戴维·麦维卡尔，McVicar was born in Glasgow in 1966. He studied as an actor at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, graduating in 1989. In 2007, The Independent ranked him among the 100 most influential gay and lesbian people in Britain. He was the guest on the BBC's Desert Island Discs on 5 October 2008. He was created a Knight Bachelor in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to opera.