Acting
GenderMale
BirthdayDecember 11, 1949 (75 years old)
Place of BirthCaterham, 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).
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Underworld
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Love Actually
Notes on a Scandal
Below Deck: An Interactive History Of Pirates
Still Crazy
Shaun of the Dead
Underworld: Evolution
Valkyrie
10 Lives
The Constant Gardener
Guest House Paradiso
Hot Fuzz
Thirteen at Dinner
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Flushed Away
The Little Drummer Girl
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Anatomy of a Global Thriller: Behind the Scenes of The Constant Gardener
Enduring Love
Stormbreaker
The Girl in the Café
Glorious 39
Lucky Break
FairyTale: A True Story
Wild Target
Rango
The Magic Roundabout
Astro Boy
Total Recall
Blow Dry
I Capture the Castle
True Blue
The Boat That Rocked
Longitude
Arthur Christmas
Real Creatures of Dirt
G-Force
Mack the Knife
Jack the Giant Slayer
Page Eight
The Young Visiters
Unnatural Causes
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Wrath of the Titans
Chalet Girl
Lawless Heart
Gideon's Daughter
The Phantom of the Opera
Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil
I, Frankenstein
The World's End
About Time
The First Omen
Alive and Kicking
Pride
Joy
Little Lord Fauntleroy
Turks & Caicos
Salting the Battlefield
Easter 2016
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Role Play
Gracie & Pedro: Pets to the Rescue
National Theatre Live: Skylight
Christmas Magic at Kew Gardens
The Maitlands
Conclusive: We Made Hot Fuzz
Curse of the Pink Panther
A Fox's Tale
Darkling
The Wild Robot
500 Miles
Norm of the North
Their Finest
The Laughter & Secrets of 'Love Actually': 20 Years Later
Being Human
Dad's Army
Slapper
Spectre of the Bear
That Christmas
Bloody Fury
Life Beyond the Box: Norman Stanley Fletcher
Ready When You Are, Mr McGill
Burst
A Grand Night In: The Story of Aardman
Don't Leave Me This Way
Absolute Hell
& Sons
A Masculine Ending
Astonish Me
Fox
The Limehouse Golem
London: The Modern Babylon
Dreams of Leaving
The Bookshop
Red Nose Day Actually
We Love Cigarettes
Antonia and Jane
Inside 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'
Pokémon Detective Pikachu
The Kindness of Strangers
Hope Gap
Great White Shark
Sometimes Always Never
Dangerous Edge: A Life of Graham Greene
Emma.
Minamata
StarDog and TurboCat
The Hungry Corpse
Eye of the Needle
Death Watch
Soldiers Talking, Cleanly
Living
Under the Skin
Katherine Jenkins Christmas Spectacular
AKA
Buckley's Chance
Occupy!
Lotus: A New Dawn
The Beautiful Game
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'
Deasey (Desperate)
Standing in for Henry
The Bass Player
Untitled Jason Statham Action-Thriller
Peter Ustinov: The Parkinson Interviews
Wycliffe
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries
The One Show
Bergerac
Meerkat Manor
Performance
Agony
Richard & Judy
State of Play
World's Most Scenic River Journeys
He Knew He Was Right
Making News
Meerkat Manor: Rise of the Dynasty
The Lost Prince
The Big Art Project
The Last Place on Earth
Live from Studio Five
Doctor Who
Minder
Canterbury Tales
Fox
People Like Us
Peak Practice
Chillers
The Man Who Fell to Earth
Kavanagh Q.C.
Norfolk & Suffolk: Coast & Country
South Of The Border
Ordeal by Innocence
10 Minute Tales
Black Books
Iberia's Woodlands: Life on the Edge
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet
Eye of the Storm
Late Night with Seth Meyers
Lazarus
Grumpy Old Men
Longitude
Performance
Castlevania
Testament: The Bible in Animation
Play for Today
Timeshift
Reilly: Ace of Spies
World's Most Scenic Railway Journeys
Kent: Garden of England
Parkinson
This Morning
Ride or Die