Bill Nighy
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).
Known For
Credits
- 2024 · That Christmas as Bill (voice)
- 2024 · JOY as Patrick Steptoe
- 2024 · The Wild Robot as Longneck (voice)
- 2024 · Gracie & 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 · Bloody Fury as Bloody's Consciousness (voice)
- 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
- 2021 · Meerkat Manor: Rise of the Dynasty as Self - Narrator (voice)
- 2021 · World's Most Scenic River Journeys as Narrator
- 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)
- 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
- 2017 · The Bookshop as Mr. Brundish
- 2017 · Castlevania as Saint Germain (voice)
- 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
- 2014 · I, Frankenstein as Naberius
- 2013 · About Time as Dad
- 2013 · The World's End as The Network (voice)
- 2013 · Great White Shark as Self - Narrator (voice)
- 2013 · Jack the Giant Slayer as General Fallon
- 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 · 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 as
- 2009 · Glorious 39 as Alexander Keyes
- 2009 · Astro Boy as Dr. Elefun (voice)
- 2009 · G-Force as Leonard Saber
- 2009 · The Big Art Project as Narrator
- 2009 · The Boat That Rocked as Quentin
- 2009 · Underworld: Rise of the Lycans as Viktor
- 2008 · Valkyrie as Friedrich Olbricht
- 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
- 2006 · Stormbreaker as Alan Blunt
- 2006 · Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest as Davy Jones
- 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
- 2005 · The Constant Gardener as Sir Bernard Pellegrin
- 2005 · The Girl in the Café as Lawrence
- 2005 · The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as Slartibartfast
- 2005 · Doctor Who as Dr Black
- 2005 · The Magic Roundabout as Dylan (voice)
- 2004 · Enduring Love as Robin
- 2004 · He Knew He Was Right as Colonel Osborne
- 2004 · Shaun of the Dead as Phillip
- 2003 · Grumpy Old Men as Self
- 2003 · Underworld as Viktor
- 2003 · Canterbury Tales as James
- 2003 · Love Actually as Billy Mack
- 2003 · State of Play as Cameron Foster
- 2003 · I Capture the Castle as James Mortmain
- 2003 · The Lost Prince as Stamfordham
- 2002 · Timeshift as self (voice)
- 2002 · Lawless Heart as Dan
- 2002 · The Inspector Lynley Mysteries as Lockwood
- 2002 · AKA as Uncle Louis Gryffoyn
- 2001 · Richard & Judy as Self
- 2001 · Lucky Break as Roger
- 2001 · Blow Dry as Ray Robertson
- 2000 · Black Books as Man at bar
- 2000 · Longitude as Lord Sandwich
- 2000 · Longitude as Lord Sandwich
- 1999 · Guest House Paradiso as Mr. Johnson
- 1999 · People Like Us as Will Rushmore
- 1998 · Still Crazy as Ray Simms
- 1998 · Parkinson as Self
- 1997 · FairyTale: A True Story as Edward Gardner
- 1996 · Testament: The Bible in Animation as Belshazzar (voice)
- 1996 · True Blue as Jeremy Saville
- 1996 · Alive and Kicking as Tristan
- 1995 · Kavanagh Q.C. as Giles Culpepper QC
- 1994 · Wycliffe as David Cleeve
- 1994 · Being Human as Julian
- 1993 · Peak Practice as Alan Sinclair
- 1991 · Performance as Roger Maitland
- 1991 · Performance as Hugh Marriner
- 1990 · Chillers as Tom Dickenson
- 1990 · Making News as Sam Courtney
- 1989 · The Phantom of the Opera as Martin Barton
- 1988 · South Of The Border as Tony Freason
- 1985 · Thirteen at Dinner as Ronald Marsh
- 1985 · The Last Place on Earth as Cecil Meares
- 1985 · Hitler's SS : Portrait In Evil as Helmut Hoffmann
- 1984 · The Little Drummer Girl as Al
- 1983 · Auf Wiedersehen, Pet as Jeffrey Grainger
- 1983 · Reilly: Ace of Spies as Goschen
- 1983 · Curse of the Pink Panther as ENT Doctor
- 1981 · Bergerac as Barry
- 1981 · Eye of the Needle as Squadron Leader Blenkinsop
- 1980 · Little Lord Fauntleroy as Officer
- 1980 · Fox as Colin Street
- 1980 · Death Watch as Katherine's Co-worker (uncredited)
- 1979 · Minder as Oates
- 1979 · Agony as Vincent Fish
- Future · Lazarus as Doctor Lazarus ' Dr L'
- 2024 · Kent: Garden of England as Narrator
- 2023 · Darkling as
- 2023 · Spectre of the Bear as Bennett (voice)
- 2023 · Norfolk & Suffolk: Coast & Country as Narrator
- 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 Narrator
- 2021 · Buckley's Chance as Spencer
- 2020 · Katherine Jenkins Christmas Spectacular as Self
- 2013 · The Hungry Corpse as The Hungry Corpse
- 2013 · Dangerous Edge: A Life of Graham Greene as Graham Greene (voice)
- 2012 · London: The Modern Babylon as Spoken Quotations (voice)
- 2011 · Astonish Me as The Professor
- 2009 · Live from Studio Five as Self
- 2008 · Slapper as Arnold Percy
- 2008 · A Fox's Tale as Ringmaster (voice)
- 2006 · We Love Cigarettes as Narrator
- 2005 · Inside 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' as Self
- 2004 · Ready When You Are, Mr McGill as Phil Parish
- 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 as
- 1993 · The Maitlands as Roger Maitland
- 1993 · Don't Leave Me This Way as John Tracey
- 1993 · Eye of the Storm as Tom Frewen
- 1993 · Unnatural Causes as Oliver Latham
- 1992 · A Masculine Ending as John Tracey
- 1991 · Absolute Hell as Hugh Marriner
- 1990 · Antonia and Jane as Howard Nash
- 1989 · Mack the Knife as Tiger Brown
- 1982 · Easter 2016 as Connor Mullan
- 1982 · Under the Skin as Dave
- 1980 · Standing in for Henry as Bruno
- 1980 · Fox as Colin Street
- 1980 · Dreams of Leaving as William
- 1978 · Soldiers Talking, Cleanly as Bill
- 1976 · Occupy! as Player in Everyman Theatre Company, Liverpool
- Future · 500 Miles as
- Future · & Sons as
- 1979 · Deasey as Deasy
- 1970 · Play for Today as Dave