Matt Smith’s Net Worth

Matt Smith is an English actor who rose to worldwide fame as the Eleventh Doctor on Doctor Who, a British series that saw Smith in the lead role from 2010 to 2014. Fans of Netflix’s The Crown will also recognize him as the Duke of Edinburgh.

Smith has had no shortage of work in the last few years, including, most recently, HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon. Needless to say, Matt Smith’s net worth is steady growing at this point in his career. Read on to find out just how much he has earned from his acting and trace his journey from the beginning of his career til present day.

Early Life

Matthew Robert Smith was born on October 28th, 1982 in Northampton, England. His parents are Lynne and David Smith, and Smith also has a sister, Laura Jayne, who is a professional dancer. Smith attended the Northampton School for Boys. And he also played football with Nottingham Forest, Leicester City Northampton Town.

Smith suffered a severe back injury that prevented him from continuing his career as a football player. The injury helped to shift his focus to acting, after his cousin Leigh Killick signed him up for some school plays. He was initially reluctant as he thought acting would be detrimental to his social life. But upon Killick’s persuasion, Smith eventually joined National Youth Theatre.

Smith studied drama and creative writing at the University of East Anglia at Norwich and graduated in 2005. And during his time with the National Youth Theatre, he would appear in Murder in the Cathedral and The Master and Margarita. An agent noticed his acting skills and signed him to his first professional roles for the plays Fresh Kills and On the Shore of the Wide World.

Theater Performances

Smith has played numerous roles in theatrical productions, even while he was still at university. In 2005, he performed with the Royal National Theatre in History Boys. Soon afterward, he did Swimming with Sharks at Vaudeville Theatre.

In 2007, Smith joined the cast of That Face at Chelsea’s Royal Court Theatre Upstairs. He played the role of Henry, an aspiring artist who dropped out of school in order to care for his mother. Smith was nominated for Best Newcomer at the 2008 Laurence Olivier Awards for his impressive performance.

In 2013, it was announced that Smith would play the part of Patrick Bateman in the musical version of American Psycho at the Almeida Theatre in London. More recently, Smith renewed ties with his co-star in The Crown, Claire Foy, as they headed the cast of Lungs at The Old Vic in October 2019.

TV and Film Acting Career

The first TV role that Smith took on was as Jim Taylor in a BBC One movie The Ruby in the Smoke in 2006. A year later, he would play the same character in The Shadow in the North. In the same year, he also appeared in the drama Party Animals on BBC Two and was also a guest star on The Street and Secret Diary of a Call Girl.

Smith’s first foray onto the big screen was supposed to be in 2008 in Bruges. But unfortunately, his scenes were cut. Two years later, Smith appeared in Womb. It was during that year that he also took on the role of the Eleventh Doctor on Doctor Who. He was the youngest actor to take on the part.

Doctor Who

Smith starred in Doctor Who for a total of 54 episodes of the series. And by this point in his career, Matt Smith’s net worth was steadily on the rise. He reportedly received a salary of $232,000 to $290,000 per year of the series. However, that number was significantly less than David Tennant, who had the role prior to Smith. Tennant was said to make $1 million per year. 

The Crown

In 2016, Smith was cast to play the pivotal role of Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh in the Netflix original series The Crown. He portrayed the role for the first two seasons, which depicted the early years of Queen Elizabeth as the reigning monarch. The first season of the series cost Netflix a massive $140 million to produce.

Claire Foy, who played the first Queen Elizabeth II in the series, made around $40,000 per episode. This was while Smith was reported to make about $12,000 (or £10,000 at the time) more episode. This increase would have put his total per episode around $52,000. Needless to say, many fans were outraged by the difference in pay. And even Foy admitted that she was deeply hurt by the difference. 

Recent Work

Next up for Matt Smith will be House of the Dragon, which is a prequel series to Game of Thrones. His salary is reported to be $25,000 for each episode. Assuming Smith appears in all 10 episodes of the first season of the series, that will be a total of $250,000 earned from the project and added to Matt Smith’s net worth. 

There’s no official green light for House of Dragon Season 2. But Ryan Condal, who is co-showrunning the series, confirmed at San Diego Comic-Con in July that production is already planning for another season.

Awards and Nominations

Matt Smith won numerous awards for his performance as Doctor Who. He won the National Television Award for Most Popular Drama Performance in 2012 and in 2014. The role also earned Smith a Scream Award for Best Science Fiction Actor. Additionally, he won a couple of SFX Awards for Best Actor. Next, he was also nominated for Best Actor for four consecutive years at the TV Quick Awards and in 2011 at the BAFTA Awards.

The next batch of awards came from Smith’s performance as Prince Phillip in The Crown. The hit Netflix series earned him a nomination for a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor. He also earned Best Actor nominations two years in a row from the Broadcasting Press Guild Awards. He was also given a Gold Derby Award for Best Supporting Actor.

In the Online Film and Television Association Awards, he was also nominated for Best Actor in a Drama Series in 2017. And he was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2018.

Personal life

Matt Smith is said to be currently in a relationship with Caroline Brady, a 30-year-old investment banker. She is the sister of actress Millie Brady, who played Aethelflaed in The Last Kingdom from 2017 through 2022.

Previously, Smith had popularly dated actress Lily James, who had been his co-star in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The couple had been in an on and off relationship since 2014.

Around 2008, Smith had briefly dated Brazilian singer and actress, Mayana Moura. After they broke up, Smith was romantically linked to Daisy Lowe from 2010 to 2014. Lowe is the daughter of the designer Pearl Lowe and the musician Gavin Rossdale.

Matt Smith’s Net Worth 2022

Matt Smith’s net worth today is estimated at $9 million. The majority of that is accredited to work on Doctor Who and The Crown. Additionally, he is set to make $25,000 per episode of House of the Dragon. Not to mention, it’s highly likely that number will increase if the series is indeed renewed by HBO for a second season.

Aside from the new HBO series, Matt Smith fans can see him next in Starve Acre. The film is based on a novel by Andrew Michael Hurley.