Bill Nighy

Born: 1949-12-12 in Caterham, Surrey, England, UK

Known For: Acting

Biography

William Francis Nighy (/naɪ/; born 12 December 1949) is a British actor. Known for his work on stage and screen, he has received various accolades, including two BAFTA Awards and a Golden Globe Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, a Tony Award, a Laurence Olivier Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. 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. 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 Chekhov's The Seagull in 1994. He received a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor nomination for his role in Blue/Orange in 2001. He acted on Broadway in the David Hare plays The Vertical Hour (2006) and Skylight (2015), earning a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play nomination for the latter. Nighy's early film roles include the comedies Still Crazy (1998), Guest House Paradiso (1999) and Blow Dry (2001). He rose to international stardom with his role in Love Actually (2003), for which he won a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor. He went on to portray Viktor in the Underworld film series (2003–2009) and Davy Jones in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series (2006–2007). His 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), Wild Target (2010), 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 which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Nighy has gained acclaim for his television roles, earning a BAFTA Award for his role in the BBC One series State of Play (2003), and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for the BBC film Gideon's Daughter (2007). He is also known for his roles in The Girl in the Café (2006), the BBC's Worricker trilogy, which includes Page Eight (2012), Turks & Caicos (2014), and Salting the Battlefield (2014), and the BBC's Ordeal by Innocence (2018). Description above from the Wikipedia article Bill Nighy, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Filmography

2026

Shelter as Manafort
Ride or Die as The Director
500 Miles
Bulk as The Voice

2025

Harlan Coben's Lazarus as Doctor Lazarus 'Dr L'
& Sons as Andrew
This Is the Beginning

2024

The Wild Robot as Longneck (voice)
The First Omen as Cardinal Lawrence
10 Lives as Professor Craven (voice)
That Christmas as Lighthouse Bill (voice)
Gracie & Pedro: Pets to the Rescue as Conrad (voice)
The Beautiful Game as Mal
Joy as Patrick Steptoe
Kent: Garden of England as Self - Narrator (voice)

2023

Role Play as Bob
Norfolk & Suffolk: Coast & Country as Self - Narrator (voice)
Bloody Fury as Bloody's Consciousness (voice)
Spectre of the Bear as Bennett (voice)
Darkling

2022

LIGHT & MAGIC as Self (archive footage)
The Man Who Fell to Earth as Thomas Jerome Newton
Living as Williams
The Laughter & Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later – A Diane Sawyer Special as Self

2021

Natural History Museum: World of Wonder as Self - Narrator
Meerkat Manor: Rise of the Dynasty as Self - Narrator (voice)
World's Most Scenic River Journeys as Self - Narrator (voice)
Buckley's Chance as Spencer
Lotus: A New Dawn as Self - Narrator (voice)
Iberia's Woodlands: Life on the Edge as Self - Narrator (voice)
Christmas Magic at Kew Gardens as Self - Narrator (voice)

2020

Emma. as Mr. Woodhouse
Minamata as Robert "Bob" Hayes
Katherine Jenkins Christmas Spectacular as Self

2019

Pokémon Detective Pikachu as Howard Clifford
Hope Gap as Edward
World's Most Scenic Railway Journeys as Narrator (voice)
StarDog and TurboCat as Sinclair (voice)
The Kindness of Strangers as Timofey
Sometimes Always Never as Alan

2018

Ordeal by Innocence as Leo Argyll

2017

Castlevania as Saint Germain (voice)
The Bookshop as Mr. Brundish
Red Nose Day Actually as Billy Mack
Their Finest as Ambrose Hilliard / Uncle Frank

2016

Norm of the North as Socrates (voice)
Dad's Army as Sergeant Wilson
The Limehouse Golem as John Kildare

2015

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel as Douglas Ainslie
A Grand Night In: The Story of Aardman as Self - 'Flushed Away' and 'Arthur Christmas'

2014

Late Night with Seth Meyers as Self
Pride as Cliff
I, Frankenstein as Naberius
Turks & Caicos as Johnny Worricker
Salting the Battlefield as Johnny Worricker
National Theatre Live: Skylight as Tom Sergeant

2013

About Time as Dad
Jack the Giant Slayer as General Fallon
The World's End as The Network (voice)
Great White Shark as Self - Narrator (voice)
The Hungry Corpse as The Hungry Corpse
Dangerous Edge: A Life of Graham Greene as Graham Greene (voice)

2012

Total Recall as Matthias
Wrath of the Titans as Hephaestus
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel as Douglas Ainslie
London: The Modern Babylon as Spoken Quotations (voice)

2011

Rango as Rattlesnake Jake (voice)
Arthur Christmas as Grandsanta (voice)
Chalet Girl as Richard Madsen
Page Eight as Johnny Worricker
Astonish Me as The Professor
Real Creatures of Dirt as Self / Rattlesnake Jake
The Man with the Stolen Heart as Narrator

2010

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 as Rufus Scrimgeour
Wild Target as Victor Maynard

2009

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans as Viktor
G-Force as Leonard Saber
Astro Boy as Dr. Elefun / Robotsky (voice)
10 Minute Tales as Mr Jellaby
The Boat That Rocked as Quentin
Glorious 39 as Alexander Keyes
Live from Studio Five as Self
The Big Art Project as Narrator

2008

Valkyrie as Friedrich Olbricht
Slapper as Arnold Percy

2004

Shaun of the Dead as Phillip
He Knew He Was Right as Colonel Osborne
Enduring Love as Robin
Ready When You Are, Mr McGill as Phil Parish
Burst as Maxwell's Fan 22
Bottom Mindless Violence as Mr. Johnson (archive footage) (uncredited)
Peter Ustinov: The Parkinson Interviews as Self - Narrator

2003

Love Actually as Billy Mack
Underworld as Viktor
State of Play as Cameron Foster
Canterbury Tales as James
Grumpy Old Men as Self
The Lost Prince as Stamfordham
I Capture the Castle as James Mortmain
The Young Visiters as Earl of Clincham
Life Beyond the Box: Norman Stanley Fletcher as Self - Narrator
Below Deck: An Interactive History Of Pirates

2002

The Inspector Lynley Mysteries as Lockwood
Timeshift as self (voice)
Lawless Heart as Dan
AKA as Uncle Louis Gryffoyn

2001

Richard & Judy as Self
Blow Dry as Ray Robertson
Lucky Break as Roger

2000

Black Books as Man at bar
Longitude as Lord Sandwich
Longitude as Lord Sandwich

1999

People Like Us as Will Rushmore
Guest House Paradiso as Mr. Johnson
The Bass Player

1998

Parkinson as Self
Still Crazy as Ray Simms

1997

FairyTale: A True Story as Edward Gardner

1996

Testament: The Bible in Animation as Belshazzar (voice)
Alive and Kicking as Tristan
True Blue as Jeremy Saville

1995

Kavanagh Q.C. as Giles Culpepper QC

1994

Wycliffe as David Cleeve
Being Human as Julian

1993

Peak Practice as Alan Sinclair
Eye of the Storm as Tom Frewen
The Maitlands as Roger Maitland
Unnatural Causes as Oliver Latham
Don't Leave Me This Way as John Tracey

1992

A Masculine Ending as John Tracey

1991

Performance as Roger Maitland
Absolute Hell as Hugh Marriner

1990

Chillers as Tom Dickenson
Making News as Sam Courtney
Antonia and Jane as Howard Nash

1989

The Phantom of the Opera as Martin Barton
Mack the Knife as Tiger Brown

1988

South of the Border as Tony Freason
This Morning as Self

1985

The Last Place on Earth as Cecil Meares
Thirteen at Dinner as Ronald Marsh
Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil as Helmut Hoffmann

1984

The Little Drummer Girl as Al

1983

Reilly: Ace of Spies as Goschen
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet as Jeffrey Grainger
Curse of the Pink Panther as ENT Doctor

1982

Easter 2016 as Connor Mullan
Under the Skin as Dave

1981

Eye of the Needle as Squadron Leader Blenkinsop

1980

Little Lord Fauntleroy as Officer
Fox as Colin Street
Death Watch as Katherine's Co-worker (uncredited)
Dreams of Leaving as William
Fox as Colin Street
Standing in for Henry as Bruno

1979

Minder as Oates
Agony as Vincent Fish
Deasey (Desperate) as Deasy

1978

Soldiers Talking, Cleanly as Bill

1976

Occupy! as Player in Everyman Theatre Company, Liverpool

1974

Playhouse as Bruno

1970

Play for Today as Dave