Peter Capaldi

A Scottish actor primarily known for leading roles in both BBC TV's Doctor Who and The Thick of It, Peter Capaldi is also a singer/songwriter and guitarist who began releasing indie rock solo albums in the 2020s.Born in 1958, Capaldi went on to attend the Glasgow School of Art in his home city, where he formed and fronted the punk act Dreamboys. The band -- whose lineup included future comedian and CBS talk-show host Craig Ferguson -- released a sole 7" single, "Béla Lugosi's Birthdáy" in 1980. From there, Capaldi's acting career took priority as 1983 saw him appear in Bill Forsyth's BAFTA award-winning film Local Hero before he played John Lennon at the Young Vic in Willy Russell's John, Paul, George, Ringo…and Bert. Two years later, he played George Harrison in another Beatles-related production, the Yoko Ono-backed, made-for-TV movie John & Yoko: A Love Story.A focus on television acting in the '90s led to the major roles in BBC productions in the following decade that made Capaldi a household name. In 2018, he met his distant cousin Lewis Capaldi for the first time and made an appearance in the video for the West Lothian singer/songwriter's first number one single, "Someone You Loved." That same year, he sang alongside his co-stars on the soundtrack to Marc Forster's Disney movie Christopher Robin on the track "Goodbye, Farewell." In 2020, he sang lead vocals for Monks Road Social on "If I Could Pray," a song from their album Humanism. This led to Capaldi releasing his debut solo album, St. Christopher, on Monks Road Records the following year. A second record, Sweet Illusions, appeared on the eclectic not-for-profit label Last Night from Glasgow in 2025.
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