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Bill Nighy

Bill Nighy

AKA: William Francis Nighy · ויליאם פרנסיס "ביל" ניי

Acting

Born: 1949 Caterham, Surrey, England, UK 26 Global Credits 🔥 4 Popularity
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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.

Known For

Full Credits

Show / Title Year Credit / Role
Ride or Die 2026 The Director
Harlan Coben's Lazarus 2025 Doctor Lazarus 'Dr L'
LIGHT & MAGIC 2022 Self (archive footage)
The Man Who Fell to Earth 2022 Thomas Jerome Newton
World's Most Scenic Railway Journeys 2019 Narrator (voice)
Ordeal by Innocence 2018 Leo Argyll
Castlevania 2017 Saint Germain (voice)
Late Night with Seth Meyers 2014 Self
10 Minute Tales 2009 Mr Jellaby
Meerkat Manor 2005 Narrator
He Knew He Was Right 2004 Colonel Osborne
Grumpy Old Men 2003 Self
Canterbury Tales 2003 James
State of Play 2003 Cameron Foster
The Lost Prince 2003 Stamfordham
Timeshift 2002 self (voice)
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries 2002 Lockwood
Richard & Judy 2001 Self
Black Books 2000 Man at bar
Parkinson 1998 Self
Kavanagh Q.C. 1995 Giles Culpepper QC
Wycliffe 1994 David Cleeve
Peak Practice 1993 Alan Sinclair
Performance 1991 Roger Maitland
Minder 1979 Oates
Playhouse 1974 Bruno