Emmerdale actor William Ash, known to viewers as Caleb Miligan, originally dreamed of becoming a professional footballer before a broken leg changed his path.
The 49-year-old, who joined the ITV soap in 2022 as the long-lost brother of Cain Dingle, grew up in Chadderton near Oldham with an engineer father and a police civilian mother. His father's semi-professional football history inspired his early ambitions.
A Football Dream Cut Short
In a 2012 interview with Inkpellet, William revealed: "My dad played a lot of football and played semi-professionally and that is what I wanted to do, be a footballer, until I was 16/17."
He added: "I think I was deluded that I could make it as a footballer when I look at it! I broke my leg playing football when I was 15 and couldn't play for a year so the acting took over."
Turning to Acting
After the injury, William took a year off and applied to study sociology at Nottingham, but admitted he "chose to knock it on the head. I was really lazy." He then applied to two drama schools, was accepted by Bretton Hall, and secured an agent in London.
His acting credits include Coronation Street, Making Out, Death in Paradise, Casualty and Doctor Who, as well as playing Christopher Mead on BBC's Waterloo Road from 2009 to 2011.
Family Ties to Soap
William is not the only famous actor in his family. His cousin is former Coronation Street star Peter Ash, who played Paul Foreman until the character was killed off in 2024 following a motor neurone disease storyline.
Peter told The Metro about William: "He's doing great work. I'm loving it. I'm loving it, go on the Ash's." Peter's own credits include Darius Fry in Footballers' Wives from 2003 to 2006 and stints on Hollyoaks and Casualty.
Emmerdale airs Monday to Friday at 8:00pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
