Peter Capaldi was born April 14, 1958, so he’s 63 years old today. 

One of the amazing bright spots in the entire history of the Doctor Who television series is Peter Capaldi, popularly known as the Twelfth Doctor. He began his service as The Doctor in 2014, and as our favorite travelling Gallifreyan, Capaldi’s character is abrasive, acerbic and has forgotten much of how to interact with people, and has to relearn all of it.

The real Peter Capaldi, though, is warm, generous with his time, and of course quite talented as an actor. Here are some videos that show just how much of a human being Peter Capaldi truly is.

One of the lesser-known facts about Peter is that he grew up as a Doctor Who fan himself, and did fan art of it that is rather accomplished and shows genuine artist ability.  We present a video from Doctor Puppet, hand made stop motion animations made in New York City, which honors Peter, his clever drawings, and the day of his birth.

Being the Doctor is, for him, the culmination of a lifelong dream, but his accomplishments stretch back in time to his first role in 1982, a minor character named “Joe” in a feature film called Living Apart Together. Since then he has accrued 122 acting credits (so far), including recurring roles on The Neverwhere (1996), FortySomething (2003), Torchwood (2009) and even Doctor Who as a character other than the Doctor in 2008 in an episode called The Fires of Pompeii as Caecilius.

Thank you, Mr. Capaldi, for giving us so much of yourself. We’re glad you’re in the world.

Happy birthday.

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