William Francis Nighy (born 12 December 1949) is an English actor. Known for his work on screen and stage, he has received numerous awards, including two BAFTA Awards, a Golden Globe Award and nominations for an Academy Award and a Tony Award. Nighy started his career with the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool and made his London debut with the Royal National Theatre starting with The Illuminatus! in 1977. There he gained acclaim for his roles in David Hare's Pravda in 1985, Harold Pinter's Betrayal in 1991, Tom Stoppard's Arcadia in 1993, and Anton Chekov's The Seagull in 1994. He received a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor nomination for his performance in Blue/Orange in 2001. He made his Broadway debut in Hare's The Vertical Hour in 2006, and returned in the 2015 revival of Hare's Skylight earning a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play nomination. Early film roles include in the comedies Still Crazy (1998), and Blow Dry (1999) before his breakout role in Love Actually (2003) which earned him a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor. He soon gained recognition portraying Davy Jones in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series (2006-2007), and Viktor in the Underworld film series (2003-2009). Other films include 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), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012), About Time (2013), Emma (2020), and Living (2022), the last of these earning him his first career Academy Award nomination. Nighy has gained acclaim for his roles in television earning a British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for his performance in BBC One series State of Play (2003), and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for the BBC film Gideon's Daughter (2007). He's also known for his roles in HBO's The Girl in the Café (2006) and PBS's Page Eight (2012).
Movie | Joy | Patrick Steptoe | 2025 |
Movie | Role Play | Bob | 2024-01-04 |
Movie | Gracie and Pedro: Pets to the Rescue | Conrad (voice) | 2024-05-01 |
Movie | The Beautiful Game | Mal | 2024-03-22 |
Movie | The First Omen | Cardinal Lawrence | 2024-04-03 |
Movie | 10 Lives | Professor Craven (voice) | 2024-04-18 |
Movie | Dragonkeeper | Danzi (voice) | 2024-04-11 |
Series | Norfolk & Suffolk: Coast & Country | Narrator | 2023-09-06 |
Movie | Living | Williams | 2022-11-04 |
Movie | The Laughter & Secrets of 'Love Actually': 20 Years Later | Self | 2022-11-29 |
Series | The Man Who Fell to Earth | Thomas Jerome Newton | 2022-04-24 |
Series | World's Most Scenic River Journeys | Narrator | 2021-04-02 |
Series | Meerkat Manor: Rise of the Dynasty | Self - Narrator (voice) | 2021-06-05 |
Movie | Lotus: A New Dawn | Self - Narrator | 2021-07-28 |
Series | Iberia's Woodlands: Life on the Edge | Self - Narrator (voice) | 2021-06-29 |
Movie | Buckley's Chance | Spencer | 2021-06-24 |
Movie | Emma. | Mr. Woodhouse | 2020-02-13 |
Movie | Minamata | Robert "Bob" Hayes | 2020-03-13 |
Movie | Katherine Jenkins Christmas Spectacular | Self | 2020-12-01 |
Movie | Sometimes Always Never | Alan | 2019-03-14 |
Movie | Pokémon Detective Pikachu | Howard Clifford | 2019-05-03 |
Movie | Hope Gap | Edward | 2019-10-03 |
Movie | The Kindness of Strangers | Timofey | 2019-12-12 |
Series | World's Most Scenic Railway Journeys | Narrator (voice) | 2019-10-25 |
Movie | StarDog and TurboCat | Sinclair (voice) | 2019-12-06 |
Series | Ordeal by Innocence | Leo Argyll | 2018-04-01 |
Series | The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale | Himself | 2018-02-18 |
Movie | Their Finest | Ambrose Hilliard / Uncle Frank | 2017-02-19 |
Movie | The Bookshop | Mr. Brundish | 2017-11-10 |
Series | Castlevania | Saint Germain (voice) | 2017-07-07 |
Movie | Red Nose Day Actually | Billy Mack | 2017-03-24 |
Movie | Norm of the North | Socrates (voice) | 2016-01-14 |
Movie | Dad's Army | Sergeant Wilson | 2016-02-05 |
Movie | The Limehouse Golem | John Kildare | 2016-10-18 |
Movie | The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel | Douglas Ainslie | 2015-02-26 |
Movie | A Grand Night In: The Story of Aardman | Self - 'Flushed Away' and 'Arthur Christmas' | 2015-12-26 |
Movie | I, Frankenstein | Naberius | 2014-01-22 |
Movie | Turks & Caicos | Johnny Worricker | 2014-03-20 |
Movie | Salting the Battlefield | Johnny Worricker | 2014-03-27 |
Movie | Pride | Cliff | 2014-09-12 |
Movie | National Theatre Live: Skylight | Tom Sergeant | 2014-07-24 |
Movie | Dangerous Edge: A Life of Graham Greene | Graham Greene (voice) | 2013-01-01 |
Movie | Jack the Giant Slayer | General Fallon | 2013-02-27 |
Movie | The World's End | The Network (voice) | 2013-07-18 |
Movie | Great White Shark | Self - Narrator (voice) | 2013-05-24 |
Movie | About Time | Dad | 2013-09-04 |
Movie | The Hungry Corpse | The Hungry Corpse | 2013-06-26 |
Movie | The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel | Douglas Ainslie | 2012-02-23 |
Movie | Wrath of the Titans | Hephaestus | 2012-03-28 |
Movie | London: The Modern Babylon | Spoken Quotations (voice) | 2012-08-03 |
Movie | Total Recall | Matthias | 2012-08-02 |
Movie | Chalet Girl | Richard Madsen | 2011-02-02 |
Movie | Rango | Rattlesnake Jake (voice) | 2011-03-02 |
Movie | Astonish Me | The Professor | 2011-07-26 |
Movie | Page Eight | Johnny Worricker | 2011-08-28 |
Movie | Arthur Christmas | Grandsanta (voice) | 2011-11-10 |
Movie | Real Creatures of Dirt | Self / Rattlesnake Jake | 2011-07-15 |
Movie | Wild Target | Victor Maynard | 2010-06-17 |
Movie | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 | Rufus Scrimgeour | 2010-11-17 |
Series | The Big Art Project | Narrator | 2009-05-10 |
Movie | Underworld: Rise of the Lycans | Viktor | 2009-01-22 |
Movie | The Boat That Rocked | Quentin | 2009-04-01 |
Movie | G-Force | Leonard Saber | 2009-07-24 |
Movie | Astro Boy | Dr. Elefun (voice) | 2009-10-15 |
Series | Live from Studio Five | Self | 2009-09-14 |
Movie | Glorious 39 | Alexander Keyes | 2009-11-20 |
Movie | A Fox's Tale | Ringmaster (voice) | 2008-04-17 |
Movie | Valkyrie | Friedrich Olbricht | 2008-12-25 |
Movie | Slapper | Arnold Percy | 2008-06-21 |
Movie | Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End | Davy Jones | 2007-05-19 |
Movie | Hot Fuzz | Met Chief Inspector | 2007-02-14 |
Movie | Underworld: Evolution | Viktor | 2006-01-12 |
Movie | Anatomy of a Global Thriller: Behind the Scenes of The Constant Gardener | Self | 2006-01-10 |
Movie | We Love Cigarettes | Narrator | 2006-06-29 |
Series | The One Show | Self | 2006-08-14 |
Movie | Notes on a Scandal | Richard Hart | 2006-12-25 |
Movie | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest | Davy Jones | 2006-07-06 |
Movie | Flushed Away | Whitey (voice) | 2006-10-22 |
Movie | Stormbreaker | Alan Blunt | 2006-07-21 |
Movie | The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | Slartibartfast | 2005-04-28 |
Series | Doctor Who | Dr Black | 2005-03-26 |
Movie | The Girl in the Café | Lawrence | 2005-06-25 |
Movie | The Magic Roundabout | Dylan (voice) | 2005-02-02 |
Movie | Gideon's Daughter | Gideon Warner | 2005-10-21 |
Movie | Inside 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' | Self | 2005-07-05 |
Movie | Don't Crash: The Documentary of the Making of the Movie of the Book of the Radio Series of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' | Self | 2005-09-05 |
Series | Meerkat Manor | Narrator | 2005-09-02 |
Movie | The Constant Gardener | Sir Bernard Pellegrin | 2005-08-31 |
Movie | Shaun of the Dead | Phillip | 2004-04-09 |
Movie | Burst | Maxwell's Fan 22 | 2004-01-01 |
Movie | Enduring Love | Robin | 2004-10-29 |
Series | He Knew He Was Right | Colonel Osborne | 2004-04-18 |
Series | State of Play | Cameron Foster | 2003-05-18 |
Movie | I Capture the Castle | James Mortmain | 2003-05-09 |
Movie | Ready When You Are, Mr McGill | Phil Parish | 2003-01-01 |
Movie | Love Actually | Billy Mack | 2003-09-07 |
Series | The Lost Prince | Stamfordham | 2003-01-19 |
Movie | Below Deck: An Interactive History Of Pirates | 2003-12-02 | |
Movie | Life Beyond the Box: Norman Stanley Fletcher | Narrator | 2003-12-29 |
Movie | The Young Visiters | Earl of Clincham | 2003-12-26 |
Series | Grumpy Old Men | Self | 2003-10-10 |
Movie | Underworld | Viktor | 2003-09-19 |
Series | Canterbury Tales | James | 2003-09-11 |
Movie | AKA | Uncle Louis Gryffoyn | 2002-01-19 |
Series | Timeshift | self (voice) | 2002-10-10 |
Movie | Lawless Heart | Dan | 2002-06-28 |
Series | The Inspector Lynley Mysteries | Lockwood | 2002-04-08 |
Movie | Blow Dry | Ray Robertson | 2001-03-01 |
Movie | Lucky Break | Roger | 2001-08-24 |
Series | Richard & Judy | Self | 2001-11-26 |
Series | Longitude | Lord Sandwich | 2000-01-02 |
Series | Black Books | Man at bar | 2000-09-29 |
Movie | Longitude | Lord Sandwich | 2000-01-02 |
Series | Total Recall 2070 | Matthias Lair | 1999-01-05 |
Movie | Guest House Paradiso | Mr. Johnson | 1999-12-03 |
Series | People Like Us | Will Rushmore | 1999-09-20 |
Movie | Still Crazy | Ray Simms | 1998-10-30 |
Movie | FairyTale: A True Story | Edward Gardner | 1997-10-24 |
Movie | Alive and Kicking | Tristan | 1996-11-08 |
Series | Testament: The Bible in Animation | Belshazzar (voice) | 1996-12-11 |
Movie | True Blue | Jeremy Saville | 1996-11-15 |
Series | Kavanagh Q.C. | Giles Culpepper QC | 1995-01-03 |
Series | Wycliffe | David Cleeve | 1994-07-24 |
Movie | Being Human | Julian | 1994-05-06 |
Series | Peak Practice | Alan Sinclair | 1993-05-10 |
Movie | Unnatural Causes | Oliver Latham | 1993-01-02 |
Movie | Don't Leave Me This Way | John Tracey | 1993-05-30 |
Movie | The Maitlands | Roger Maitland | 1993-11-13 |
Movie | A Masculine Ending | John Tracey | 1992-04-12 |
Movie | Absolute Hell | Hugh Marriner | 1991-10-05 |
Series | Performance | Roger Maitland | 1991-02-22 |
Movie | Antonia and Jane | Howard Nash | 1990-01-01 |
Series | Chillers | Tom Dickenson | 1990-04-14 |
Series | Making News | Sam Courtney | 1990-01-16 |
Movie | Mack the Knife | Tiger Brown | 1989-11-01 |
Movie | The Phantom of the Opera | Martin Barton | 1989-11-04 |
Series | South Of The Border | Tony Freason | 1988-10-25 |
Movie | Hitler's SS : Portrait In Evil | Helmut Hoffmann | 1985-02-17 |
Movie | Thirteen at Dinner | Ronald Marsh | 1985-09-19 |
Series | The Last Place on Earth | Cecil Meares | 1985-02-18 |
Movie | The Little Drummer Girl | Al | 1984-10-19 |
Series | Auf Wiedersehen, Pet | Jeffrey Grainger | 1983-11-11 |
Movie | Curse of the Pink Panther | ENT Doctor | 1983-08-12 |
Series | Reilly: Ace of Spies | Goschen | 1983-09-05 |
Movie | Easter 2016 | Connor Mullan | 1982-05-18 |
Movie | Under the Skin | Dave | 1982-01-19 |
Series | Bergerac | Barry | 1981-10-18 |
Movie | Eye of the Needle | Squadron Leader Blenkinsop | 1981-07-24 |
Movie | Dreams of Leaving | William | 1980-01-17 |
Movie | Death Watch | Katherine's Co-worker (uncredited) | 1980-01-23 |
Movie | Fox | Colin Street | 1980-03-10 |
Movie | Little Lord Fauntleroy | Officer | 1980-12-01 |
Series | Fox | Colin Street | 1980-03-10 |
Series | Agony | Vincent Fish | 1979-03-11 |
Series | Minder | Oates | 1979-10-29 |
Movie | Soldiers Talking, Cleanly | Bill | 1978-12-05 |
Movie | Occupy! | Player in Everyman Theatre Company, Liverpool | 1976-01-01 |