BILL NIGHY is an award-winning actor of the stage and screen. Nighy received a BAFTA Award, a London Film Critics Circle Award, and an Evening Standard British Film Award for his performance as an aging rock star in Richard Curtis’s 2003 ensemble comedy hit “Love Actually.” He also won a Los Angeles Film Critics Award for his collective work in that film, as well as “AKA,” “I Capture the Castle” and “Lawless Heart.”
His long list of film credits also includes “Wild Target,” with Rupert Grint and Emily Blunt; “Pirate Radio,” which reunited him with Richard Curtis; Bryan Singer’s “Valkyrie,” with Tom Cruise; Richard Eyre’s “Notes on a Scandal,” for which he earned a London Film Critics Circle Award nomination; “Underworld” and “Underworld: Evolution”; Fernando Meirelles’ “The Constant Gardener,” garnering a British Independent Film Award (BIFA) nomination; “Lawless Heart,” which brought him a BIFA nomination; and “Still Crazy,” for which he won an Evening Standard British Film Award. He is also unrecognizable as the tentacled pirate captain Davy Jones in “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” and lent his voice to several animated features, including “Flushed Away.” Further roles include the role of Minister Rufus Scrimgeour in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- part one” and the role of Slartibartfast in “The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”
Born in England, Nighy began his career on the British stage and has since earned acclaim for his work in numerous plays, including David Hare’s “The
Vertical Hour,” “Pravda” and “A Map of the World.” He has also performed in plays by other leading dramatists, including Tom Stoppard, Harold Pinter, Brian Friel, Anton Chekhov and Peter Gill. He received an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor for his performance in Joe Penhall’s “Blue/Orange.” On Broadway, he starred in the 2006 premiere of David Hare’s “The Vertical Hour,” directed by Sam Mendes.
Also well known for his work on the small screen, Nighy recently earned a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor for his performance in the BBC television movie “Page Eight,” directed by David Hare and produced by “Harry Potter” producer David Heyman. Nighy has worked several times with director David Yates, including the acclaimed BBC project “State of Play,” for which he won a BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor. Yates also directed him in the BBC telefilm “The Young Visitors,” and HBO’s “The Girl in the Café,” which brought him a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries. He later won a Golden Globe in the same category for his performance in the 2005 telefilm “Gideon’s Daughter.” His television work also includes dozens of series guest roles and long form projects, including the one for which he first gained attention, 1991’s “The Men’s Room.”
In March 2012 Nighy starred to much critical acclaim in ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’ which smashed the UK box office beating Women in Black to the top spot. Boasting a stellar British cast including Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson, Celia Imrie and Slumdog Millionaire actor Dev Patel, the film was released in the UK in Autumn 2011 and in the USA in May 2012 and made a staggering $46.4 million at the US box office alone. In 2012, Nighy was seen in ‘Wrath of the Titans’ and ‘Total Recall’ and in 2013 will star in ‘I, Frankenstein’ (September US and UK); ‘Jack the Giant Slayer (March US and UK), and Richard Curtis’s much anticipated “About Time” due to release in March 2013 in the UK and May in the US.
