William Francis "Bill" Nighy (pronounced /naɪ/; born 12 December 1949) is an English actor. He worked in theatre and television before his first cinema role in 1981, and made his name in television with The Men's Room in 1991, in which he played the womaniser Prof. Mark Carleton, whose extramarital affairs kept him "vital".
Nighy became known internationally for his performance in Love Actually. Other notable roles in cinema include his portrayal of Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, as well as Viktor in the Underworld film series.
He is also known for his roles in the films Lawless Heart, I Capture the Castle, Shaun of the Dead, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Notes on a Scandal, Hot Fuzz, Valkyrie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows â€" Part 1, Rango and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel</i>. His performances were also acclaimed in the State of Play series and in the TV films The Girl in the Café, Gideon's Daughter and Page Eight, for which he earned Golden Globe nominations, winning one for Gideon's Daughter.
Early life and education
Nighy was born on 12 December 1949 in Caterham, Surrey. His mother, Catherine Josephine Nighy (née Whittaker), was a psychiatric nurse who was born in Glasgow, and his English-born father, Alfred Martin Nighy, managed a car garage after working in the family chimney sweeping business. Also of part Irish descent, Nighy was brought up as a Roman Catholic, serving as an altar boy.
He has two elder siblings, Martin and Anna. Nighy attended the John Fisher School, a Roman Catholic grammar school in Purley, where he was a member of the school theatre group. He left the school with two O-levels and then took a job with the Croydon Advertiser as a messenger boy. He went on to train at the Guildford School of Acting.
Career
After two seasons at the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool, Nighy made his London stage debut at the National Theatre in an epic staging of Ken Campbell and Chris Langham's Illuminatus!, which opened the new Cottesloe Theatre on 4 March 1977, and went on to appear in two David Hare premieres, also at the National. During the 1980s, he appeared in several television productions, among them Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil, alongside John Shea and Tony Randall.
He has starred in many radio and television dramas, notably the BBC serial The Men's Room (1991). He claimed that the serial, an Ann Oakley novel adapted by Laura Lamson, was the job which launched his career. More recently he has featured in the thriller State of Play (2003) and costume drama He Knew He Was Right (2004). He played Samwise Gamgee in the 1981 BBC Radio dramatisation of The Lord of the Rings (where he was credited as William Nighy), and appeared in the 1980s BBC Radio versions of Yes Minister episodes. He starred alongside Stephen Moore and Lesley Sharp in the acclaimed short radio drama Kerton's Story first aired in 1996. He had a starring role in the 2002 return of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, portraying crooked politician Jeffrey Grainger. He has also made a guest appearance in the BBC Radio 4 series Baldi.
Two of Nighy's most acclaimed stage performances were in National Theatre productions. Taking the role of Bernard Nightingale, an unscrupulous university don, in Tom Stoppard's Arcadia (1993), he engaged in witty exchanges with Felicity Kendal, playing the role of Hannah Jarvis, an author; and he played a consultant psychiatrist in Joe Penhall's Blue/Orange (2000), for which he won an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor, and which transferred to the West End at the Duchess Theatre the following year.
Nighy received some recognition by American audiences for his acclaimed portrayal of overaged rock star Ray Simms in the 1998 film Still Crazy. In 1999 he gained further prominence in the UK with the starring role in "The Photographer", an episode of the award-winning BBC-TV mockumentary comedy series People Like Us, playing Will Rushmore, a middle aged man who has abandoned his career and family in the deluded belief that he can achieve success as a commercial photographer.
In 2003, Nighy played the role of the Vampire Elder Viktor in the American production Underworld and returned in the same role for the sequel Underworld: Evolution in 2006 and again in the prequel Underworld: Rise of the Lycans in 2009. In February 2004, he was awarded the BAFTA Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as shameless, washed-up rocker Billy Mack in Love Actually (a role foreshadowed by his Still Crazy character) and followed this up at the BAFTA Television Awards in April with the Best Actor award for State of Play. He also appeared in the comedy Shaun of the Dead.
In early 2004, The Sunday Times reported that Nighy was on the shortlist for role of the Ninth Doctor in the 2005 revival of the BBC television series Doctor Who. Christopher Eccleston ultimately filled the role.
In 2005, he appeared as Slartibartfast in the film adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He also appeared in the one-off BBC One comedy-drama The Girl in the Café. In February 2006, he appeared in scriptwriter Stephen Poliakoff's one-off drama, Gideon's Daughter. Nighy played the lead character, Gideon, a successful events organiser who begins to lose touch with the world around him. This performance won him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Mini-series or TV Film in January 2007. Also in 2006, Nighy made his Broadway debut at the Music Box Theatre alongside Julianne Moore in The Vertical Hour, directed by Sam Mendes.
In 2006, Nighy featured in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, where he played the principal villain, Davy Jones, although his face was entirely obscured by computer-generated makeup and he voiced the character with a Scots accent. He reprised the role in the 2007 sequel, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, in which his real face was briefly revealed in one scene. He also provided the narration for the Animal Planet series Meerkat Manor. In 2006 he played the role of Richard Hart in Notes on a Scandal, for which he was nominated for a London Film Critics Circle award. Nighy also appeared as General Friedrich Olbricht, one of the principal conspirators, in the 2008 film Valkyrie. He had played an SS officer in the 1985 Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil. Nighy has starred in the film Wild Target.
In July 2009, he announced that he would play Rufus Scrimgeour in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows â€" Part 1. Nighy had already worked with director David Yates twice, and with the majority of the Harry Potter cast in previous films. He has said of his role as Rufus Scrimgeour that it meant he was no longer the only English actor not to be in Harry Potter.
Nighy voiced Grandsanta in the 2011 CGI animated film Arthur Christmas. In 2012, he starred in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Wrath of the Titans, and the remake of Total Recall. In 2013, he played a role in Darkside, Tom Stoppard's radio drama based on Pink Floyd's album The Dark Side of the Moon.
Personal life
Nighy had a 27-year-relationship with English actress Diana Quick, with whom he has a daughter, actress Mary Nighy. The couple amicably separated in 2008.
He is a supporter of Crystal Palace and is the Patron of the CPFRIS (Crystal Palace F.C. Fast Results & Information Service) Disabled Children's Club, and of the Ann Craft Trust. He is also one of the Honorary Patrons of the London children's charity Scene & Heard. He suffers from Dupuytren's contracture, a condition which causes the ring and little finger of each hand to be permanently bent inwards towards the palm.
Nighy is also a patron for the Milton Rooms, a new arts centre in Malton, North Yorkshire, along with Imelda Staunton, Jools Holland and Kathy Burke.
Nighy is known for his bespoke navy suits; he was listed as one of the fifty best-dressed over 50s by The Guardian in March 2013.
Filmography
Films
Television
Video games
Awards and nominations
Selected performances
Theatre
- The Plaza Suite by Neil Simon â€" Watermill Theatre, Newbury
- The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore by Tennessee Williams â€" Watermill Theatre, Newbury
- Landscape and Silence, by Harold Pinter â€" Gateway Theatre, Chester
- Entertaining Mr Sloane by Joe Orton â€" Gateway Theatre, Chester
- Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, by Tom Stoppard â€" Arts Theatre, Cambridge
- The Immoralist, from the novel by André Gide â€" Hampstead Theatre
- Speak Now, by Olwen Wymark â€" Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh (1971)
- Freedom of the City, by Brian Friel â€" Everyman Theatre, Liverpool
- Under New Management, by Chris Bond â€" Everyman Theatre, Liverpool
- Occupy! â€" Liverpool Everyman Theatre (1976)
- Illuminatus!, Ken Campbell/Chris Langham â€" NT Cottesloe (The theatre's first production, 1977)
- Comings and Goings, by Mike Stott â€" Hampstead Theatre Club (1978)
- The Warp, by Neil Oram/ Ken Campbell â€" ICA (1979)
- Illuminations, by Arthur Rimbaud â€" Lyric Hammersmith (1980)
- A Map of the World, by David Hare â€" NT Lyttelton (1983)
- Pravda, by David Hare/ Howard Brenton â€" NT Olivier (1985)
- King Lear, by William Shakespeare â€" NT Olivier (1986)
- Mean Tears, by Peter Gill â€" NT Cottesloe (1987)
- Betrayal, by Harold Pinter â€" Almeida Theatre, London (1991)
- Arcadia, by Tom Stoppard â€" NT Lyttelton (1993)
- The Seagull, by Anton Chekhov/ad. Pam Gems â€" NT Olivier (1994)
- Skylight, by David Hare â€" NT production at Vaudeville Theatre, London (1995)/ UK tour (1997)
- A Kind of Alaska, by Harold Pinter â€" Donmar Warehouse (1998)
- Blue/Orange, by Joe Penhall â€" NT Cottesloe (2000), Duchess Theatre (2001)
- The Vertical Hour, by David Hare, Broadway production at the Music Box Theater, NY (2006)'
- Skylight, by David Hare - West End production at Wyndham's Theatre (2014)
Radio
References
External links
- Bill Nighy at the Internet Movie Database
- Bill Nighy: A Life in Pictures Interview at BAFTA
- Bill Nighy at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
- Silk Sound Books
