The Complete Transformation Of House Of The Dragon Star Matt Smith

From Time Lord to Targaryen, actor Matt Smith has kept fans worldwide both entertained and eager as to which fantastical role he'll choose next. Throughout his career on stage and on screen, he's traversed sci-fi, fantasy, and mystery to become a Hollywood heartthrob. But the untold truth of Matt Smith shows layers to the performer that are not always visible in his performances. 

Though he initially pursued a different path than acting, the "House of the Dragon" star has embraced his life as a performer, something he calls his "dream job": "It's something I feel happy to do every day," he told The Gentleman's Journal. But he also admits that there is still an element of work to it that keeps him grounded. "If it's tough, it's meant to be tough. It's work, isn't it? At the end of the day, it's not always meant to be a jolly. Ultimately, you're there to work, to deliver something."

Growing up in Northampton, England, Matt Smith spent much of his youth playing football. He played for several youth clubs in his hometown, as well as with Nottingham Forrest and Leicester City, during his teenage years. But a devastating back injury pulled him from the game at the hardest time, sending the young Smith into a tailspin. "Football was so intrinsically part of my identity, that when that changed, I was like, 'God, now what?'" he shared with the Gentleman's Journal. "I was always Matt the footballer, so now what am I?"

When his school drama teacher stepped in and recognized a new avenue for his talent, Smith was initially hesitant to change his path. "You worry what your mates are going to say [when they learn] Matt's going to be in a musical in school," he explained to the outlet. But with encouragement from both his teacher and his mother, he eventually came around and decided that he loved this new era of life. He even chose to continue developing his craft in school. "When I was thinking of what to study at university, I thought I might as well do something I enjoy, so I did drama and creative writing," he once told Broadway.com.

As he began to solidify acting as his calling, Matt Smith joined notable training programs for youth performers, including the National Youth Theatre. While there, the "House of the Dragon" actor got firsthand experience performing on stage. He appeared in a number of professional productions with the company like "Murder in the Cathedral" and "The Master and Margarita." 

He booked an agent while still in school, meaning he had to convince his university to work with him to achieve both his degree and his destiny. "I said to them, 'I want to be an actor so you've got to let me go and do this,'" he shared with Broadway.com. "I would get the reading list and do my work and send it back to them."

He continued on to the famous and well-respected National Theatre in plays including the trilogy of "Burn/Chatroom/Citizenship." One of his most prominent roles at the institution was as Lockwood, one of the pupils in the lauded play "The History Boys." "As a young actor, there is no better place to learn your craft [than the National]," he gushed. During that same time, he also booked several roles for the BBC, but it was the stage that kept him coming back. "It keeps you improving in a way, it sort of keeps your craft alive..." he once explained to Interview Magazine.

In 2009, mainstream audiences got to know Matt Smith in a whole new way with his debut as the Eleventh Doctor on the legendary BBC series "Doctor Who." Following in the formidable footsteps of the previous (and beloved) doctor, David Tennant, Smith had some sizable space shoes to fill — and he knew that the pressure was on from the get-go."I'm flabbergasted," he shared on a BBC special announcing his casting (per The Independent). "I haven't slept. It has the iconic status of Robin Hood or Sherlock Holmes, and I'm taking it on."

At the time, Smith became the youngest actor to portray the Doctor in the series' history. He played the role for three seasons and multiple full-length specials alongside Karen Gillan, Rory Williams, Jenna Coleman, and Alex Kingston, before departing in 2013. 

Even as he continued to create his own mark on the classic character, his thespian senses knew that there was a balance to find both in the role and outside of it. "Any actor worth his salt has a responsibility to reinvent himself from part to part," explained to The Guardian. "...But hopefully the work I do after coming off the 'Doctor' will be of a different... tone."

After entering the TARDIS for the last time in 2013, Matt Smith turned to both an old love and a new one as he continued his acting career. He returned to the stage in the starring role of Patrick Bateman in the musical adaptation of "American Psycho" at London's Almeida Theatre. The role was quite the departure from the Doctor, something that he would later find again as Daemon Targaryen in "House of the Dragon." "What I like about [these characters] is there's an inner quality to them," he told The Mary Sue. "There's an inner chaos. There's an inner storm, there's an inner uncomfortableness to sort of an outward polish that I think is really interesting..."

Simultaneously, Smith appeared in movies like "Terminator: Genisys" and "Patient Zero." In the former, Smith played the (spoiler alert) human embodiment of Skynet, the AI overseer in the "Terminator" universe. At the time, the star expressed interest to step out of his well-known alter ego, especially in a lauded series like "The Terminator." "This is a completely different role to the Doctor, which again is one of the things that appealed to me, and hopefully allows me to stretch a few different muscles," he shared with Den of Geek.

Before long, Matt Smith returned to his television roots for another widely lauded series. This time, he starred in the historical drama anthology "The Crown" as Prince Phillip, opposite Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth II. The role even earned him his first Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. 

Though the role only lasted two seasons before Tobias Menzies took over the role, Smith found it to be a challenge worth diving into, as he does with all of his characters. "[I look for] something that frightens me," he told Variety about choosing a role. "Something that feels sort of slightly outside of my comfort zone."

While Smith and Foy played husband and wife on screen, their real-life relationship reflected their on-screen partnership. Even when shady things happened behind the scenes on "The Crown," Smith always had Foy's back. In particular, Smith stood up for his co-star when it was revealed that he was paid more for his work as a supporting actor than Foy was for the main character. "I think we were both embarrassed really because Claire did the most work," he told the outlet. "She worked the hardest and she should be rewarded in response to that." The two have continued to work together both on screen and on stage, later appearing in the play "Lungs" on the West End and Broadway.

No stranger to landmark television, Matt Smith joined the "Game of Thrones" universe in the spinoff series "House of the Dragon" in the post-pandemic era. Starring alongside Emma D'Arcy and Olivia Cooke, Smith portrayed Daemon Targaryen, an anti-hero adjacent, fallen dragon prince and uncle/husband to D'Arcy's Rhaenyra Targaryen. (It's "Game of Thrones," after all...) "I had the same feeling when I took Doctor Who," he told The Guardian . "Thank God I did. It changed my life. To this day, it is just the most brilliant of jobs."

Of all the things to know about the "House of the Dragon" cast, physical fitness was something that was emphasized for the action-packed epic. Smith was no exception, especially building stamina to film those brutal battle sequences. "It's a big 10-month shoot," he explained to The Hollywood Reporter. "So physically, it was really draining." He's even experienced some setbacks on set, including an injury involving a helmet hitting a disc in his neck while filming. But despite it all, he has still remained grateful to play another dynamic character on this scale. "I always knew I could add something to it. It won't be to everyone's pace, I'm sure. But I certainly feel that I've made a connection with Daemon and with the other actors as well."

As his star has risen, so has Matt Smith's star power. That has translated to the silver screen in the post-COVID era, where he's starred in major motion pictures alongside other big-name stars. He got mysterious with Anya Taylor-Joy in "Last Night in Soho," played a villain opposite Jared Leto in the villainous vampire-based "Morbius," and pulled Austin Butler into a world of trouble in "Caught Stealing." "I want to get back to the frame of mind I had when I was younger, when the level of focus was pretty laser," he told The Guardian in 2024 of his work ethic.

Apart from the formidable movie stars he starred alongside, he also teamed up with some of Hollywood's most in-demand directors for these films, including Edgar Wright and Darren Aronofsky. In fact, it was Smith's role in Wright's "Last Night in Soho" that partially inspired Aronofsky to cast Smith in "Caught Stealing. "I was definitely looking for someone who was going to be authentic and real, and when I saw Matt... it was just very clear," Aronofsky explained to Yahoo! UK. "...You want a guy who's going to take a different bite at the apple each time..."

Matt Smith usually keeps who he is dating to himself. But that hasn't stopped tabloids over the years from giving fans a peek into his love life. He and model Daisy Lowe were going strong until 2013, when a series of nude photos leaked of the two online. They broke up not long afterward. He also dated his "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" co-star Lily James for several years, and the pair had a complicated romance before calling it quits sometime around 2019. There were even rumors that part of the reason for his split with the "Mamma Mia" actor was due to his close relationship with "The Crown" co-star Claire Foy. By 2022, he was linked to businesswoman Caroline Brady,

Despite the public fervor around his relationship status, the "Doctor Who" standout still thinks of himself as someone looking for love. "A loving relationship is important and rewarding, and I am a romantic," he once admitted to Digital Spy. But that's not all he's looking for, he has emphasized that it's all about family. "I do think that's what life is all about in the end. Children. Making a family," he admitted to Esquire. "You know, when you're dead, and you're on the slab, that's what'll count."

Much like his mohawk-sporting character in Darren Aronofsky's "Caught Stealing," Matt Smith has willingly brought the punk rock aspect of his life into the limelight front and center — even if he sees the irony of embracing it after filming wrapped. "I don't know if many actors are punks, believe you me," he told Hunger. "There's a lot of needing validation there." But in the end, there's a simple explanation for Smith's take on punk: charting your own path. "... it's just about you deciding that there's your own system," he said. It's also a mentality outside of work, protecting those he cares about. "I'm a punk about certain things in my life that I love..," he shared.

One thing that's not punk to the actor? Social media, of which he is decidedly not a fan. "I like talking to people," he said in a webchat interview with The Guardian. "...I think people consider social media for far too much of their day. Look what we're doing now! This isn't normal. It's sunny. We should all be outside."