Dan Starkey (born 27 September 1977) is an English actor known for making numerous appearances in the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

science-fiction TV series ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

''. He has portrayed a number of different

Sontaran The Sontarans ( ) are a fictional race of extraterrestrial life, extraterrestrial humanoids principally portrayed in the British science fiction on television, science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who'' and its spin-off series ''The Sa ...

characters, most notably Strax, who has come across the Eleventh and Twelfth incarnations of

the Doctor The Doctor, sometimes known as Doctor Who, is the protagonist of the long-running BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. An extraterrestrial Time Lord, the Doctor travels the universe in a time travelling spaceship called th ...

, played by

Matt Smith Matthew Robert Smith (born 28 October 1982) is an English actor. He is known for playing the Eleventh Doctor in the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' (2010–2013), Prince Philip in Netflix's historical series ''The Crown ( ...

and

Peter Capaldi Peter Dougan Capaldi (; born 14 April 1958) is a Scottish actor, director, singer and guitarist. He portrayed the Twelfth Doctor, twelfth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction series ''Doctor Who'' (2013–2017) and Malcolm Tucker i ...

respectively. In 2016, he joined the CBBC sketch show, '' Class Dismissed'' and has appeared in 36 episodes (every episode of Series 1,2 & 3) He left the show after Series 3.

Early life

Dan Starkey was born on 27 September 1977. Starkey studied at

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge, colloquially "Tit Hall" ) is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1350, it is th ...

and graduated in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic before training at the

Bristol Old Vic Bristol Old Vic is a British theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, Bristol. The present company was established in 1946 as an offshoot of the Old Vic in London. It is associated with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which became a fin ...

(graduating in 2006).

Career

He played the enraged loner Simon in ''Muswell Hill'' by Torben Betts at Richmond's Orange Tree Theatre (Feb/March 2012) and was nominated as Best Male Performance at the 2012 Off West End Theatre Awards (Offies). In November 2013 Starkey appeared in the one-off 50th anniversary comedy homage ''

The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot ''The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot'' is a 2013 comedy spoof and homage to the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. It appeared on the BBC Red Button service after the broadcast of "The Day of the Doctor", the official 50th ann ...

''.

University Challenge

On 2 January 2015, Starkey was a member of the winning team on '' Christmas University Challenge'', representing

who defeated

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

, the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

and the

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hu ...

. His team-mates were international rower Tom James, world champion cyclist Emma Pooley and novelist Adam Mars-Jones.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Theatre credits

* The 39 Steps UK national tour * The Fitzrovia Radio Hour * ''Muswell Hill'' by Torben Betts, Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond * ''Making News'' by Robert Khan and Tom Salinsky, Pleasance One Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe Festival

CD audio dramas

References

External links

* 1977 births Living people 21st-century English male actors Audiobook narrators English male film actors English male stage actors English male television actors English male voice actors Alumni of Bristol Old Vic Theatre School Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge {{UK-screen-actor-stub