Matthew Robert Smith (born 28 October 1982, Northampton) is an English stage, film, and television actor. After abandoning football due to a back injury, he turned to drama training and took on his first major television role in the 2007 series Party Animals. In 2009 he was selected as the Eleventh Doctor in the series Doctor Who, becoming the youngest actor ever to portray the character. In subsequent years he portrayed Prince Philip in the series The Crown and Prince Daemon Targaryen in House of the Dragon, earning nominations for various awards including the Primetime Emmy and BAFTA.

Matt Smith was born on 28 October 1982 in Northampton, England. His parents are Lynne (Fidler) and David Smith, and he has a younger sister named Laura Jayne. During his youth he aspired to become a professional footballer and played in the academies of Leicester City and Nottingham Forest. However, he was forced to abandon this goal due to a back condition (spondylolysis) that ended his sporting career.

After his football career ended, while studying at Northampton School for Boys, he was encouraged by a drama teacher to focus on acting. Following the teacher’s advice, he took drama at advanced level (A Level) and decided to pursue acting as a profession. At age eighteen he left Northampton to enroll at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, where he studied drama and creative writing. In addition to his academic studies, he joined the National Youth Theatre of England. Before graduating, he secured an agent through the National Youth Theatre and began his professional acting career.

His early stage work included productions at London’s Royal Court and National Theatre. In 2004 he performed in the play Fresh Kills at the Royal Court, followed by a role in On the Shore of the Wide World at the National Theatre. He also portrayed the character Lockwood in Alan Bennett’s The History Boys and appeared in Murder in the Cathedral. He made his West End debut in 2007 in the play Swimming With Sharks alongside Christian Slater, and in 2008 shared the lead role with Lindsay Duncan in That Face at the Duke of York’s Theatre, portraying the character Henry.

Matthew Robert Smith’s professional screen career began in 2006 with roles in British television productions and continued with leading performances in television series from 2007 onward. Being selected as the youngest actor ever to play the lead in Doctor Who laid the foundation for international recognition. Following this project, he shifted his focus to numerous films and high-budget global television series.

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• 2006: He portrayed Jim Taylor in the BBC adaptation of Philip Pullman’s The Ruby in the Smoke alongside Billie Piper, marking his first television role.
• 2007: He reprised the role of Jim Taylor in the sequel series The Shadow in the North.
• 2007: He took on the role of researcher Danny Foster in the BBC political drama series Party Animals, his first significant television role.
• 2009–2013: In 2009 it was announced that he would join the cast of the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who as the Eleventh Doctor. At age twenty-six, he became the youngest actor to portray the lead character in the series. He appeared in a total of 49 episodes between 2010 and 2013. He departed from the series after appearing alongside David Tennant, John Hurt, and Tom Baker in the 2013 special episode The Day of the Doctor, marking the show’s 50th anniversary.
• 2010–2023: Following Doctor Who, he focused primarily on film projects. His filmography includes the following chronologically: Womb (2010), Christopher and His Kind (2011), Bert and Dickie (2012), Lost River (2014), Terminator Genisys (2015), Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016), Patient Zero (2018), Mapplethorpe (2018), Charlie Says (2018), Official Secrets (2019), His House (2020), The Forgiven (2021), Last Night in Soho (2021), Superworm (2021), Morbius (2022), and Starve Acre (2023).
• 2016–2017: He portrayed Prince Philip in the Netflix series The Crown.
• 2022–Present: He portrays Prince Daemon Targaryen in the HBO series House of the Dragon.
• Upcoming Projects: He is set to appear in the feature films Caught Stealing and Wishful Thinking, currently in production.

Smith supports charitable causes including Children in Need, a BBC-backed initiative helping children, and Sports Relief, which aids disadvantaged individuals. In 2015 he was featured in GQ magazine’s list of the “50 Best Dressed British Men.”

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Throughout his acting career, Smith has won several awards and received numerous nominations. For his role in Doctor Who, he was nominated for Best Actor at the BAFTA Television Awards in 2010 and 2011. He won the National Television Award for Most Popular Drama Performance in 2012 and 2014, the SFX Award in 2011 and 2012, and the Scream Award in 2011.

For his portrayal of Prince Philip in The Crown, he received a Primetime Emmy nomination in 2018 for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. He won the Gold Award for Best Actor at the 2018 Queen Palm International Film Festival for his performance in Mapplethorpe. For his role in House of the Dragon, he received a Critics Choice Award nomination in 2023 for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series and was nominated for Saturn Awards in 2024 and 2025.