douglas Booth, Neil Gaiman, Keira Knightley, Juliet Stevenson, Kit Harington and Stanley Tucci, was featured in a video from the United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR to help raise awareness about the global refugee crisis. "What They Took With Them" has the actors reading a poem, written by Jenifer Toksvig and inspired by primary accounts of refugees, and is part of UNHCR's #WithRefugees campaign, which also includes a petition to governments to expand asylum to provide further shelter, integrating job opportunities, and education.^[81][82]

His first cousin twice removed is singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi.^[83] The two worked together on one of the video versions for "Someone You Loved" made in partnership with the charity organisation Live Life Give Life in order to raise awareness for the issue of organ donation.^[84]

Capaldi is a patron of Worldwide Cancer Research, and the Scottish children's charity, the Aberlour Child Care Trust.^[85]

In October 2022, he voiced his support for Scottish independence. He told The Daily Telegraph: "It used not to be something I was particularly drawn to. I've lived in London for most of my life, and always loved Cardiff and Manchester and Belfast. But after the relentlessness of the past 12 years, everything we have been put through, it might just be time to go home and be a part of that."^[86]

Capaldi holds dual citizenship; due to Brexit he acquired Italian citizenship by descent through his paternal grandfather who hailed from Picinisco.^[87]

Capaldi was part of a band known as the Dreamboys.^[10][88] While working on The Suicide Squad (2021), Capaldi wrote a rock album titled, St. Christopher.^[89]

Capaldi has been nominated for various awards including three British Academy Television Award nominations^[93][94][95] and one win^[96] for Malcolm Tucker in In the Thick of It. He won an Academy Award for his short film Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life.^[97]