- published: 18 Apr 2015
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Christopher Eccleston (/ˈɛkəlstən/; born 16 February 1964) is an English actor, best known for his role as the ninth incarnation of the Doctor in the British television series Doctor Who. In addition to his extensive television work, he has appeared on stage and in films such as Let Him Have It, Shallow Grave, 28 Days Later, Gone in 60 Seconds, The Others, and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.
Born into a working class family in the Langworthy area of Pendleton, in Salford, Lancashire, Eccleston is the youngest of three boys born to Elsie and Ronnie Eccleston. His brothers, Alan and Keith, are twins eight years his senior, born in 1956. The family lived in a small terraced house in Blodwell Street until the late 1960s, when they moved about 7 miles away to Little Hulton. Eccleston attended Joseph Eastham High School, Little Hulton, where he became head boy[citation needed] At the age of 19, he was inspired by television dramas such as Boys from the Blackstuff to enter the acting profession. Eccleston completed a two-year Performance Foundation Course at Salford Tech, before going on to train at the Hampstead-based Central School of Speech and Drama. As an actor, his early influences had been Ken Loach's Kes and Albert Finney's performance in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, but he soon found himself performing the classics, including the works of Shakespeare, Chekhov and Molière. At the age of 25, Eccleston made his professional stage debut in the Bristol Old Vic's production of A Streetcar Named Desire. Underemployed as an actor for some years after graduating school, Eccleston took a variety of odd jobs at a supermarket, on building sites and as an artist's model.