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Bill Nighy

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For the American television host and science educator with a similar-sounding name, see Bill Nye.
Bill Nighy
Bill Nighy, May 2007
Born
William Francis Nighy
OccupationActor
Years active1975 - Present
Websitehttp://www.billnighy.net

William Francis "Bill" Nighy (Template:PronEng; born 12 December 1949) is a Golden Globe- and BAFTA-award winning English actor. 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, Hot Fuzz, The Constant Gardener and Pirates of the Caribbean.

Biography

Early life

Nighy was born in Caterham, Surrey, the son of Catherine Josephine (née Whittaker), a psychiatric nurse, and Alfred Martin Nighy, who managed a car garage and worked as a mechanic.[1][2][3] He has two older siblings, Martin and Anna. Nighy attended the John Fisher School in 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.[4] 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.

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, 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 British tabloid press reported Nighy's partner as saying that he had been offered the coveted role of the Doctor in the 2005 revival of the BBC television series Doctor Who.[5] He is alleged to have told reporters that he had considered but ultimately rejected the offer.[who?] The editor of Doctor Who Magazine, Clayton Hickman, had earlier mentioned to the press that Nighy was the first choice of executive producer and writer Russell T Davies. The role was accepted by Christopher Eccleston some weeks later and Davies subsequently claimed that Eccleston had always been the first choice for the role.

Bill Nighy outside the Music Box Theatre on Broadway after a production of The Vertical Hour.

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 alongside Julianne Moore in The Vertical Hour, which was directed by Sam Mendes at the Music Box Theatre.

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.

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 Target[6] alongside Helena Bonham Carter. It will be filmed on Isle of Man and London.

Personal life

Nighy shared a 27-year-relationship with actress Diana Quick,[7] with whom he has a daughter, Mary (born 1984).

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.[8] Nighy lives near the director Richard Curtis in Suffolk.

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.

Theatre

Filmography

Upcoming

References

  1. ^ The BILL NIGHY Experience
  2. ^ Bill Nighy: the thinking woman's bagel The Independent: 19 February 2006
  3. ^ Family Detective Telegraph Family History
  4. ^ Schiff, Amanda (2008-12-02). "Laura Lamson Obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-12-03. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ BBC - Doctor Who (David Tennant and Billie Piper) - News
  6. ^ Bill Nighy Is A Wild Target | Empire
  7. ^ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1048897/Its-Love-Actually-star-Nighy-splits-partner-27-years.html
  8. ^ Crystal Palace F.C. Disabled Childrens Club accessed 2 Jun 2007

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bill Nighy.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
2004
for Love Actually 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television
2007
for Gideon's Daughter 		Succeeded by
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