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Bill Nighy
Bill Nighy in 2009
Born	William Francis Nighy 12 December 1949 (1949-12-12) (age 59) Caterham, Surrey, England, UK
Occupation	Actor/Comedian
Years active	1975–present
Official website

William Francis "Bill" Nighy (pronounced /ˈnaɪ/; born 12 December 1949) is a British actor and comedian. He started working in theatre and television, before his first cinema role in 1981, and is perhaps best known to international film audiences for his roles in Love Actually, Shaun of the Dead, Notes on a Scandal, Underworld, Valkyrie, Pirates of the Caribbean, Hot Fuzz and Stormbreaker.

Biography

Early life

Nighy was born in Caterham, Surrey. His mother, Catherine Josephine (née Whittaker), was a psychiatric nurse who was raised in Glasgow, and his father, Alfred Martin Nighy, managed a car garage and worked as a mechanic.¹²³⁴ He has two older siblings, Martin and Anna. Raised Catholic, Nighy attended The John Fisher School, Purley. He trained at the Guildford School of Acting, formerly known as The Guildford School of Dance and Drama.

Career

After two seasons at the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool, Nighy made his London stage debut at the National Theatre in an epic staging of Ken Campbell and Chris Langham's Illuminatus!, which opened the new Cottesloe Theatre on 4 March 1977, and went on to appear in two David Hare premieres, also at the National.

He has starred in many radio and television dramas, notably the BBC serial The Men's Room (1991). He claimed that the serial, an Ann Oakley novel adapted by Laura Lamson, was the job which launched his career.⁵ More recently he has featured in the thriller State of Play (2003) and costume drama He Knew He Was Right (2004). He played Samwise Gamgee in the 1981 BBC Radio dramatization of The Lord of the Rings (where he was credited as William Nighy), and appeared in the 1980s BBC Radio versions of Yes Minister episodes. He starred alongside Stephen Moore and Lesley Sharp in the acclaimed short radio drama Kerton's Story first aired in 1996. He had a starring role in the 2002 return of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, portraying crooked politician Jeffrey Grainger. He has also made a guest appearance in the BBC Radio 4 series Baldi.

Two of Nighy's most acclaimed stage performances were in National Theatre productions. Taking the role of Bernard Nightingale, an unscrupulous university don, in Tom Stoppard's Arcadia (1993), he engaged in witty exchanges with Felicity Kendal, playing the role of Hannah Jarvis, an author; and he played a consultant psychiatrist in Joe Penhall's Blue/Orange (2000), for which he won an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor, and which transferred to the West End at the Duchess Theatre the following year.

Bill Nighy outside the Music Box Theatre on Broadway following a performance of The Vertical Hour.

Nighy received some recognition by American audiences for his acclaimed portrayal of overaged rock star Ray Simms in the 1998 film Still Crazy. In 2003, Nighy played the role of the Vampire Elder Viktor in the American production Underworld and returned in the same role for the sequel Underworld: Evolution in 2006 and again the same role in the prequel Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. In February 2004, he was awarded the BAFTA Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as shameless, washed-up rocker Billy Mack in Love Actually (a role foreshadowed by his Still Crazy character) and followed this up at the BAFTA Television Awards in April with the Best Actor award for State of Play. He also appeared in the comedy Shaun of the Dead.

In early 2004, The Sunday Times reported that Nighy's was on the short-list for role of the Doctor in the 2005 revival of the BBC television series Doctor Who.⁶(Christopher Eccleston ultimately filled the role.)

In 2005, he appeared as Slartibartfast in the film adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and also in the one-off BBC One comedy-drama The Girl in the Café. In February 2006, he appeared in scriptwriter Stephen Poliakoff's one-off drama, Gideon's Daughter. Nighy played the lead character, Gideon, a successful events organiser who begins to lose touch with the world around him. This performance won him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Mini-series or TV Movie in January 2007. Also in 2006, Nighy made his Broadway debut at the Music Box Theatre alongside Julianne Moore in The Vertical Hour, directed by Sam Mendes.

Nighy appeared in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, where he played the principal villain, Davy Jones. He reprised the role in the 2007 sequel, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. He also provides the narration for the 2007 BBC series Meerkat Manor. Recently, he played the role of Richard Hart in Notes on a Scandal, for which he was nominated for a London Film Critics Circle award. He has twice played burned-out rock stars: Ray Simms in Still Crazy and Billy Mack in Love Actually. Nighy also appeared as General Friedrich Olbricht, one of the principal conspirators, in the 2008 film Valkyrie. Ironically, he had played an SS officer in the 1985 Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil, which examined, inter alia, the struggle between the SA and the Nazi Party leadership (supported by the SS).

With the announcement of Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, Nighy will reprise the role of Viktor. Filming began in January 2008. David Yates has said that Nighy would be his first choice for the role of Minister for Magic Rufus Scrimgeour in the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Nighy is also set to star in a film Wild Target⁷ alongside Emily Blunt. It will be filmed on Isle of Man and London. In July 2009, he announced he will play "a goodie" in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.⁸

Personal life

Bill Nighy shared a 27-year-relationship with British actress Diana Quick, ⁹with whom he has a daughter, actress and writer Mary Nighy. Bill Nighy currently lives in London and still spends a great deal of time with Diana.

He is a supporter of Crystal Palace Football Club and is the Patron of the CPFRIS (Crystal Palace F.C. Fast Results & Information Service) Disabled Children's Club.¹⁰

He has Dupuytren's contracture, a condition which causes the ring and perhaps other fingers of each hand to be permanently bent inwards towards the palm.

Work

Theatre

• The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Any More by Tennessee Williams - Watermill Theatre, Newbury
• Landscape and Silence, by Harold Pinter - Gateway Theatre, Chester
• Entertaining Mr Sloane by Joe Orton - Gateway Theatre, Chester
• Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, by Tom Stoppard - Arts Theatre, Cambridge
• The Immoralist, from the novel by André Gide - Hampstead Theatre
• Speak Now, by Olwen Wymark - Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh (1971)
• Freedom of the City, by Brian Friel - Everyman Theatre, Liverpool
• Under New Management, by Chris Bond - Everyman Theatre, Liverpool
• Illuminatus!, Ken Campbell/Chris Langham - Liverpool Science Fiction Theatre (1975)
• Occupy! - Liverpool Everyman Theatre (1976)
• Illuminatus!, Ken Campbell/Chris Langham - NT Cottesloe (1977)
• Comings and Goings, by Mike Stott - Hampstead Theatre Club (1978)
• The Warp, by Neil Oram/ Ken Campbell - ICA (1979)
• Illuminations, by Peter Jenkins - Lyric Hammersmith (1980)
• A Map of the World, by David Hare - NT Lyttelton (1983)
• Pravda, by David Hare/ Howard Brenton - NT Olivier (1985)
• King Lear, by William Shakespeare - NT Olivier (1986)
• Mean Tears, by Peter Gill - NT Cottesloe (1987)
• Betrayal, by Harold Pinter - Almeida Theatre, London (1991)
• Arcadia, by Tom Stoppard - NT Lyttelton (1993)
• The Seagull, by Anton Chekhov/ad. Pam Gems - NT Olivier (1994)
• Skylight, by David Hare - NT production at Vaudeville Theatre, London (1995)/ UK tour (1997)
• A Kind of Alaska, by Harold Pinter - Donmar Warehouse (1998)
• Blue/Orange, by Joe Penhall - NT Cottesloe (2000), Duchess Theatre (2001)
• The Vertical Hour, by David Hare, Broadway production at the Music Box Theatre, NY (2006)

Filmography

• Agony (1981)
• Eye of the Needle (1981)
• Curse of the Pink Panther (1983)
• The Little Drummer Girl (1984)
• Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil (1985)
• Thirteen at Dinner (1985)
• The Last Place on Earth (1985) (TV)
• The Phantom of the Opera: The Motion Picture (1989)
• Being Human (1993)
• FairyTale: A True Story (1997)
• Still Crazy (1998)
• Kiss Me Kate (1998) (TV)
• Guest House Paradiso (1999)
• Longitude (2000)
• Blow Dry (2001)
• Lucky Break (2001)
• Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (2002)
• The Inspector Lynley Mysteries: Well Schooled in Murder (2002) (TV)
• The Lost Prince (2003) (TV)
• State of Play (2003) (TV)
• Ready When You Are, Mr McGill (2003)
• Love Actually (2003)
• I Capture the Castle (2003)
• Underworld (2003)
• Shaun of the Dead (2004)
• He Knew He Was Right (2004) (TV)
• Enduring Love (2004)
• The Girl in the Café (2005) (TV)
• The Magic Roundabout (2005) (voice)
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
• The Constant Gardener (2005)
• Underworld: Evolution (2006)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
• Flushed Away (2006) (voice)
• Notes on a Scandal (2006)
• Stormbreaker (2006)
• Hot Fuzz (2007)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)
• Valkyrie (2008)
• Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)
• The Boat That Rocked (2009)

Upcoming

• 1939 (2009)
• G-Force (2009)
• Astro Boy (2009) (voice)
• Wild Target (2009)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I (2010)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II (2011)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bill Nighy

• Bill Nighy official website
• Bill Nighy at the Internet Movie Database
• Bill Nighy at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
• Bill Nighy Org - news, info, photos, media
• Silk Sound Books
• Bill Nighy - Still Crazy website
• Bill Nighy Talks Pirates 2