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When Warner Bros. first bought the rights to J.K. Rowling’s hugely successful Harry Potter books in 1999, anticipation was rife for the film adaptation of this unprecedented success story. By the time the first film began production, the famous boy wizard had become enough of a pop culture phenomenon to attract some of Britain’s finest acting talent. It’s no wonder then, that when Russell T Davies’s hugely successful reboot of Doctor Who, another true British institution, graced our screens just a few years later, with 40 years of history and the nostalgia factor behind it, it began to attract some of the same famous faces. From Time Lords to Hogwarts professors, Death Eaters to space pirates, the crossover between Doctor Who and Harry Potter proves just how small the acting world can be. Whether you first met these performers in the TARDIS or the Great Hall, their performances helped create both universes we know and love.
Some had blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearances, while others held iconic roles in both. Here are 12 Doctor Who actors who also appeared in Harry Potter.
1) David Tennant – The Tenth Doctor & Barty Crouch Jr.
It’s hard to think of a more bizarre example of an actor jumping between universes than David Tennant. Most fans will know him for his iconic role in Doctor Who, where he played the charming, energetic (and dare we say something of a heartthrob) Tenth Doctor, instantly winning over millions of particularly newer fans when he took over the iconic role from Christopher Eccleston in “Parting of the Ways” in 2005 and when he cemented himself in the part later that year in the Christmas special, “The Christmas Invasion.” Although progressing nicely in his career, the part was one of Tennant’s first major roles, catapulting him into stardom, and he has spoken candidly in interviews about the impact of becoming famous practically overnight.
But before taking on the TARDIS, Potterheads will know that that very same year, Tennant made an appearance in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as Barty Crouch Jr., the unhinged Death Eater partly responsible for helping ensure Voldemort’s rise back to power. Tennant creates a truly repulsive and sinister figure in the role, and his somewhat exaggerated Shakespearean style of acting worked perfectly in the role. From villain to hero, Tennant’s demonstration of his range across the two franchises soon cemented him as one of the greats.
2) Michael Gambon – Kazran Sardick & Professor Dumbledore
Sir Michael Gambon began his acting career performing alongside the likes of Laurence Olivier, becoming one of the original members of the Royal National Theatre. Over his 60-year career, he’s earned three Olivier Awards and four BAFTAs and even received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II. But the acting legend proved he’s not above portraying a fan-favorite character on screen when he stepped into one of the most iconic roles in cinema, taking over from the late, great Richard Harris as Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films. Gambon paid tribute to Harris’s ethereal, instantly likeable take on the role whilst subtly evolving the part to make it more his own over the course of the movies.
But Whovians might instead know Gabon as Kazran Sardick, the miserly old money lender in the Doctor Who 2010 Christmas special, “A Christmas Carol.” Like Scrooge before him, Gambon’s character was a curmudgeon set on allowing a whole spacecraft of people die for no other reason than apathy, when he is the only person who can save them. Kazran is eventually redeemed only by the Eleventh Doctor’s timey-wimey intervention when he uses the TARDIS to travel back and befriend Kazran as a child in the hope of changing his ways in time to save the doomed spacecraft above. After the twinkly-eyed, (usually) calm and collected Dumbledore, it’s fun to see Gambon take on such a different, more animated character. During an appearance at the London Film and Comic Con, Gabon reportedly admitted he felt he “wasn’t very good” on Doctor Who, but we think he might be being a little harsh on himself! The episode was certainly one of the show’s more memorable Christmas specials.
3) Helen McCrory – Rosanna Calvierri & Narcissa Malfoy
The late Helen McCrory left a mark on both franchises with roles that displayed her gravitas and quiet stage presence as an actor. In Doctor Who, she played Rosanna Calvierri, the matriarch of a vampiric alien species masquerading as a Venetian noble and patron of the city in the Season 5 episode “The Vampires of Venice.” Despite the character’s evil plot (kidnapping the daughters of Venetian nobles under the guise of running a boarding school), one can’t help feeling somewhat sorry for Rosanna, as it turns out she is converting the girls into females of her own species to ensure its survival. While it might not justify her actions, her motivation is understandable, and McCrory brought a formidable determination and strength to the character that viewers could recognise as stemming from the love of a mother.
In Harry Potter, she embodied a similarly formidable mother figure in Narcissa Malfoy — a character who ultimately risked everything and defied Voldemort (who, by the way, was a skilled legilimens — or mind reader), lying to his face when asked to confirm if Harry was dead, out of love for her son Draco. Despite having minimal lines, McCrory brought a real humanity to Narcissa. Just from mannerisms and body language, we could tell this was a character stuck between a rock and a hard place, forced to go along with an evil regime she probably doesn’t fully agree with in order to protect her family. Both roles showed McCrory’s gift for speaking volumes with few words.
4) Bill Nighy – Dr. Black & Rufus Scrimgeour
In another example of an actor playing wildly different roles across franchises, eagle-eyed fans might have spotted Bill Nighy in one of Doctor Who’s more bittersweet episodes, “Vincent and the Doctor.” Nighy brought a quiet poignancy to his cameo as Dr. Black, a bumbling art expert in the Musée d’Orsay in France whose warm words about his favorite painter (who unbeknownst to him was standing right behind him) finally let Vincent van Gogh appreciate his worth. It’s perhaps one of the funniest moments in the episode when Dr. Black does a double-take at the man who’s just shaken his hand before deciding that, of course, it can’t possibly be Van Gogh himself, can it?
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Nighy brought us a vastly different character as the no-nonsense Rufus Scrimgeour, the newly elected and doomed Minister for Magic, who, unlike his predecessor Fudge, stood up against Voldemort before unfortunately being killed. Scrimgeour wasn’t the most likable character, not being particularly fond of Harry and his friends due to Harry’s refusal to cooperate with the Ministry and be a poster boy in the fight against Voldemort, but Nighy definitely brought a commanding presence to the role. Both parts were brief but extremely well played by Nighy.
5) Toby Jones – The Dream Lord & Dobby
Toby Jones OBE (who earned acclaim for his recent role in ITV drama Mr Bates vs. The Post Office) certainly has a talent for voices. While he didn’t actually appear in Harry Potter on screen, Jones lent his voice to bring to life Dobby, the Malfoys’ devoted house-elf whose arrival in Harry’s life brings chaos in its wake. Dobby was a fan favorite in the Harry Potter franchise, appearing in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and The Deathly Hallows: Part 1, and his tragic sacrifice remains one of the film series’ most heartbreaking moments. Jones’s voicework as the renegade house elf is iconic and it’s safe to say the free elf we all know and love wouldn’t have been the same without him.
In Doctor Who, Jones took on a much darker role, portraying the Dream Lord, a sinister manifestation of The Doctor’s own darker impulses in the Season 5 episode “Amy’s Choice.” At first, we are unaware of who the Dream Lord really is, and Jones is undeniably creepy as the unknown entity, as he torments The Doctor, seemingly knowing everything about the Time Lord, while we know nothing about him in return. Jones’s performance, though a one-off, sticks in the memory of Whovian’s as one of the more disturbing of Doctor Who villains, especially after the reveal that he is, in fact, a sort of version of the Doctor, as it reminds us of the less savoury aspects of our hero’s personality, buried deep down.
6) Mark Williams – Brian Williams & Arthur Weasley
Actor and comedian Mark Williams seems to have staked his claim on the market of lovable dad roles. In Doctor Who, he played the eternally affable Brian Williams, Rory’s endearingly awkward father, who in Season 7’s “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship” found himself unwittingly brought along for the ride when the Doctor materialized the TARDIS around him. Despite some (understandable) initial confusion, he soon took it all in his stride, and returned in “The Power of Three” to assist The Doctor, Amy, and Rory with their investigation of the “invasion of the very small cubes.” Despite only appearing in two episodes, with his amiable demeanor and earnest desire to help The Doctor, he quickly became a fan favorite.
