Here is a little trivia about one of our favorite Doctor Who actors, Matt Smith. Born Matthew Robert Smith, he goes by Matt Smith as an actor. He is best known for his roles as the eleventh incarnation of the Doctor in the BBC series Doctor Who and Prince Philip in the Netflix series The Crown.
He wanted to be a professional footballer.
He was quite very talented and played for several youth teams, going on to become captain of one. The talent runs in his family. His grandfather played professionally and he saw himself following in his grandfather’s footsteps. His dreams of a career as a footballer ended with a bad back injury called spondylosis, which occurred when he was captain of his team. The team had no choice but to let him go. His teacher convinced him to give acting a try after the injury and the rest is history.
He was almost cast in BBC’s Sherlock.
He auditioned for the role of John Watson. Steven Moffat had already cast Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock and felt that the two were too similar in terms of personality and that the character of John Watson should bring a balance to Sherlock, not mirror him. Moffat did say that had he not cast Benedict as Sherlock, Matt would have made a good Sherlock. It’s a good thing that Moffat cast him as the Doctor not long after that.
He is passionate about music.
He can play the guitar. He has a record collection that he is proud of and enjoys adding to. His favorite bands include Radiohead and Oasis. He wanted to have a piano in the TARDIS and have a scene with his Doctor playing it. While that didn’t happen, we did get the Doctor playing the guitar on a tank as well as in subsequent episodes.
He’s incredibly clumsy.
He once spilled coffee on a woman, bought her a cup to apologize, and spilled that one on her, too. While filming in South Africa, he was told in no uncertain terms to stay away from the horses. He didn’t listen, got on one, and almost broke his neck falling off. He was also shot at while on location in South Africa, although that wasn’t his fault. He set his jacket down in a glass of grape juice when he took it off to keep it safe. People on set routinely place bets on how long it will take him to break props. The props department tried desperately to make his sonic screwdriver Matt-proof.
He is the youngest person to have been cast in the role of the Doctor.
Born October 28th, 1982, Matt was 26 years old when he started playing the Doctor. He beat out Peter Davidson’s age of 29. He is also the first actor to have the role of who was born after the death of William Hartnell, who played the first Doctor.
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