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Actor · Acting

Bill Nighy

Born 1949-12-12
📍 Caterham, Surrey, England, UK

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).

Filmography 178

& Sons
as Andrew
2026
500 Miles
2026
Bulk
as The Voice
2026
Shelter
as Manafort
2026
Harlan Coben's Lazarus
as Doctor Lazarus 'Dr L'
2025
This Is the Beginning
2025
That Christmas
as Lighthouse Bill (voice)
2024
Joy
as Patrick Steptoe
2024
The Wild Robot
as Longneck (voice)
2024
Kent: Garden of England
as Self - Narrator (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
2024
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 Self - Narrator (voice)
2023
The Laughter & Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later – A Diane Sawyer Special
as Self
2022
Living
as Williams
2022
LIGHT & MAGIC
as Self (archive footage)
2022
The Man Who Fell to Earth
as Thomas Jerome Newton
2022
Christmas Magic at Kew Gardens
as Self - Narrator (voice)
2021
Lotus: A New Dawn
as Self - Narrator (voice)
2021
Iberia's Woodlands: Life on the Edge
as Self - Narrator (voice)
2021
Buckley's Chance
as Spencer
2021
Meerkat Manor: Rise of the Dynasty
as Self - Narrator (voice)
2021
World's Most Scenic River Journeys
as Self - Narrator (voice)
2021
Katherine Jenkins Christmas Spectacular
as Self
2020
Minamata
as Robert "Bob" Hayes
2020
Emma.
as Mr. Woodhouse
2020
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
2019
Ordeal by Innocence
as Leo Argyll
2018
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
2017
The Limehouse Golem
as John Kildare
2016
Dad's Army
as Sergeant Wilson
2016
Norm of the North
as Socrates (voice)
2016
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
2015
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
2014
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)
2013
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
2012
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
The Man with the Stolen Heart
as Narrator
2011
Rango
as Rattlesnake Jake (voice)
2011
Chalet Girl
as Richard Madsen
2011
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
as Rufus Scrimgeour
2010
Wild Target
as Victor Maynard
2010
10 Minute Tales
as Mr Jellaby
2009
Glorious 39
as Alexander Keyes
2009
Astro Boy
as Dr. Elefun / Robotsky (voice)
2009
Live from Studio Five
as Self
2009
G-Force
as Leonard Saber
2009
The Boat That Rocked
as Quentin
2009
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
as Viktor
2009
Valkyrie
as Friedrich Olbricht
2008
Slapper
as Arnold Percy
2008
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
2007
Notes on a Scandal
as Richard Hart
2006
Flushed Away
as Whitey (voice)
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
2006
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
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
2005
The Magic Roundabout
as Dylan (voice)
2005
Bottom Mindless Violence
as Mr. Johnson (archive footage) (uncredited)
2004
Enduring Love
as Robin
2004
Ready When You Are, Mr McGill
as Phil Parish
2004
Peter Ustinov: The Parkinson Interviews
as Self - Narrator
2004
He Knew He Was Right
as Colonel Osborne
2004
Shaun of the Dead
as Phillip
2004
Burst
as Maxwell's Fan 22
2004
Life Beyond the Box: Norman Stanley Fletcher
as Self - Narrator
2003
The Young Visiters
as Earl of Clincham
2003
Below Deck: An Interactive History Of Pirates
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
2003
Timeshift
as self (voice)
2002
Lawless Heart
as Dan
2002
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries
as Lockwood
2002
AKA
as Uncle Louis Gryffoyn
2002
Richard & Judy
as Self
2001
Lucky Break
as Roger
2001
Blow Dry
as Ray Robertson
2001
Black Books
as Man at bar
2000
Longitude
as Lord Sandwich
2000
Longitude
as Lord Sandwich
2000
Guest House Paradiso
as Mr. Johnson
1999
People Like Us
as Will Rushmore
1999
Still Crazy
as Ray Simms
1998
Parkinson
as Self
1998
FairyTale: A True Story
as Edward Gardner
1997
True Blue
as Jeremy Saville
1996
Alive and Kicking
as Tristan
1996
Testament: The Bible in Animation
as Belshazzar (voice)
1996
Kavanagh Q.C.
as Giles Culpepper QC
1995
Wycliffe
as David Cleeve
1994
Being Human
as Julian
1994
The Maitlands
as Roger Maitland
1993
Don't Leave Me This Way
as John Tracey
1993
Peak Practice
as Alan Sinclair
1993
Eye of the Storm
as Tom Frewen
1993
Unnatural Causes
as Oliver Latham
1993
A Masculine Ending
as John Tracey
1992
Absolute Hell
as Hugh Marriner
1991
Performance
as Roger Maitland
1991
Performance
as Hugh Marriner
1991
Antonia and Jane
as Howard Nash
1990
Chillers
as Tom Dickenson
1990
The Phantom of the Opera
as Martin Barton
1989
Mack the Knife
as Tiger Brown
1989
South of the Border
as Tony Freason
1988
This Morning
as Self
1988
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
1985
The Little Drummer Girl
as Al
1984
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet
as Jeffrey Grainger
1983
Reilly: Ace of Spies
as Goschen
1983
Curse of the Pink Panther
as ENT Doctor
1983
Easter 2016
as Connor Mullan
1982
Under the Skin
as Dave
1982
Eye of the Needle
as Squadron Leader Blenkinsop
1981
Standing in for Henry
as Bruno
1980
Little Lord Fauntleroy
as Officer
1980
Fox
as Colin Street
1980
Death Watch
as Katherine's Co-worker (uncredited)
1980
Dreams of Leaving
as William
1980
Deasey (Desperate)
as Deasy
1979
Minder
as Oates
1979
Agony
as Vincent Fish
1979
Soldiers Talking, Cleanly
as Bill
1978
Occupy!
as Player in Everyman Theatre Company, Liverpool
1976
Playhouse
as Bruno
1974
Play for Today
as Dave
1970
Welcome to Paradise
as Hooker Duck Host (voice)
Heart of Darkness
as (voice)