Bill Nighy Biography

Bill Nighy’s film stardom came late in life — he was in his 50s before film audiences fell in love with his portrayal of washed-up pop star Billy Mack in the 2003 comedy Love Actually.

Nighy was 73 when he was nominated for his leading role in the 2022 film, Living.

Raised south of London (Caterham, Surrey), he found his way to drama school and a career on the English stage. He began working in TV and film in the early 1980s, but most audiences know him for his work since 2003.

That was the year he appeared in Love Actually, as well as in the BBC miniseries State of Play and the film adaption of Dodie Smith‘s I Capture the Castle.

Bill Nighy is lanky, cheeky and visibly battle-weary (his alcoholic past is a well-known part of his professional resumé), and on screen he’s demonstrated the range of an accomplished character actor in both comedy and drama.

His films of the early 2000s include Shaun of the Dead (2004); Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006, starring Johnny Depp); Notes on a Scandal (2006, starring Cate Blanchett); Underworld (as Viktor, in 2003 and 2009); and Valkyrie (2008, starring Tom Cruise).

Nighy also did voice work for Flushed Away (2006), G-Force (2009) and Astro Boy (2009), and won the role of Rufus Scrimgeour in the movie version of J.K. Rowling‘s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2010).

His other films include The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011, and its 2015 sequel), Total Recall (2012), Their Finest (2016) and Emma (2020).

On television, Nighy co-starred in The Man Who Fell to Earth (2022, with Chiwetel Ejiofor). He’s also done voice work, including the feature Rango (2011, with Johnny Depp) and the animated series Castlevania (2020-21).