Bill Nighy
☼ Born on 12 February 1949, in Caterham, Surrey, England, UK
Biography
Bill Nighy is an award-winning British character actor. He was born William Francis Nighy on December 12, 1949 in Caterham, Surrey, England, to Catherine Josephine (Whittaker), a psychiatric nurse from Glasgow, and Alfred Martin Nighy, who was English-born and managed a garage in Croydon.
At school, he gained 'O'-levels in English Language and English Literature and enjoyed reading, particularly Ernest Hemingway. On leaving school he wanted to become a journalist but didn't have the required qualifications. He eventually went on to work as a messenger boy for the Field magazine. He stayed in Paris for a while because he wanted to write "the great novel", but he only managed to write the title. When he ran out of money, the British consul shipped him home.
Nighy wound up training at Guildford School of Dance and Drama in London, and has since then worked consistently in film, television, and on stage.
Nighy is perhaps best-known to international audiences for his memorable performance as washed-up pop singer Billy Mack in Love Actually (2003), which won him a BAFTA for best supporting actor. He has also made appearances in major franchises: he played vampire leader Viktor in Underworld (2003), Underworld: Evolution (2006) and Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009), did the performance capture and voice for Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007), and made a brief appearance as Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimge
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our in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010).
Nighy's recent film credits include roles in I Capture the Castle (2003), 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) and The Boat That Rocked (2009). He has also provided voice work for many animated movies in the past few years including Flushed Away (2006), Astro Boy (2009), Rango (2011) and Arthur Christmas (2011).
With supporting turns in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011), Wrath of the Titans (2012) and Total Recall (2012), 2012 was a busy year for Nighy. There are no signs of slowing down either, as he next appeared in Jack the Giant Slayer (2013), About Time (2013), and I, Frankenstein (2014).
Nighy has also had an active career on the small screen, beginning with Agony (1979), and his first widely-recognized role was in 1991 mini-series The Men's Room (1991). He has also made a habit of working on television with Harry Potter director David Yates: projects together include State of Play (2003), The Young Visiters (2003), The Girl in the Café (2005) and Page Eight (2011). Nighy won a Golden Globe for his performance in Gideon's Daughter (2005).
Nighy actually began his career on the stage, and has earned acclaim for his work in numerous plays including "The Vertical Hour," "Pravda". "A Map of the World", Tom Stoppard's Arcadia in 1993, and David Hare's Skylight. He received an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor for his performance in 2001 play "Blue/Orange."
Bill's partner was actress Diana Quick (he asked her to marry him but she said: "don't ask me again"; he called her his wife because anything else would have been too difficult). They have a daughter, Mary Nighy, who is studying at university and contemplating an acting career. She has already begun to appear on TV dramas and radio programs.
In the role of actor
The Wild Robot (27/09/2024)
A robot becomes a surrogate mother for a gosling on an uninhabited island in The Wild Robot. ROZZUM unit 7134 (Lupita Nyong’o), or Roz for short, is a helper robot that is shipwrecked on an uninhabited island. After learning to communicate with the local wildlife, Roz tries to find a task to complete, though most […]
The First Omen (12/04/2024)
A young nun learns of a plot to birth the antichrist in The First Omen. In 1971 Rome, American novitiate Margaret Daino (Nell Tiger Free) arrives at the behest of Cardinal Lawrence (Bill Nighy) to work at the Vizzardeli Orphanage run by Sister Silva (Sônia Braga). Margaret is drawn to troubled teen Carlita (Nicole Sorace), […]
The Wrath (26/07/2019)
A wealthy Korean family is tormented by a vengeful spirit in The Wrath. The heirs of the family of Madame Shin are being killed off on their wedding way by the vengeful spirit of a woman. Ok-bun is a young beggar, who is married off to Shin’s youngest son, in a last-ditch effort to break […]
Pokemon Detective Pikachu (12/05/2019)
A young man enlists the help of a talking Pikachu to find out what happened to his father in Pokemon Detective Pikachu. Tim Goodman (Justice Smith) is an insurance salesman, with former dreams of being a Pokemon trainer, who learns that his estranged father Harry has apparently died in a car crash. Returning to his […]
Love (21/09/2015)
Warning: The content described in this review is only suitable for people 18 years or older. Reader discretion is advised.Controversial filmmaker Gaspar Noé (Enter the Void) mixes romantic drama with explicit sex in Love. Murphy (Karl Glusman) is an American film student, who begins an extremely passionate relationship with Parisian artist Electra (Aomi Muyock). Featuring a […]
Wild (10/12/2014)
From director Jean-Marc Vallée (Café de Flore, Dallas Buyers Club) comes this drama based on the memoir Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed. Cheryl (Reese Witherspoon) is a young woman desperate to escape her troubled life of drug use and promiscuous sex. As her way to find herself, […]
Wrath of the Titans (30/03/2012)
I don’t know where to begin when it comes to Wrath of the Titans. I actually somewhat enjoyed the previous film Clash of the Titans (even though I decided to give it half a point less in my rating). That film still ended up being somewhat watchable, despite being one of the first (of many) victims of […]
Rango (13/03/2011)
Rango is one of those animated films, which moves past from the fact that it is animated and becomes something much more. If it wasn’t for the fact that all the characters in this film were talking animals, this film would probably be able to stand alone as a pretty good Western. The films stars (the […]
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (20/11/2010)
The entire Harry Potter series so far had more or less the same formula with most of the action happening in and around Hogwarts. As such, it is a bit jarring that the first film the two-part finale doesn’t feature Hogwarts on screen at all. The decision was made to split the final book of […]
Valkyrie (28/12/2008)
It is a shame that there is poor public opinion on Tom Cruise, since I thought Valkyrie was quite a good movie. It would be stretching it to say that it is a film that would receive Oscar recognition, but I thought that the film was a great return to thrillers for director Bryan Singer, […]
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (26/05/2007)
Here is the third and final of the May “threequels” At approximate 2 hours and 50 minutes in length, the movie could have definitely used a bit of trimming. It’s not that hard to follow, like some critics are saying, however it could have done without some of the sub-plots. Specifically, Chow Yun-Fat’s Sao Feng […]
Hot Fuzz (22/04/2007)
Two years ago saw the release of the very funny horror-comedy Shaun of the Dead. Now the same team is back for Hot Fuzz, which is a satire on police films. I should say first that I loved Shaun of the Dead. In fact, I consider it one of my favourite films. However, I have […]