Emmerdale favourite William Ash’s life could have looked completely different17:48, 12 Aug 2026William Ash is known to millions as Caleb Miligan on Emmerdale - but it turns out he almost had a very different career…‌The talented star joined the ITV soap back in 2022 as Caleb, the long-lost brother of Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley). As well as Emmerdale, William has appeared in several other TV shows and projects.‌His other TV credits include Coronation Street, Making Out, Death in Paradise, Casualty and Doctor Who. William also played Christopher Mead on BBC’s Waterloo Road from 2009 to 2011, reports the Daily Star.‌However, life could have looked a lot different for William, who originally planned to go down a rather different career path.Now 49, William grew up in Chadderton near Oldham, and had an engineer father and a police civilian mother. His early years included aspirations of becoming a football player, inspired by his dad's history in semi-professional sports.‌“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," William revealed in a past interview with Inkpellet back in 2012.As a boy William wanted a career in football, however, an injury unfortunately put an end to his dream. He added to the publication: “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 his attention to acting, after he broke his leg, William revealed he decided to take a year off and applied to do sociology at Nottingham. However, he admitted he “chose to knock it on the head. I was really lazy”. After applying for two drama schools, William was accepted by Bretton Hall and managed to get an agent in London.What’s more, it turns out William is not the only famous member in his family. His cousin is former Coronation Street star Peter Ash, who played Paul Foreman on the ITV soap until the character was killed off in 2024 following a deeply emotional motor neurone disease storyline.Article continues belowSpeaking proudly about his cousin's foray into the world of soap operas, Peter told The Metro: "He's doing great work. I'm loving it. I'm loving it, go on the Ash's".Peter's other TV credits include playing Darius Fry in Footballers' Wives between 2003 and 2006 and stints on Hollyoaks and Casualty.Emmerdale airs Monday to Friday at 8:00pm on ITV1 and ITVX