Polyphemus
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Personal Info

Gender

Male

Birthday

1949-12-12 (75 years old)

Place of Birth

Caterham, Surrey, England, UK

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).

Known For

Acting

2024

10 Lives as Professor Craven (voice)
The First Omen as Cardinal Lawrence
Joy as Patrick Steptoe
The Wild Robot as Longneck (voice)
That Christmas as Lighthouse Bill (voice)
Kent: Garden of England as Self - Narrator (voice)

2023

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

2022

Living as Williams
The Man Who Fell to Earth as Thomas Jerome Newton

2021

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

2020

Emma. as Mr. Woodhouse
Minamata as Robert "Bob" Hayes

2019

Pokémon Detective Pikachu as Howard Clifford
Hope Gap as Edward
StarDog and TurboCat as Sinclair (voice)

2018

Ordeal by Innocence as Leo Argyll

2017

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

2016

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

2015

A Grand Night In: The Story of Aardman as Self - 'Flushed Away' and 'Arthur Christmas'

2014

I, Frankenstein as Naberius
Pride as Cliff
Turks & Caicos as Johnny Worricker
Salting the Battlefield as Johnny Worricker

2013

Jack the Giant Slayer as General Fallon
The World's End as The Network (voice)
About Time as Dad
Great White Shark as Self - Narrator (voice)
The Hungry Corpse as The Hungry Corpse

2012

Total Recall as Matthias
Wrath of the Titans as Hephaestus
London: The Modern Babylon as Spoken Quotations (voice)

2011

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

2010

Wild Target as Victor Maynard

2009

Glorious 39 as Alexander Keyes
Astro Boy as Dr. Elefun / Robotsky (voice)
G-Force as Leonard Saber

2008

Valkyrie as Friedrich Olbricht
A Fox's Tale as Ringmaster (voice)
Slapper as Arnold Percy

2007

Hot Fuzz as Met Chief Inspector

2006

Notes on a Scandal as Richard Hart
Flushed Away as Whitey (voice)
Stormbreaker as Alan Blunt
We Love Cigarettes as Narrator
The One Show as Self

2005

The Constant Gardener as Sir Bernard Pellegrin
Gideon's Daughter as Gideon Warner
Meerkat Manor as Narrator
Doctor Who as Dr Black

2004

Enduring Love as Robin
The Magic Roundabout as Dylan (voice)
Burst as Maxwell's Fan 22
He Knew He Was Right as Colonel Osborne

2003

Underworld as Viktor
Love Actually as Billy Mack
I Capture the Castle as James Mortmain
The Young Visiters as Earl of Clincham
State of Play as Cameron Foster
The Lost Prince as Stamfordham

2002

AKA as Uncle Louis Gryffoyn
Timeshift as self (voice)

2001

Lucky Break as Roger
Blow Dry as Ray Robertson

2000

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

1999

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

1998

Still Crazy as Ray Simms
Parkinson as Self

1997

FairyTale: A True Story as Edward Gardner

1996

True Blue as Jeremy Saville
Testament: The Bible in Animation as Belshazzar (voice)

1995

Kavanagh Q.C. as Giles Culpepper QC

1994

Being Human as Julian
Wycliffe as David Cleeve

1993

Unnatural Causes as Oliver Latham
The Maitlands as Roger Maitland
Peak Practice as Alan Sinclair
Eye of the Storm as Tom Frewen

1992

A Masculine Ending as John Tracey

1991

Absolute Hell as Hugh Marriner
Performance as Roger Maitland
Performance as Hugh Marriner

1990

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

1989

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

1988

South Of The Border as Tony Freason
This Morning as Self

1985

Thirteen at Dinner as Ronald Marsh
The Last Place on Earth as Cecil Meares

1984

1983

Auf Wiedersehen, Pet as Jeffrey Grainger

1982

Easter 2016 as Connor Mullan

1981

Eye of the Needle as Squadron Leader Blenkinsop
Bergerac as Barry

1980

Fox as Colin Street
Death Watch as Katherine's Co-worker (uncredited)
Fox as Colin Street

1979

Agony as Vincent Fish
Minder as Oates

1978

1976

Occupy! as Player in Everyman Theatre Company, Liverpool

1970

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Lazarus as Doctor Lazarus ' Dr L'
Ride or Die as The Director

Production

2019

Sometimes Always Never as Executive Producer

2011

Page Eight as Executive Producer