Matt Smith has become one of the most renowned English actors on TV after rising to prominence in the 2010s. Smith played the eleventh incarnation of the Doctor in the BBC’s long-running sci-fi programme before portraying Prince Philip in Netflix’s The Crown, a royal performance which earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.
However, things could have turned out so differently had the stars aligned for the now-39-year-old. Before embarking on his acting career, Smith had aspirations to be a professional footballer.
Any chances of making the cut were ultimately scuppered by a back condition known as spondylosis. This led to him being released by Leicester City at the age of 16, at which point his acting venture truly began.
