Bill Nighy
Known for Acting · 187 credits
- Born
- 1949-12-12 (age 76)
- Place of birth
- Caterham, Surrey, England, UK
- Also known as
- William Francis Nighy · ויליאם פרנסיס "ביל" ניי
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
TV Shows (50)
Late Night with Seth Meyers
2014
as Self
Doctor Who
2005
as Dr Black
Play for Today
1970
as Dave
Minder
1979
as Oates
Peak Practice
1993
as Alan Sinclair
Playhouse
1974
as Bruno
Richard & Judy
2001
as Self
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries
2002
as Lockwood
Castlevania
2017
as Saint Germain (voice)
Parkinson
1998
as Self
Wycliffe
1994
as David Cleeve
Performance
1991
as Roger Maitland / Hugh Marriner
Black Books
2000
as Man at bar
Kavanagh Q.C.
1995
as Giles Culpepper QC
The Man Who Fell to Earth
2022
as Thomas Jerome Newton
Timeshift
2002
as self (voice)
Reilly: Ace of Spies
1983
as Goschen
LIGHT & MAGIC
2022
as Self (archive footage)
State of Play
2003
as Cameron Foster
Harlan Coben's Lazarus
2025
as Doctor Lazarus 'Dr L'
Meerkat Manor
2005
as Narrator
Ordeal by Innocence
2018
as Leo Argyll
Canterbury Tales
2003
as James
Chillers
1990
as Tom Dickenson
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet
1983
as Jeffrey Grainger
10 Minute Tales
2009
as Mr Jellaby
World's Most Scenic Railway Journeys
2019
as Narrator (voice)
South of the Border
1988
as Tony Freason
Testament: The Bible in Animation
1996
as Belshazzar (voice)
Longitude
2000
as Lord Sandwich
People Like Us
1999
as Will Rushmore
He Knew He Was Right
2004
as Colonel Osborne
The Last Place on Earth
1985
as Cecil Meares
This Morning
1988
as Self
Agony
1979
as Vincent Fish
Ride or Die
2026
as The Director
Fox
1980
as Colin Street
World's Most Scenic River Journeys
2021
as Self - Narrator (voice)
The Lost Prince
2003
as Stamfordham
Meerkat Manor: Rise of the Dynasty
2021
as Self - Narrator (voice)
Grumpy Old Men
2003
as Self
Eye of the Storm
1993
as Tom Frewen
Iberia's Woodlands: Life on the Edge
2021
as Self - Narrator (voice)
Making News
1990
as Sam Courtney
Live from Studio Five
2009
as Self
Kent: Garden of England
2024
as Self - Narrator (voice)
Natural History Museum: World of Wonder
2021
as Self - Narrator
Norfolk & Suffolk: Coast & Country
2023
as Self - Narrator (voice)
California Avenue
as Jerry
The Big Art Project
2009
as Narrator
Movies (137)
Shelter
2026
as Manafort
The Wild Robot
2024
as Longneck (voice)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
2010
as Rufus Scrimgeour
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
2006
as Davy Jones
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
2007
as Davy Jones
Rango
2011
as Rattlesnake Jake (voice)
About Time
2013
as Dad
Jack the Giant Slayer
2013
as General Fallon
Shaun of the Dead
2004
as Phillip
Flushed Away
2006
as Whitey (voice)
Hot Fuzz
2007
as Met Chief Inspector
Pokémon Detective Pikachu
2019
as Howard Clifford
Love Actually
2003
as Billy Mack
Wrath of the Titans
2012
as Hephaestus
Underworld
2003
as Viktor
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
2009
as Viktor
Total Recall
2012
as Matthias
Valkyrie
2008
as Friedrich Olbricht
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
2005
as Slartibartfast
Underworld: Evolution
2006
as Viktor
G-Force
2009
as Leonard Saber
The First Omen
2024
as Cardinal Lawrence
Emma.
2020
as Mr. Woodhouse
The World's End
2013
as The Network (voice)
Arthur Christmas
2011
as Grandsanta (voice)
Astro Boy
2009
as Dr. Elefun / Robotsky (voice)
Chalet Girl
2011
as Richard Madsen
I, Frankenstein
2014
as Naberius
The Constant Gardener
2005
as Sir Bernard Pellegrin
Notes on a Scandal
2006
as Richard Hart
500 Miles
2026
The Boat That Rocked
2009
as Quentin
Pride
2014
as Cliff
Role Play
2023
as Bob
Stormbreaker
2006
as Alan Blunt
Minamata
2020
as Robert "Bob" Hayes
10 Lives
2024
as Professor Craven (voice)
Blow Dry
2001
as Ray Robertson
That Christmas
2024
as Lighthouse Bill (voice)
Living
2022
as Williams
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
2012
as Douglas Ainslie
Hope Gap
2019
as Edward
Page Eight
2011
as Johnny Worricker
The Limehouse Golem
2016
as John Kildare
Dad's Army
2016
as Sergeant Wilson
FairyTale: A True Story
1997
as Edward Gardner
Norm of the North
2016
as Socrates (voice)
Their Finest
2017
as Ambrose Hilliard / Uncle Frank
Eye of the Needle
1981
as Squadron Leader Blenkinsop
Being Human
1994
as Julian
Gracie & Pedro: Pets to the Rescue
2024
as Conrad (voice)
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
2015
as Douglas Ainslie
The Kindness of Strangers
2019
as Timofey
Little Lord Fauntleroy
1980
as Officer
Joy
2024
as Patrick Steptoe
The Bookshop
2017
as Mr. Brundish
Glorious 39
2009
as Alexander Keyes
The Magic Roundabout
2005
as Dylan (voice)
Still Crazy
1998
as Ray Simms
Wild Target
2010
as Victor Maynard
Enduring Love
2004
as Robin
Salting the Battlefield
2014
as Johnny Worricker
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'
2005
as Self
Turks & Caicos
2014
as Johnny Worricker
Bulk
2026
as The Voice
A Grand Night In: The Story of Aardman
2015
as Self - 'Flushed Away' and 'Arthur Christmas'
The Little Drummer Girl
1984
as Al
& Sons
2025
as Andrew
Red Nose Day Actually
2017
as Billy Mack
Lucky Break
2001
as Roger
Thirteen at Dinner
1985
as Ronald Marsh
Longitude
2000
as Lord Sandwich
Curse of the Pink Panther
1983
as ENT Doctor
Fox
1980
as Colin Street
Guest House Paradiso
1999
as Mr. Johnson
I Capture the Castle
2003
as James Mortmain
StarDog and TurboCat
2019
as Sinclair (voice)
Death Watch
1980
as Katherine's Co-worker (uncredited)
Gideon's Daughter
2005
as Gideon Warner
The Beautiful Game
2024
as Mal
A Masculine Ending
1992
as John Tracey
Life Beyond the Box: Norman Stanley Fletcher
2003
as Self - Narrator
Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil
1985
as Helmut Hoffmann
The Phantom of the Opera
1989
as Martin Barton
Slapper
2008
as Arnold Percy
Mack the Knife
1989
as Tiger Brown
Ready When You Are, Mr McGill
2004
as Phil Parish
The Young Visiters
2003
as Earl of Clincham
True Blue
1996
as Jeremy Saville
The Girl in the Café
2005
as Lawrence
The Laughter & Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later – A Diane Sawyer Special
2022
as Self
Don't Leave Me This Way
1993
as John Tracey
Inside 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'
2005
as Self
Sometimes Always Never
2019
as Alan
Anatomy of a Global Thriller: Behind the Scenes of The Constant Gardener
2006
as Self
AKA
2002
as Uncle Louis Gryffoyn
Heart of Darkness
as (voice)
National Theatre Live: Skylight
2014
as Tom Sergeant
Occupy!
1976
as Player in Everyman Theatre Company, Liverpool
Easter 2016
1982
as Connor Mullan
London: The Modern Babylon
2012
as Spoken Quotations (voice)
Alive and Kicking
1996
as Tristan
Absolute Hell
1991
as Hugh Marriner
Unnatural Causes
1993
as Oliver Latham
Conclusive: We Made Hot Fuzz
2007
as Self
Real Creatures of Dirt
2011
as Self / Rattlesnake Jake
Burst
2004
as Maxwell's Fan 22
Antonia and Jane
1990
as Howard Nash
Astonish Me
2011
as The Professor
The Maitlands
1993
as Roger Maitland
Soldiers Talking, Cleanly
1978
as Bill
Lawless Heart
2002
as Dan
Katherine Jenkins Christmas Spectacular
2020
as Self
Buckley's Chance
2021
as Spencer
Below Deck: An Interactive History Of Pirates
2003
Great White Shark
2013
as Self - Narrator (voice)
Lotus: A New Dawn
2021
as Self - Narrator (voice)
The Turning Door
as (voice)
Bloody Fury
2023
as Bloody's Consciousness (voice)
Bottom Mindless Violence
2004
as Mr. Johnson (archive footage) (uncredited)
About Bill Nighy
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… With 187 credits spanning from 1970 to 2026, Bill Nighy has appeared in 137 films and 50 TV shows.
Fans searching for Bill Nighy movies, Bill Nighy filmography, or the latest projects starring Bill Nighy can stream many of these titles on Bowood.TV, free and in HD, with no subscription required.
Most Popular Bill Nighy Movies
- Shelter (2026) — as Manafort
- The Wild Robot (2024) — as Longneck (voice)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010) — as Rufus Scrimgeour
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) — as Davy Jones
- Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) — as Davy Jones
Where to Watch Bill Nighy Films
Most Bill Nighy movies and series are available to stream on Bowood.TV in full HD, completely free and without signup. Browse the complete filmography above to jump directly to any title. For more films and the latest web series featuring Bill Nighy, check our movies catalogue and browse page.