Bill Nighy is an award-winning actor of the stage and screen. His more recent film work includes the blockbuster Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, in the role of Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour. Nighy earlier won 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.
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 Visiters, 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 longform projects, including the one for which he first gained attention, 1991’s The Men’s Room.
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.
This biography/filmography of Bill Nighy is courtesy of Warner Brothers and Wrath of the Titans
