Matt Smith

Matt Smith (born 28th October 1982) has been announced as the actor who will portray Eleventh Doctor. He will take over the role from 2010 onwards, taking over the role from Tenth Doctor actor David Tennant at the end of the 2009 specials. At 26, he will be the youngest actor to portray the Doctor the title role of Doctor Who.

Early life
Smith grew up in Northampton and attended Northampton School for Boys. He originally wanted to be a footballer but had to give up football after a back injury. . After encouragement from his drama teacher he joined the National Youth Theatre.

He studied at University of East Anglia, reading Drama and Creative Writing.

Casting
Speculation towards the identity of the Eleventh Doctor began on 28 June 2008; the penultimate episode of the fourth series, "The Stolen Earth", ended as the Doctor was regenerating after being shot by a Dalek's death ray. The lack of a trailer for the second part, "Journey's End", prompted a media and public frenzy surrounding the show which helped Doctor Who attain the highest position in the weekly ratings—first—in the show's history. The rumoured replacements included Catherine Tate then playing Donna Noble, the Doctor's companion, Robert Carlyle, Jason Statham, Alan Davies, and James Nesbitt.

The Daily Mail also reported the theories that two Doctors could be created eventually proven to be correct and that Tennant's announcement that he would leave in 2009 was a bluff to create a shock regeneration.

Tennant announced he would be stepping down from portraying the Doctor at the National Television Awards on 29 October 2008, because he felt that the four years he spent portraying the character was enough and to ease the transition from Russell T Davies's showrunning to Steven Moffat's. At the time, the BBC published that one-time Doctor Who guest star Paterson Joseph was the bookmaker's favourite to succeed Tennant and would become the first black Doctor, followed by David Morrissey who was appearing as Jackson Lake (a character who believes himself to be the Doctor) in the 2008 Christmas special "The Next Doctor". Other candidates included Sean Pertwee, son of Third Doctor actor Jon Pertwee; James Nesbitt (who starred in Moffat's version of Jekyll; and James McAvoy. In his 2008 book, The Writer's Tale, Russell T. Davies expressed a preference for Russell Tovey, who portrayed Alonzo Frame in the 2007 Christmas special "Voyage of the Damned".

"The Doctor is a very special part, and it takes a very special actor to play him. You need to be old and young at the same time, a boffin and an action hero, a cheeky schoolboy and the wise old man of the universe. As soon as Matt walked through the door, and blew us away with a bold and brand new take on the Time Lord, we knew we had our man." ——Executive Producer Steven Moffat on Smith's casting.

At 26 years old, Smith is the youngest actor to portray the Doctor, three years younger than Peter Davison, who took on the role at the age of 29 (Smith was in fact born 10 months after the start of the Davison era). Smith was one of the first actors to audition for the role, and the production team immediately singled him out based on his performance. The BBC were cautious about casting him because they felt that a 26-year-old could not play the Doctor adequately; BBC Wales Head of Drama Piers Wenger shared the same sentiment, but noted that Smith was capable enough to play the role. Smith was informed of his casting some weeks prior to the official announcement, and stated in an interview with the BBC that it was a challenge keeping it a secret; according to a Sunday Mirror article, Smith attended his first Doctor Who-related photoshoot on 24 December 2008, but the photographer and hairstylist were not informed that it was for Doctor Who and an image of the TARDIS was digitally added later. The BBC gave fans and the public only a day's notice that it would be announcing the new Doctor on 3 January, and Smith's casting in the role was revealed during a special episode of Doctor Who's companion show Doctor Who Confidential aired on that date, during which he deemed it to be: "a wonderful privilege and challenge that I hope I will thrive on". Doctor Who's incoming Executive Producer Steven Moffat praised Smith's audition, noting that he was impressed by Smith's "brand new take on the Time Lord".

Career
Smith did not go to drama school but was a former member of the National Youth Theatre. His performance in The Master and Margarita secured him an agent leading on to his first professional performance in Fresh Kills opposite Christian Slater. Further roles came as he appeared in On the Shore of the Wide World before then moving on with co-stars Thomas Morrison and Steven Webb to Alan Bennet's History Boys.

After History Boys, he moved into television appearing in the BBC Television adaptations of The Ruby In The Smoke and The Shadow in the North alongside Billie Piper (who has appeared as Rose Tyler), then as Danny Foster in the BBC TV series Party Animals.

In January 2009, his casting as the Eleventh Doctor was announced on a special episode of Doctor Who Confidential.

He said in an interview for Doctor Who Confidential that he had to keep it a secret and couldn't tell anyone, the only person he told was his Dad because he felt like he was going mad.

He has said in other interviews that although he was esctatic when he heard he'd been cast as The Doctor (because it is such an iconic part) he had never been a fan of Doctor Who.

Awards

 * 2008 Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement or Performance in an Affiliate Theatre Nominee : Cast member of That Face


 * 2006 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play: Cast member of On the Shore of the Wide World