The 10 best Matt Smith movies and TV shows, ranked (2024)

10. Lost River (2014)

Although Lost River debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, it took almost a full year before Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut received a theatrical release. That’s pretty surprising considering the film boasts a cast that includes Christina Hendricks, Saoirse Ronan, Ben Mendelsohn, Eva Mendes, famed scream queen Barbara Steele, and — you guessed it — Matt Smith.

The eerie (and oddly surreal) film concerns Billy (Hendricks), a single mother in a rough area of Detroit. When her son Bones tries to help make extra money for the family by swiping copper piping from abandoned houses, he crosses paths with Bully (Smith), a nasty and exceedingly cruel criminal who wants the loot for himself.

The film isn’t impressive and failed to bring in the big bucks at the box office, but it still gave Smith one of his first opportunities to shine as a character actor on the big screen.

Where to watch Lost River: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)

9. Morbius (2022)

The character of Morbius has been a staple of the Marvel Universe since the early 1970s. And though there have been many attempts to bring him to the big screen since the 2000s, it took until 2022 for the villain to get his own film in Morbius. Played by Jared Leto, Dr. Michael Morbius is a scientist whose work with artificial blood, designed to cure his rare blood illness, leads him into a gene-splicing experiment with vampire bats — which turns him into a vampire.

Smith plays Milo, Michael’s surrogate brother who suffers from the same disease and also takes the cure. But whereas Michael is trying to fight his vampiric tendencies, Milo embraces his bloodlust. It’s a role that gives Smith a chance to stretch his legs, so to speak, with EW’s critic noting how he “excels at the poor-little-rich-boy villainy of his character, a tragic aristocrat whose eyes gleam with mania.”

Where to watch Morbius: Disney+

8. Charlie Says (2018)

From the director of American Psycho, Mary Harron’s Charlie Says revolves around writer Karlene Faith’s (Merritt Wever) attempt to deprogram former female members of the Manson Family. As Manson himself, Smith has lots of heavy lifting to do, including plenty of research into the infamous cult leader and his crimes. “I still have absolutely no idea who he is,” Smith told EW in 2019, “and there’s something about that that is fascinating. I don’t know where the true Charlie and the false Charlie ends.”

Perhaps the greatest aspect of Smith’s performance is that it isn’t over-utilized. He captures Manson’s charisma to such a degree that he could have easily distracted from the tragic arcs of his followers, but Harron keeps the narrative on course. Smith is captivating whenever he’s on screen, but more importantly, you can feel his presence even when he isn’t there.

Where to watch Charlie Says: AMC+

7. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016)

Author Seth Grahame-Smith caused quite a comical stir in the literary scene with his 2009 novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies… and by “his novel,” of course, we mean Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, except with 100% more zombies. It’s no surprise that Hollywood came knocking soon after, resulting in this film adaptation a few years later.

If you’re familiar with Austen’s novel, then it seems like overkill to rehash the plot of the film, except perhaps to mention that Mr. Darcy (Sam Riley) is now Colonel Darcy, and he’s a zombie killer of some renown. In this version of early 19th-century England, there are undead hordes everywhere you look, so it’s a skill that makes him a valuable commodity.

Meanwhile, Smith tackles the role of Parson Collins, and while it’s not a major part, he makes the most of it. Indeed, EW’s review singled him out as “show-stealing” and described his character as a “hilariously full-of-himself clergyman.”

Where to watch Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)

6. Last Night in Soho (2021)

Edgar Wright has specialized in genre, and genre pastiche, since the start of his career. With his gorgeous Last Night in Soho, he added giallo and psychological thriller to his palette — and since this is Wright after all, he set it all to an amazing ’60s soundtrack.

Thomasin McKenzie stars as Ellie Turner, a student at the London College of Fashion. While renting a room in the house of Ms. Collins (Diana Rigg), an elderly woman who seems relatively pleasant but won’t put up with any shenanigans, Ellie has intensely vivid dreams where she finds herself in swinging ’60s London. Her visions soon mesh with the life of Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy), an aspiring singer at the time whose manager Jack (Smith) may or may not have her best interests at heart.

If you haven’t seen the film yet, then elaborating any further would be a sin, so we’ll simply say it’s a hell of a horror film — and as EW’s critic wrote, Smith is “breezily good as the slippery Jack.”

Where to watch Last Night in Soho: Freevee on Amazon Prime

5. Official Secrets (2019)

Keira Knightley is unquestionably the star of the British political thriller Official Secrets, based on whistleblower Katharine Gun’s efforts to reveal the lies surrounding the way the U.S. (and, by extension, the U.K.) found its way into the war on Iraq over supposed “weapons of mass destruction.” However, Smith gets a lot of solid screen time playing journalist Martin Bright.

Indeed, Smith is part of a trifecta of talented actors — the others being Matthew Goode and Rhys Ifans, playing Peter Beaumont and Ed Vulliamy, respectively — who give journalism a good name by utilizing the information Gun leaks and getting the truth out there.

EW’s critic said the film is chock full of “the kind of righteous, perfectly calibrated indignation that happens much more often in Aaron Sorkin dramas than in real life, but there’s satisfaction, too, in watching so many good actors do their crisply voweled best with the material.”

Where to watch Official Secrets: The Roku Channel

4. His House (2020)

Although it’s readily available on Netflix, His House is easily the least known of Smith’s films to appear on this list. Even after over 120 reviews, it still holds a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and it yet remains under the radar for the average viewer partially because its two leads are relative unknowns.

Sope Dirisu and Wunmi Mosaku star as Bol and Rial, married refugees from South Sudan who leave their warring homeland behind by hopping aboard a too-crowded motorboat and setting their sights on England, though their daughter sadly doesn’t survive the journey. Upon being granted probationary asylum, finding tenement housing, and teaming with a case worker named Mark (Smith), the couple’s fortune worsens further with an apparently evil force living in their home.

As you might reasonably guess from the description above, Smith’s role is more on the sidelines, but he’s still a key figure who is a rare force of good in a world of hurt and indifference. More importantly, His House draws upon the immigrant experience to form a great piece of original horror, one that more folks should be watching and embracing.

Where to watch His House: Netflix

3. House of the Dragon (2022–present)

The world at large was giddily awaiting the Game of Thrones spinoff, House of the Dragon, from the moment it was green-lit by HBO in 2019. But even those familiar with author George R.R. Martin’s source material were probably still startled by the way Smith took to playing Prince Daemon Targaryen, a.k.a. the so-called “Rogue Prince.”

EW’s season 1 review described Smith’s character as “a walking personification of the TV-MA rating,” clarifying that he “lives out of a brothel and commands his City Watch to punish minor misdemeanors with major amputation.” Yikes.

As Prince Daemon, Smith makes sneering bitterness an entire personal aesthetic. His slithery, charismatic charm feels almost dismissive, as if simply a cloak for his ruthless, violent ambition and built-in sense of entitlement. For an actor who had not already played the coveted Doctor, it might have been a career-defining role.

Where to watch House of the Dragon: Max

2. Doctor Who (2010–2014)

It was always going to be a tough road for anyone tasked with taking over for fan favorite David Tennant on Doctor Who, but as the Eleventh Doctor, Smith had one major advantage: He started at the same time as his character’s new companion, Amy Pond (Karen Gillan).

Additionally, Smith’s take on the Doctor — not to mention his look — was so decidedly different from Tennant’s that it was relatively easy for him to find his footing and forge a strong fanbase of his own. In addition to bringing back the glory of the bow tie, he managed to make fezzes cool again, which is an impressive achievement in and of itself.

“The storytelling inDoctor Whois quite universal,” Smith told EW in 2011. “I think there will always be stories that are interesting about this mad man who turns up and saves the universe with a cricket bat and piece of string and a toaster. There’s something interestingly ridiculous about it. It’s a wonderful televisual conceit. One of the greatest.”

Where to watch Doctor Who: Max

1. The Crown (2016–2017)

Although it’s a top-shelf pun, it also happens to be true that The Crown — which features the life and career of Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth II — was a jewel in Netflix’s own crown for six seasons. For the purposes of our conversation, however, the focus is squarely on its first two seasons, when Smith teamed with Claire Foy to play the Prince Philip to her Queen Elizabeth II.

In addition to the series’ various accolades, Smith earned his first Emmy nomination for the role. It’s not hard to see why. His take on Prince Philip is both humanizing and unmerciful, cutting to the bone of a man portrayed in contradictory terms — petulant yet statesmanlike, intensely ambitious yet ineffectual, relatable one minute and contemptible the next. Smith has internalized it all, and his Philip evokes a lived-in authenticity.

If nothing else, Smith’s Philip — and Foy’s Elizabeth — set the performance standard for the entire future of the show. EW's review of the season 2 finale put it simply: “What a tremendous job they did and have certainly set the bar for seasons to come.”

Where to watch The Crown: Netflix