He is known among his co-stars for being extremely clumsy. Producers even made bets on how long it would take him to break props.
He was the one who insisted that the Doctor wear his distinctive bow tie.
Before being cast as the Doctor, he auditioned for the role of John Watson in Sherlock (2010) but was rejected for being too eccentric. Steven Moffat claimed that Smith would have made a good Sherlock if Benedict Cumberbatch had not yet been cast.
At 26, he was the youngest actor to take on the role of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction series Doctor Who (2005). The youngest person was Peter Davison, who was 29 when he was cast in Doctor Who (1963) in 1981.
When he learned that Jodie Whittaker had been cast as the first female Doctor, he called her and sang the entire Doctor Who (2005) theme tune on her voicemail.
He owns the tweed jacket usually worn by his Eleventh Doctor.
He was the first lead actor in Doctor Who (2005) to be nominated for a BAFTA in the Best TV Actor category.
He is very interested in music. He can play the guitar and enjoys buying and collecting records. His favourite band is Radiohead.
In his youth he was a talented footballer and considered going professional, but after a back injury he had to give it up and turned to acting.
Unlike his predecessor David Tennant, he was not a fan of Doctor Who (1963) growing up. The original series was cancelled shortly after his seventh birthday due to poor viewing figures.
He was discovered by agent Wendy Padbury. Padbury was an actress before becoming a manager; one of her best-known roles was Zoe Heriot, companion of the Second Doctor in Doctor Who (1963).
He was considered for the role of Newt Scamander in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016).
He is a fan of Futurama (1999).
He is good friends with Doctor Who (2005) alumni Billie Piper, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill and Jenna Coleman.
He was in a relationship with actress Lily James from 2014 until late 2019.
He is the first actor since Sylvester McCoy whose face appears in the opening titles of Doctor Who (2005).
He was nominated for a 2018 Emmy Award in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series category for his role as Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in The Crown (2016), but lost to Peter Dinklage for Game of Thrones (2011).
He is the first actor to play the Doctor who was born after the death of William Hartnell (who died in 1975), the first (and earliest-born) actor to play the Doctor. Had Hartnell lived long enough, he would have been almost 75 when Smith was born.
He studied drama and creative writing at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich.
He has worked many times with his friend and Doctor Who (2005) alumna Billie Piper. They appeared together in The Ruby in the Smoke (2006), The Shadow in the North (2007) and Secret Diary of a Call Girl (2007) before working together on the Doctor Who (2005) 50th anniversary special.
He was voted Best Male Actor by readers of Doctor Who Magazine for his work in the 2010 season.
As of 2015, he and Christopher Eccleston are the only actors to have played the Doctor who never faced the Doctor's arch-enemy, the Master, in an episode.
Like many of his predecessors in the role of the Doctor, he became a great admirer of Patrick Troughton's portrayal of the Second Doctor as part of his preparation. He incorporated many aspects of Troughton's portrayal into his own approach.
He auditioned for the lead role in Merlin (2008).
Among the eleven actors who have played the Doctor in Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who: The Movie (1996) and Doctor Who (2005), he and Christopher Eccleston are the only two who never worked with the late Nicholas Courtney, who played Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart in the former from 1968 to 1989 and in numerous Big Finish audio dramas.
On 7 October 2013, it was announced at London's Almeida Theatre that Smith would play Patrick Bateman in the musical adaptation of American Psycho. The run began in December 2013. He was cast despite having no previous singing experience.
He was considered for the role of Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019).
He is a former member of the National Youth Theatre.
In 2015, Smith was named one of GQ's 50 Best-Dressed British Men.
He was considered for the role of the Joker in Suicide Squad (2016).
He attended Northampton School for Boys.
He auditioned for Will Chandler in The Inbetweeners (2008), but was deemed "too dashing" for the role of a loser.
He is both the eleventh actor to play the Doctor and the eleventh person named "Matt Smith" listed on IMDb.
He shaved his sideburns for Lost River (2014) and Patient Zero (2018).
Both he and former Doctor Who (2005) lead actress Jenna Coleman have played Pride and Prejudice characters and royal figures. Matt plays Parson Collins in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016) and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in Netflix's The Crown (2016). Jenna plays Lydia Wickham in the BBC's Death Comes to Pemberley (2013) and Queen Victoria in ITV's Victoria (2016).
He was due to reprise the role of the Eleventh Doctor in Sky: Part Two (2011), but his commitment to A Christmas Carol (2010) prevented it.
He is a fan of Blackburn Rovers Football Club.
He was considered for Carlton Drake in Venom (2018).
He was approached for the role of Aesyklos in 300: Rise of an Empire (2014) but turned it down. The role went to Hans Matheson.
He has not seen all of the Star Wars films.