Bill Nighy
Highest Rated: 100% Antonia & Jane (1991)
Lowest Rated: 5% I, Frankenstein (2014)
Birthday: Dec 12, 1949
Birthplace: Caterham, Surrey, England, UK
BAFTA-winning veteran actor Bill Nighy gained international recognition in 2003 thanks to his role as a Keith Richards-esque former rock star in the hit romantic comedy Love Actually. Nighy had remained a relatively obscure figure even in his native England until a memorable turn as a controversial politician in series three of the acclaimed television comedy drama Auf Wiedersehen, Pet found him finally thrust into the spotlight in 2002. A Caterham, Surrey native, Nighy excelled in English language and literature early on; however, even though his journalistic instincts were strong, his lack of education prevented him from a career in the media. Work as a bike messenger for Field Magazine helped the aspiring writer keep his toes in the business, and a suggestion by his girlfriend that Nighy try his hand at acting eventually prompted him to enroll in the Guildford School of Dance and Drama. As the gears began to turn and his career as an actor started to gain momentum, Nighy was encouraged to stick with the craft after landing a series of small roles. Though British television provided Nighy with most of his early exposure, supporting roles in such features as Curse of the Pink Panther (1983) and The Phantom of the Opera (1989) found the actor honing his skills and laying the groundwork for future feature success. Though Nighy stuck almost exclusively to the small screen in the early '90s, his supporting role in the 1993 Robin Williams film Being Human seemed to mark the beginning of a new stage in his career, focusing mainly on features. A part in the 1997 film Fairy Tale: A True Story found Nighy climbing the credits, and the following year he joined an impressive cast including Timothy Spall, Stephen Rea, and Billy Connolly in the rock comedy Still Crazy. It was his role in Still Crazy that gained Nighy his widest recognition to date -- earning the up-and-coming actor the Peter Sellers Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy Performance. Nighy's role as a conflicted husband who embarks on a heated extramarital affair in 2001's Lawless Heart continued his impressive career trajectory, and later that same year he would land a role in The Full Monty director Peter Cattaneo's jailbreak comedy Lucky Break. A role in the long-running U.K. television series Auf Wiedersehen, Pet finally found Nighy earning some deserved recognition in 2002, and after a winning performance as the patriarch of an eccentric family in I Capture the Castle (2003), he continued to earned even more accolades for his performance in Love Actually. His part as an ancient vampire in the gothic action horror hit Underworld found Nighy's recognition factor rising for mainstream audiences on the other side of the pond, and before jetting into the future with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in 2005, the increasingly busy actor would appear in three feature films in 2004, including the horror comedy Shaun of the Dead, Doogal, and Enduring Love. By the time Nighy received an Emmy nomination for his role as a loved-starved civil servant falling for an enigmatic younger woman in the 2005 made-for-television romantic comedy-drama The Girl in the Café, television fans in both the U.S. and the U.K. knew well of Nighy's impressive range as an actor. Yet another small-screen role in that same year's Gideon's Daughter allowed Nighy a chance to play a serious role once again. Playing a burned-out PR agent who is forced to reevaluate his life when his adult daughter threatens to cease all contact with him, Nighy gave a performance that moved critics and audiences alike, later earning him a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Mini-Series or TV Movie. Soon the actor was venturing into lands of fantasy once again, however, reprising his role as Viktor in Underworld: Evolution, and taking to the high seas as the legendary squid-faced sailor Davy Jones (captain of the Flying Dutchman) in director Gore Verbinski's big-budget summer extravaganza Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's

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Highest Rated Movies

Filmography

MOVIES

CREDIT
No Score Yet Pokémon Detective Pikachu Actor — 2019
No Score Yet Emma Mr. Woodhouse — 2019
7% The Kindness of Strangers Timofey — 2019
56% The Bookshop Mr. Brundish — 2018
82% Sometimes Always Never (Triple Word Score) Alan — 2018
73% The Limehouse Golem John Kildare — 2017
90% Their Finest Ambrose Hilliard / Uncle Frank $3.6M 2017
No Score Yet Red Nose Day Actually Actor — 2017
32% Dad's Army Sergeant Wilson $4.7M 2016
9% Norm of the North Socrate $12.4M 2016
64% The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Douglas Ainslie $39M 2015
No Score Yet Turks & Caicos Executive Producer Johnny Worricker — 2014
91% Pride Cliff — 2014
No Score Yet National Theatre Live: Skylight Actor — 2014
5% I, Frankenstein Naberius $15.7M 2014
No Score Yet Salting the Battlefield Johnny Worricker — 2014
69% About Time Tim's Father $18.5M 2013
89% London: The Modern Babylon Actor — 2013
52% Jack the Giant Slayer General Fallon $65.2M 2013
No Score Yet Great White Shark 3D Actor — 2013
31% Total Recall Mathias $58.9M 2012
79% The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Douglas Ainslie $46.4M 2012
26% Wrath of the Titans Hephaestus $83.7M 2012
No Score Yet Dangerous Edge: A Life of Graham Greene Graham Greene — 2012
92% Arthur Christmas Grandsanta $46.5M 2011
77% Chalet Girl Richard $1.7K 2011
93% Page Eight Johnny Worricker Executive Producer — 2011
96% Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 Rufus Scrimgeour $381.1M 2011
88% Rango Rattlesnake Jake $123.2M 2011
77% Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 Rufus Scrimgeour $295M 2010
33% Wild Target Victor Maynard $0.2M 2010
43% Glorious 39 Sir Alexander Keyes — 2009
62% Pirate Radio (The Boat That Rocked) Quentin $8.1M 2009
50% Astro Boy (AstroBoy) Dr. Elefun/Robotsky $19.6M 2009
22% G-Force Saber $119.5M 2009
29% Underworld: The Rise of the Lycans Viktor $45.9M 2009
62% Valkyrie General Friedrich Olbricht $83M 2008
No Score Yet The Little Fox 2 (Kis vuk) Actor — 2008
44% Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End Davy Jones $309.5M 2007
91% Hot Fuzz Metropolitan Chief Inspector Kenneth $23.7M 2007
87% Notes on a Scandal Richard Hart $17.5M 2006
73% Flushed Away Whitey $64.5M 2006
34% Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker Alan Blunt $0.6M 2006
53% Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Davy Jones $423.1M 2006
8% Doogal Dylan (UK) $7.4M 2006
16% Underworld: Evolution Viktor $62.4M 2006
No Score Yet Gideon's Daughter Gideon Warner — 2005
83% The Constant Gardener Sir Bernard Pellegrin $33.6M 2005
60% The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Slartibartfast $51.1M 2005
60% The Magic Roundabout (Doogal) Actor — 2005
No Score Yet The Girl in the Café (The Girl in the Cafe) Lawrence — 2005
58% Enduring Love Robin $0.4M 2004
92% Shaun of the Dead Philip $13.5M 2004
No Score Yet He Knew He Was Right Colonel Osborne — 2004
No Score Yet The Young Visiters Earl of Clincham — 2003
63% Love Actually Billy Mack $59.4M 2003
31% Underworld Viktor $51.5M 2003
79% I Capture the Castle James Mortmain $1M 2003
71% The Lost Prince Actor — 2003
87% Lawless Heart Dan — 2002
48% Lucky Break Roger — 2002
58% AKA Actor — 2002
No Score Yet Guest House Paradiso Johnson — 2001
19% Blow Dry Ray — 2001
73% Still Crazy Ray Simms — 1998
55% Fairy Tale: A True Story E.L. Gardner — 1997
83% Alive and Kicking Tristan — 1997
54% Being Human Julian — 1994
100% Antonia & Jane Howard — 1991
20% Mack the Knife Tiger Brown — 1989
38% The Phantom of the Opera Barton — 1989
No Score Yet Agatha Christie's 'Thirteen at Dinner' Ronald Marsh — 1985
No Score Yet Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil Helmut Hoffmann — 1985
71% The Little Drummer Girl Al — 1984
29% Curse of the Pink Panther ENT Doctor — 1983
87% Eye of the Needle Squadron Leader Blenkinsop — 1981

TV

CREDIT
94% Ordeal by Innocence
2018
Leo Argyll
  • 2018
No Score Yet Late Night With Seth Meyers
2014
Guest
  • 2017
No Score Yet Sunday Morning
2011-2018
Appearing
  • 2015
No Score Yet Charlie Rose
2013-2017
Guest
  • 2015
  • 2014
No Score Yet Masterpiece
1971-2014
Executive Producer Producer Colonel Osborne Johnny Worricker Lord Stamfordham
  • 2014
  • 2011
  • 2005
  • 2004
No Score Yet Late Night With Jimmy Fallon
2009-2014
Guest
  • 2013
100% State of Play
2004
Cameron Foster
  • 2004
No Score Yet Mystery!
1980-2007
Alan Lockwood
  • 2003

QUOTES FROM Bill Nighy CHARACTERS