Bill Nighy

Personal Life and Education

Nighy was born in Caterham , Surrey . His mother, Catherine Josephine Nighy (née Whittaker), was a psychiatric nurse who was born in Glasgow ,and his father, Alfred Martin Nighy, managed a car garage after working in the family chimney sweeping business.He was raised Roman Catholic , serving as an altar boy.He has two elder siblings, Martin and Anna. Nighy attended The John Fisher School, a Catholic Grammar School in Purley , where he was a member of the school theatre group. He left the school with two O-levels and then took a job with the Croydon Advertiser as a messenger boy.He went on to train at the Guildford School of Acting , known at the time as The Guildford School of Dance and Drama.

Nighy had a 27-year-relationship with English actress Diana Quick , with whom he has a daughter, actress Mary Nighy . The couple split in 2008.He is a supporter of Crystal Palace and is the Patron of the CPFRIS (Crystal Palace F.C. Fast Results & Information Service) Disabled Children's Club, and of the Ann Craft Trust.He is also one of the Honorary Patrons of the London children's charity Scene & Heard .He suffers from Dupuytren's contracture , a condition which causes the ring and little finger of each hand to be permanently bent inwards towards the palm.

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 'sIlluminatus!, which opened the new Cottesloe Theatre on 4 March 1977, and went on to appear in two David Hare premieres, also at the National. During the 1980s, he appeared in several television productions, among them Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil , alongside John Shea and Tony Randall .

He has starred in many radio and television dramas, notably the BBC serialThe Men's Room(1991). He claimed that the serial, an Ann Oakley novel adapted by Laura Lamson , was the job which launched his career.More recently he has featured in the thrillerState of Play(2003) and costume dramaHe Knew He Was Right(2004). He played Samwise Gamgee in the 1981 BBC Radio dramatisation ofThe Lord of the Rings(where he was credited as William Nighy), and appeared in the 1980s BBC Radio versions ofYes Ministerepisodes. He starred alongside Stephen Moore and Lesley Sharp in the acclaimed short radio dramaKerton's Storyfirst aired in 1996. He had a starring role in the 2002 return ofAuf 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 'sArcadia(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 'sBlue/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 ofThe Vertical Hour.

Nighy received some recognition by American audiences for his acclaimed portrayal of overaged rock star Ray Simms in the 1998 filmStill Crazy. In 1999 he gained further prominence in the UK with the starring in role in "The Photographer", an episode of the award-winning BBC-TV mockumentary comedy seriesPeople Like Us, playing Will Rushmore, a middle aged man who has abandoned his career and family in the deluded belief that he can achieve success as a commercial photographer.

In 2003, Nighy played the role of the Vampire Elder Viktor in the American productionUnderworldand returned in the same role for the sequelUnderworld: Evolutionin 2006 and again the same role in the prequelUnderworld: 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 inLove Actually(a role foreshadowed by hisStill Crazycharacter) and followed this up at the BAFTA Television Awards in April with the Best Actor award forState of Play. He also appeared in the comedyShaun of the Dead.

In early 2004,The Sunday Timesreported that Nighy was on the shortlist for role of the Ninth Doctor in the 2005 revival of the BBC television seriesDoctor Who. Christopher Eccleston ultimately filled the role.

In 2005, he appeared as Slartibartfast in the film adaptation ofThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and also in the one-off BBC One comedy-dramaThe 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 inThe Vertical Hour, directed by Sam Mendes .

In 2006, Nighy featured inPirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, where he played the principal villain, Davy Jones , although his face was entirely obscured by computer-generated makeup and he voiced the character with a Scots accent. He reprised the role in the 2007 sequel,Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, in which his real face was briefly revealed in one scene. He also provides the narration for the BBC series Meerkat Manor . Recently, he played the role of Richard Hart inNotes 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 inStill Crazyand Billy Mack inLove Actually. Nighy also appeared as General Friedrich Olbricht , one of the principal conspirators, in the 2008 filmValkyrie. He had played an SS officer in the 1985Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil. InUnderworld: Rise of the Lycans, Nighy reprised the role of Viktor. Nighy has starred in the filmWild Targetalongside Emily Blunt . It was filmed on the Isle of Man and in London.

In July 2009, he announced he will play Rufus Scrimgeour inHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.Nighy had already worked with director David Yates three times, and with the majority of Harry Potter cast in previous movies. He said of his role as Rufus Scrimgeour that it meant he was no longer the only English actor not to be in Harry Potter.

Theatre