Bill Nighy

Bill Nighy

Birthdate
December 12, 1949 (74 years old)
Place of Birth
Caterham, Surrey, England, UK
Known For
Acting

Details

Birthdate
December 12, 1949 (74 years old)
Place of Birth
Caterham, Surrey, England, UK
Known For
Acting

Biography

William Francis Nighy (born 12 December 1949) is an English actor. Known for his work on screen and stage, he has received numerous awards, including two BAFTA Awards, a Golden Globe Award and nominations for an Academy Award and a Tony Award.

Nighy started his career with the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool and made his London debut with the Royal National Theatre starting with The Illuminatus! in 1977. There he gained acclaim for his roles in David Hare's Pravda in 1985, Harold Pinter's Betrayal in 1991, Tom Stoppard's Arcadia in 1993, and Anton Chekov's The Seagull in 1994. He received a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor nomination for his performance in Blue/Orange in 2001. He made his Broadway debut in Hare's The Vertical Hour in 2006, and returned in the 2015 revival of Hare's Skylight earning a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play nomination.

Early film roles include in the comedies Still Crazy (1998), and Blow Dry (1999) before his breakout role in Love Actually (2003) which earned him a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor. He soon gained recognition portraying Davy Jones in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series (2006-2007), and Viktor in the Underworld film series (2003-2009). Other films include Shaun of the Dead (2004), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), The Constant Gardener (2005), Notes on a Scandal (2006), Hot Fuzz (2007), Valkyrie (2008), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012), About Time (2013), Emma (2020), and Living (2022), the last of these earning him his first career Academy Award nomination.

Nighy has gained acclaim for his roles in television earning a British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for his performance in BBC One series State of Play (2003), and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for the BBC film Gideon's Daughter (2007). He's also known for his roles in HBO's The Girl in the Café (2006) and PBS's Page Eight (2012).

Bill Nighy's LGBTQ+ Titles

Pride
Pride
Cliff
Alive and Kicking
Alive and Kicking
Tristan

Acting (167)

Lazarus as Doctor Lazarus ' Dr L' (2 episodes)
That Christmas as Bill (voice)
Joy as Patrick Steptoe
500 Miles
2024
The Wild Robot as Longneck (voice)
2024
Gracie and Pedro: Pets to the Rescue as Conrad (voice)
2024
10 Lives as Professor Craven (voice)
2024
The First Omen as Cardinal Lawrence
2024
The Beautiful Game as Mal
2023
Role Play as Bob
2023
Darkling
2023
Spectre of the Bear as Bennett (voice)
2023
Bloody Fury as Bloody's Consciousness (voice)
2023
Norfolk & Suffolk: Coast & Country as Narrator (6 episodes)
2022
The Laughter & Secrets of 'Love Actually': 20 Years Later as Self
2022
Living as Williams
2022
The Man Who Fell to Earth as Thomas Jerome Newton (10 episodes)
2021
Christmas Magic at Kew Gardens as Self - Narrator
2021
Lotus: A New Dawn as Self - Narrator
2021
Iberia's Woodlands: Life on the Edge as Self - Narrator (voice) (2 episodes)
2021
Buckley's Chance as Spencer
2021
Meerkat Manor: Rise of the Dynasty as Self - Narrator (voice) (13 episodes)
2021
World's Most Scenic River Journeys as Narrator (16 episodes)
2020
Katherine Jenkins Christmas Spectacular as Self
2020
Minamata as Robert "Bob" Hayes
2020
Emma. as Mr. Woodhouse
2019
The Kindness of Strangers as Timofey
2019
StarDog and TurboCat as Sinclair (voice)
2019
World's Most Scenic Railway Journeys as Narrator (voice) (39 episodes)
2019
Hope Gap as Edward
2019
Pokémon Detective Pikachu as Howard Clifford
2019
Sometimes Always Never as Alan
2018
Ordeal by Innocence as Leo Argyll (3 episodes)
2017
The Bookshop as Mr. Brundish
2017
Castlevania as Saint Germain (voice) (20 episodes)
2017
Red Nose Day Actually as Billy Mack
2017
Their Finest as Ambrose Hilliard / Uncle Frank
2016
The Limehouse Golem as John Kildare
2016
Dad's Army as Sergeant Wilson
2016
Norm of the North as Socrates (voice)
2015
A Grand Night In: The Story of Aardman as Self - 'Flushed Away' and 'Arthur Christmas'
2015
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel as Douglas Ainslie
2014
Pride as Cliff
2014
National Theatre Live: Skylight as Tom Sergeant
2014
Salting the Battlefield as Johnny Worricker
2014
Turks & Caicos as Johnny Worricker
2014
Late Night with Seth Meyers as Self (1 episode)
2014
I, Frankenstein as Naberius
2013
About Time as Dad
2013
The World's End as The Network (voice)
2013
The Hungry Corpse as The Hungry Corpse
2013
Great White Shark as Self - Narrator (voice)
2013
Jack the Giant Slayer as General Fallon
2013
Dangerous Edge: A Life of Graham Greene as Graham Greene (voice)
2012
London: The Modern Babylon as Spoken Quotations (voice)
2012
Total Recall as Matthias
2012
Wrath of the Titans as Hephaestus
2012
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel as Douglas Ainslie
2011
Arthur Christmas as Grandsanta (voice)
2011
Page Eight as Johnny Worricker
2011
Astonish Me as The Professor
2011
Real Creatures of Dirt as Self / Rattlesnake Jake
2011
Rango as Rattlesnake Jake (voice)
2011
Chalet Girl as Richard Madsen
2010
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 as Rufus Scrimgeour
2010
Wild Target as Victor Maynard
2009
10 Minute Tales (1 episode)
2009
Glorious 39 as Alexander Keyes
2009
Astro Boy as Dr. Elefun (voice)
2009
Live from Studio Five as Self (1 episode)
2009
G-Force as Leonard Saber
2009
The Big Art Project as Narrator (4 episodes)
2009
The Boat That Rocked as Quentin
2009
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans as Viktor
2008
Valkyrie as Friedrich Olbricht
2008
Slapper as Arnold Percy
2008
A Fox's Tale as Ringmaster (voice)
2007
Conclusive: We Made Hot Fuzz as Self
2007
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End as Davy Jones
2007
Hot Fuzz as Met Chief Inspector
2006
Notes on a Scandal as Richard Hart
2006
Flushed Away as Whitey (voice)
2006
The One Show as Self (1 episode)
2006
Stormbreaker as Alan Blunt
2006
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest as Davy Jones
2006
We Love Cigarettes as Narrator
2006
Underworld: Evolution as Viktor
2006
Anatomy of a Global Thriller: Behind the Scenes of The Constant Gardener as Self
2005
Gideon's Daughter as Gideon Warner
2005
Don't Crash: The Documentary of the Making of the Movie of the Book of the Radio Series of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' as Self
2005
Meerkat Manor as Narrator (52 episodes)
2005
The Constant Gardener as Sir Bernard Pellegrin
2005
Inside 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' as Self
2005
The Girl in the Café as Lawrence
2005
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as Slartibartfast
2005
Doctor Who as Dr Black (1 episode)
2005
The Magic Roundabout as Dylan (voice)
2004
Enduring Love as Robin
2004
Ready When You Are, Mr McGill as Phil Parish
2004
He Knew He Was Right as Colonel Osborne (4 episodes)
2004
Shaun of the Dead as Phillip
2004
Burst as Maxwell's Fan 22
2003
Life Beyond the Box: Norman Stanley Fletcher as Narrator
2003
The Young Visiters as Earl of Clincham
2003
Below Deck: An Interactive History Of Pirates
2003
Grumpy Old Men as Self (14 episodes)
2003
Underworld as Viktor
2003
Canterbury Tales as James (1 episode)
2003
Love Actually as Billy Mack
2003
State of Play as Cameron Foster (6 episodes)
2003
I Capture the Castle as James Mortmain
2003
The Lost Prince as Stamfordham (2 episodes)
2002
Timeshift as self (voice) (1 episode)
2002
Lawless Heart as Dan
2002
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries as Lockwood (1 episode)
2002
AKA as Uncle Louis Gryffoyn
2001
Richard & Judy as Self (1 episode)
2001
Lucky Break as Roger
2001
Blow Dry as Ray Robertson
2000
Black Books as Man at bar (1 episode)
2000
Longitude as Lord Sandwich (2 episodes)
2000
Longitude as Lord Sandwich
1999
Guest House Paradiso as Mr. Johnson
1999
People Like Us as Will Rushmore (1 episode)
1998
Still Crazy as Ray Simms
1997
FairyTale: A True Story as Edward Gardner
1996
Testament: The Bible in Animation as Belshazzar (voice) (1 episode)
1996
True Blue as Jeremy Saville
1996
Alive and Kicking as Tristan
1995
Kavanagh Q.C. as Giles Culpepper QC (1 episode)
1994
Wycliffe as David Cleeve (1 episode)
1994
Being Human as Julian
1993
The Maitlands as Roger Maitland
1993
Don't Leave Me This Way as John Tracey
1993
Peak Practice as Alan Sinclair (1 episode)
1993
Eye of the Storm as Tom Frewen (6 episodes)
1993
Unnatural Causes as Oliver Latham
1992
A Masculine Ending as John Tracey
1991
Absolute Hell as Hugh Marriner
1991
Performance as Hugh Marriner (1 episode)
1991
Performance as Roger Maitland (1 episode)
1990
Chillers as Tom Dickenson (1 episode)
1990
Making News as Sam Courtney (6 episodes)
1990
Antonia and Jane as Howard Nash
1989
The Phantom of the Opera as Martin Barton
1989
Mack the Knife as Tiger Brown
1988
South Of The Border as Tony Freason (1 episode)
1985
Thirteen at Dinner as Ronald Marsh
1985
The Last Place on Earth as Cecil Meares (7 episodes)
1985
Hitler's SS : Portrait In Evil as Helmut Hoffmann
1984
The Little Drummer Girl as Al
1983
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet as Jeffrey Grainger (6 episodes)
1983
Reilly: Ace of Spies as Goschen (1 episode)
1983
Curse of the Pink Panther as ENT Doctor
1982
Easter 2016 as Connor Mullan
1982
Under the Skin as Dave
1981
Bergerac as Barry (1 episode)
1981
Eye of the Needle as Squadron Leader Blenkinsop
1980
Little Lord Fauntleroy as Officer
1980
Fox as Colin Street (2 episodes)
1980
Fox as Colin Street
1980
Death Watch as Katherine's Co-worker (uncredited)
1980
Dreams of Leaving as William
1979
Minder as Oates (1 episode)
1979
Agony as Vincent Fish (20 episodes)
1978
Soldiers Talking, Cleanly as Bill
1976
Occupy! as Player in Everyman Theatre Company, Liverpool

Production (1)

2011
Page Eight • Executive Producer
• Executive Producer