‘House of the Dragon’ Actor Matt Smith’s Painful Condition Forced Him to Quit Soccer
Matt Smith, who plays Prince Daemon Targaryen on House of the Dragon, is now enjoying a lead role on HBO Max’s Game of Thrones spinoff series. So it might surprise some to learn the 39-year-old actor didn’t always envision a career in entertainment for himself. Smith opened up about the serious injury he had as a teenager and how it brought his plans of becoming a professional athlete to an abrupt halt.
‘House of the Dragon’: Matt Smith’s role and story details
House of the Dragon aired its first episode on HBO Max on Aug. 21, 2022. So far, the show has been a hit. In fact, the network recently confirmed (via Deadline) that it’s already given the green light for a House of the Dragon Season 2.
The show is based on George R.R. Martin’s 2018 Fire & Blood novel. House of the Dragon takes place roughly 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones and follows the reign of House Targaryen. While it’s unclear whether it will happen in season 1, the show will more than likely lead up to the Targaryen Civil War — also referred to as the The Dance of the Dragons.
On the show, Matt Smith plays Prince Daemon Targaryen. So far, Daemon is a morally gray character who will go to any lengths to get what he wants. He’s the brother to King Viserys I Targaryen, who rules the Seven Kingdoms from the Iron Throne. Daemon also acts as a confidant to his niece, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, who was declared the king’s successor at the end of episode 1.
A painful injury forced Smith to quit soccer
While he’s on a hit show now, Smith didn’t always want to be an actor. In his youth, Smith was on track to become a professional football (soccer) player. However, Leicester City released him at age 16 after he had a life-altering injury.
In a 2018 interview with Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs (via the Independent), Smith opened up about his painful back condition, spondylolysis. “It was a tough time because I just felt unfulfilled, to be honest,” he said. “I felt like I was so certain that that is what I was going to do.”
He continued: “It was very difficult for me to tell people that I had been released because the vain part of me was like, I am that and I am the footballer, you know, and at school I was the footballer and suddenly I wasn’t that.”
After his injury, Smith’s cousin encouraged him to take up acting. Thankfully, this worked in his favor. “Fortuitously there was a drama teacher, Terry Hardingham, who said, ‘You were never meant to be a footballer, I always thought you were really great at acting,’” Smith remembered.
But Smith kept his newfound passion under wraps for a while. He added: “I kept it secret for a bit. But, I got the same sense of freedom doing that, which is really difficult now as an actor, that I did playing football.”
Matt Smith’s other noteworthy roles, from ‘Doctor Who’ to ‘The Crown’
Smith’s breakout role was on the hit sci-fi series Doctor Who. He played the eleventh version of the Tardis-traveling Doctor between 2010 and 2013.
Another big moment in Smith’s career was his role as Prince Philip on the first two seasons of Netflix’s historical drama The Crown. Smith earned his first Emmy nomination in 2018 for his portrayal of the Duke of Edinburgh, where he was up for Best Supporting Actor. He starred alongside Claire Foy, who played Queen Elizabeth II.
The actor was also in 2021’s Last Night in Soho, where he played the mysterious Jack. Plus, he starred as the villain in Sony-Marvel’s Morbius. While the superhero flick didn’t exactly receive favorable reviews, critics generally regarded his performance as one of the better aspects of the film. It seems the transition from soccer to acting has worked out just fine for Matt Smith.
