
Bill Nighy
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).
Gallery






Known For
Acting History
2026
Shelter
2025Harlan Coben's Lazarus as Doctor Lazarus 'Dr L'
2025& Sons as Andrew
2025This Is the Beginning
2025Bulk as (voice)
2024That Christmas as Lighthouse Bill (voice)
2024Joy as Patrick Steptoe
2024The Wild Robot as Longneck (voice)
2024Kent: Garden of England as Self - Narrator (voice)
2024Gracie & Pedro: Pets to the Rescue as Conrad (voice)
202410 Lives as Professor Craven (voice)
2024The First Omen as Cardinal Lawrence
2024The Beautiful Game as Mal
2023Role Play as Bob
2023Darkling
2023Spectre of the Bear as Bennett (voice)
2023Bloody Fury as Bloody's Consciousness (voice)
2023Norfolk & Suffolk: Coast & Country as Self - Narrator (voice)
2022The Laughter & Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later – A Diane Sawyer Special as Self
2022Living as Williams
2022LIGHT & MAGIC as Self (archive footage)
2022The Man Who Fell to Earth as Thomas Jerome Newton
2021Christmas Magic at Kew Gardens as Self - Narrator (voice)
2021Lotus: A New Dawn as Self - Narrator (voice)
2021Iberia's Woodlands: Life on the Edge as Self - Narrator (voice)
2021Buckley's Chance as Spencer
2021Meerkat Manor: Rise of the Dynasty as Self - Narrator (voice)
2021World's Most Scenic River Journeys as Self - Narrator (voice)
2020Katherine Jenkins Christmas Spectacular as Self
2020Minamata as Robert "Bob" Hayes
2020Emma. as Mr. Woodhouse
2019The Kindness of Strangers as Timofey
2019StarDog and TurboCat as Sinclair (voice)
2019World's Most Scenic Railway Journeys as Narrator (voice)
2019Hope Gap as Edward
2019Pokémon Detective Pikachu as Howard Clifford
2019Sometimes Always Never as Alan
2018Ordeal by Innocence as Leo Argyll
2017The Bookshop as Mr. Brundish
2017Castlevania as Saint Germain (voice)
2017Red Nose Day Actually as Billy Mack
2017Their Finest as Ambrose Hilliard / Uncle Frank
2016The Limehouse Golem as John Kildare
2016Dad's Army as Sergeant Wilson
2016Norm of the North as Socrates (voice)
2015A Grand Night In: The Story of Aardman as Self - 'Flushed Away' and 'Arthur Christmas'
2015The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel as Douglas Ainslie
2014Pride as Cliff
2014National Theatre Live: Skylight as Tom Sergeant
2014Salting the Battlefield as Johnny Worricker
2014Turks & Caicos as Johnny Worricker
2014Late Night with Seth Meyers as Self
2014I, Frankenstein as Naberius
2013About Time as Dad
2013The World's End as The Network (voice)
2013The Hungry Corpse as The Hungry Corpse
2013Great White Shark as Self - Narrator (voice)
2013Jack the Giant Slayer as General Fallon
2013Dangerous Edge: A Life of Graham Greene as Graham Greene (voice)
2012London: The Modern Babylon as Spoken Quotations (voice)
2012Total Recall as Matthias
2012Wrath of the Titans as Hephaestus
2012The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel as Douglas Ainslie
2011Arthur Christmas as Grandsanta (voice)
2011Page Eight as Johnny Worricker
2011Astonish Me as The Professor
2011Real Creatures of Dirt as Self / Rattlesnake Jake
2011The Man with the Stolen Heart as Narrator
2011Rango as Rattlesnake Jake (voice)
2011Chalet Girl as Richard Madsen
2010Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 as Rufus Scrimgeour
2010Wild Target as Victor Maynard
200910 Minute Tales
2009Glorious 39 as Alexander Keyes
2009Astro Boy as Dr. Elefun / Robotsky (voice)
2009Live from Studio Five as Self
2009G-Force as Leonard Saber
2009The Big Art Project as Narrator
2009The Boat That Rocked as Quentin
2009Underworld: Rise of the Lycans as Viktor
2008Valkyrie as Friedrich Olbricht
2008Slapper as Arnold Percy
2007Conclusive: We Made Hot Fuzz as Self
2007Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End as Davy Jones
2007Hot Fuzz as Met Chief Inspector
2006Notes on a Scandal as Richard Hart
2006Flushed Away as Whitey (voice)
2006Stormbreaker as Alan Blunt
2006Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest as Davy Jones
2006We Love Cigarettes as Narrator
2006Underworld: Evolution as Viktor
2006Anatomy of a Global Thriller: Behind the Scenes of The Constant Gardener as Self
2005Gideon's Daughter as Gideon Warner
2005Don'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
2005Meerkat Manor as Narrator
2005The Constant Gardener as Sir Bernard Pellegrin
2005Inside 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' as Self
2005The Girl in the Café as Lawrence
2005The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as Slartibartfast
2005Doctor Who as Dr Black
2004Bottom Mindless Violence as Mr. Johnson (archive footage) (uncredited)
2004Enduring Love as Robin
2004The Magic Roundabout as Dylan (voice)
2004Ready When You Are, Mr McGill as Phil Parish
2004Peter Ustinov: The Parkinson Interviews as Self - Narrator
2004He Knew He Was Right as Colonel Osborne
2004Shaun of the Dead as Phillip
2004Burst as Maxwell's Fan 22
2003Life Beyond the Box: Norman Stanley Fletcher as Self - Narrator
2003The Young Visiters as Earl of Clincham
2003Below Deck: An Interactive History Of Pirates
2003Grumpy Old Men as Self
2003Underworld as Viktor
2003Canterbury Tales as James
2003Love Actually as Billy Mack
2003State of Play as Cameron Foster
2003I Capture the Castle as James Mortmain
2003The Lost Prince as Stamfordham
2002Timeshift as self (voice)
2002Lawless Heart as Dan
2002The Inspector Lynley Mysteries as Lockwood
2002AKA as Uncle Louis Gryffoyn
2001Richard & Judy as Self
2001Lucky Break as Roger
2001Blow Dry as Ray Robertson
2000Black Books as Man at bar
2000Longitude as Lord Sandwich
2000Longitude as Lord Sandwich
1999Guest House Paradiso as Mr. Johnson
1999The Bass Player
1999People Like Us as Will Rushmore
1998Still Crazy as Ray Simms
1998Parkinson as Self
1997FairyTale: A True Story as Edward Gardner
1996True Blue as Jeremy Saville
1996Alive and Kicking as Tristan
1996Testament: The Bible in Animation as Belshazzar (voice)
1995Kavanagh Q.C. as Giles Culpepper QC
1994Wycliffe as David Cleeve
1994Being Human as Julian
1993The Maitlands as Roger Maitland
1993Don't Leave Me This Way as John Tracey
1993Peak Practice as Alan Sinclair
1993Eye of the Storm as Tom Frewen
1993Unnatural Causes as Oliver Latham
1992A Masculine Ending as John Tracey
1992Chillers as Tom Dickenson
1991Performance as Roger Maitland
1991Performance as Hugh Marriner
1991Absolute Hell as Hugh Marriner
1990Antonia and Jane as Howard Nash
1990Making News as Sam Courtney
1989The Phantom of the Opera as Martin Barton
1989Mack the Knife as Tiger Brown
1988South Of The Border as Tony Freason
1988This Morning as Self
1985Thirteen at Dinner as Ronald Marsh
1985The Last Place on Earth as Cecil Meares
1985Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil as Helmut Hoffmann
1984The Little Drummer Girl as Al
1983Auf Wiedersehen, Pet as Jeffrey Grainger
1983Reilly: Ace of Spies as Goschen
1983Curse of the Pink Panther as ENT Doctor
1982Easter 2016 as Connor Mullan
1982Under the Skin as Dave
1981Eye of the Needle as Squadron Leader Blenkinsop
1980Standing in for Henry as Bruno
1980Little Lord Fauntleroy as Officer
1980Fox as Colin Street
1980Fox as Colin Street
1980Death Watch as Katherine's Co-worker (uncredited)
1980Dreams of Leaving as William
1979Deasey (Desperate) as Deasy
1979Minder as Oates
1979Agony as Vincent Fish
1978Soldiers Talking, Cleanly as Bill
1976Occupy! as Player in Everyman Theatre Company, Liverpool
1974Playhouse as Bruno
1970Play for Today as Dave
—Heart of Darkness as (voice)
—Ride or Die as The Director
—The Turning Door as (voice)
—Welcome to Paradise as Hooker Duck Host (voice)
—California Avenue as Jerry
—500 Miles
—Pink Sky at Night as Man









