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).
Acted in
That Christmas
2024
as Lighthouse Bill (voice)
Joy
2024
as Patrick Steptoe
The Wild Robot
2024
as Longneck (voice)
Kent: Garden of England
2024
as Narrator
Gracie & Pedro: Pets to the Rescue
2024
as Conrad (voice)
10 Lives
2024
as Professor Craven (voice)
The First Omen
2024
as Cardinal Lawrence
The Beautiful Game
2024
as Mal
Role Play
2023
as Bob
Darkling
2023
Spectre of the Bear
2023
as Bennett (voice)
Bloody Fury
2023
as Bloody's Consciousness (voice)
Norfolk & Suffolk: Coast & Country
2023
as Narrator
The Laughter & Secrets of 'Love Actually': 20 Years Later
2022
as Self
Living
2022
as Williams
The Man Who Fell to Earth
2022
as Thomas Jerome Newton
Christmas Magic at Kew Gardens
2021
as Self - Narrator
Lotus: A New Dawn
2021
as Self - Narrator
Iberia's Woodlands: Life on the Edge
2021
as Narrator
Buckley's Chance
2021
as Spencer
Meerkat Manor: Rise of the Dynasty
2021
as Self - Narrator (voice)
World's Most Scenic River Journeys
2021
as Narrator
Katherine Jenkins Christmas Spectacular
2020
as Self
Minamata
2020
as Robert "Bob" Hayes
Emma.
2020
as Mr. Woodhouse
The Kindness of Strangers
2019
as Timofey
StarDog and TurboCat
2019
as Sinclair (voice)
World's Most Scenic Railway Journeys
2019
as Narrator (voice)
Hope Gap
2019
as Edward
Pokémon Detective Pikachu
2019
as Howard Clifford
Sometimes Always Never
2019
as Alan
Ordeal by Innocence
2018
as Leo Argyll
The Bookshop
2017
as Mr. Brundish
Castlevania
2017
as Saint Germain (voice)
Red Nose Day Actually
2017
as Billy Mack
Their Finest
2017
as Ambrose Hilliard / Uncle Frank
The Limehouse Golem
2016
as John Kildare
Dad's Army
2016
as Sergeant Wilson
Norm of the North
2016
as Socrates (voice)
A Grand Night In: The Story of Aardman
2015
as Self - 'Flushed Away' and 'Arthur Christmas'
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
2015
as Douglas Ainslie
Pride
2014
as Cliff
National Theatre Live: Skylight
2014
as Tom Sergeant
Salting the Battlefield
2014
as Johnny Worricker
Turks & Caicos
2014
as Johnny Worricker
I, Frankenstein
2014
as Naberius
About Time
2013
as Dad
The World's End
2013
as The Network (voice)
The Hungry Corpse
2013
as The Hungry Corpse
Great White Shark
2013
as Self - Narrator (voice)
Jack the Giant Slayer
2013
as General Fallon
Dangerous Edge: A Life of Graham Greene
2013
as Graham Greene (voice)
London: The Modern Babylon
2012
as Spoken Quotations (voice)
Total Recall
2012
as Matthias
Wrath of the Titans
2012
as Hephaestus
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
2012
as Douglas Ainslie
Arthur Christmas
2011
as Grandsanta (voice)
Page Eight
2011
as Johnny Worricker
Astonish Me
2011
as The Professor
Real Creatures of Dirt
2011
as Self / Rattlesnake Jake
Rango
2011
as Rattlesnake Jake (voice)
Chalet Girl
2011
as Richard Madsen
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
2010
as Rufus Scrimgeour
Wild Target
2010
as Victor Maynard
10 Minute Tales
2009
Glorious 39
2009
as Alexander Keyes
Astro Boy
2009
as Dr. Elefun (voice)
G-Force
2009
as Leonard Saber
The Big Art Project
2009
as Narrator
The Boat That Rocked
2009
as Quentin
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
2009
as Viktor
Valkyrie
2008
as Friedrich Olbricht
Slapper
2008
as Arnold Percy
A Fox's Tale
2008
as Ringmaster (voice)
Conclusive: We Made Hot Fuzz
2007
as Self
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
2007
as Davy Jones
Hot Fuzz
2007
as Met Chief Inspector
Notes on a Scandal
2006
as Richard Hart
Flushed Away
2006
as Whitey (voice)
Stormbreaker
2006
as Alan Blunt
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
2006
as Davy Jones
We Love Cigarettes
2006
as Narrator
Underworld: Evolution
2006
as Viktor
Anatomy of a Global Thriller: Behind the Scenes of The Constant Gardener
2006
as Self
Gideon's Daughter
2005
as Gideon Warner
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'
2005
as Self
Meerkat Manor
2005
as Narrator
The Constant Gardener
2005
as Sir Bernard Pellegrin
Inside 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'
2005
as Self
The Girl in the Café
2005
as Lawrence
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
2005
as Slartibartfast
Doctor Who
2005
as Dr Black
The Magic Roundabout
2005
as Dylan (voice)
Enduring Love
2004
as Robin
Ready When You Are, Mr McGill
2004
as Phil Parish
He Knew He Was Right
2004
as Colonel Osborne
Shaun of the Dead
2004
as Phillip
Burst
2004
as Maxwell's Fan 22
Life Beyond the Box: Norman Stanley Fletcher
2003
as Narrator
The Young Visiters
2003
as Earl of Clincham
Below Deck: An Interactive History Of Pirates
2003
Grumpy Old Men
2003
as Self
Underworld
2003
as Viktor
Canterbury Tales
2003
as James
Love Actually
2003
as Billy Mack
State of Play
2003
as Cameron Foster
I Capture the Castle
2003
as James Mortmain
The Lost Prince
2003
as Stamfordham
Timeshift
2002
as self (voice)
Lawless Heart
2002
as Dan
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries
2002
as Lockwood
AKA
2002
as Uncle Louis Gryffoyn
Lucky Break
2001
as Roger
Blow Dry
2001
as Ray Robertson
Black Books
2000
as Man at bar
Longitude
2000
as Lord Sandwich
Longitude
2000
as Lord Sandwich
Guest House Paradiso
1999
as Mr. Johnson
The Bass Player
1999
People Like Us
1999
as Will Rushmore
Still Crazy
1998
as Ray Simms
FairyTale: A True Story
1997
as Edward Gardner
Testament: The Bible in Animation
1996
as Belshazzar (voice)
True Blue
1996
as Jeremy Saville
Alive and Kicking
1996
as Tristan
Kavanagh Q.C.
1995
as Giles Culpepper QC
Wycliffe
1994
as David Cleeve
Being Human
1994
as Julian
The Maitlands
1993
as Roger Maitland
Don't Leave Me This Way
1993
as John Tracey
Peak Practice
1993
as Alan Sinclair
Eye of the Storm
1993
as Tom Frewen
Unnatural Causes
1993
as Oliver Latham
A Masculine Ending
1992
as John Tracey
Absolute Hell
1991
as Hugh Marriner
Performance
1991
as Roger Maitland
Performance
1991
as Hugh Marriner
Chillers
1990
as Tom Dickenson
Making News
1990
as Sam Courtney
Antonia and Jane
1990
as Howard Nash
The Phantom of the Opera
1989
as Martin Barton
Mack the Knife
1989
as Tiger Brown
South Of The Border
1988
as Tony Freason
Thirteen at Dinner
1985
as Ronald Marsh
The Last Place on Earth
1985
as Cecil Meares
Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil
1985
as Helmut Hoffmann
The Little Drummer Girl
1984
as Al
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet
1983
as Jeffrey Grainger
Reilly: Ace of Spies
1983
as Goschen
Curse of the Pink Panther
1983
as ENT Doctor
Easter 2016
1982
as Connor Mullan
Under the Skin
1982
as Dave
Bergerac
1981
as Barry
Eye of the Needle
1981
as Squadron Leader Blenkinsop
Standing in for Henry
1980
as Bruno
Little Lord Fauntleroy
1980
as Officer
Fox
1980
as Colin Street
Fox
1980
as Colin Street
Death Watch
1980
as Katherine's Co-worker (uncredited)
Dreams of Leaving
1980
as William
Deasey (Desperate)
1979
as Deasy
Minder
1979
as Oates
Agony
1979
as Vincent Fish
Soldiers Talking, Cleanly
1978
as Bill
Occupy!
1976
as Player in Everyman Theatre Company, Liverpool
Play for Today
1970
as Dave
500 Miles
& Sons
Lazarus
as Doctor Lazarus ' Dr L'