William Francis Nighy (born December 12, 1949 in Caterham, England) is a British stage actor who made the transition to film in 1989's Eye of the Needle.
He is easily recognized thanks to his tall, slight frame and distinctive voice. He is also known for his trademark heavy-rimmed spectacles and sharp suits, which has seen him feature on many "Best Dressed Men" lists over the years.
Nighy is probably most famous for playing Billy Mack in Love Actually and Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. He is also known as Philip in Shaun of the Dead and Viktor in the Underworld film series.
He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for 2022's Living (an adaptation of Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru).
Notable Roles:
- Cecil Meares in The Last Place on Earth (1985)
- Tom Frewen in Eye of the Storm (1993)
- Mr. Johnson in Guest House Paradiso (1999)
- Charles Paris in A Charles Paris Mystery (1999 to present)
- Viktor in Underworld (2003), the sequel Underworld Evolution and the prequel Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)
- Billy Mack in Love Actually (2003).
- Cameron Foster in State of Play (2003)
- Philip in Shaun of the Dead (2004)
- Robin in Enduring Love (2004)
- Slartibartfast in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
- Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)
- Dylan in The Magic Roundabout (2005) (voice; original UK dub)
- Sir Bernard Pellegrin in The Constant Gardener (2005)
- Whitey in Flushed Away (2006) (voice)
- Richard Hart in Notes on a Scandal (2006)
- Chief Inspector Kenneth in Hot Fuzz (2007)
- Friedrich Olbricht in Valkyrie (2008)
- Leonard Saber in G-Force (2009)
- Robotsky and Dr. Elefun/Professor Ochanomizu in Astro Boy (2009) (voice)
- Quentin in Pirate Radio (2009)
- A Musée d'Orsay curator with a bow tie in Doctor Who (2010)
- Rufus Scrimgeour in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
- Victor Maynard in Wild Target (2010)
- Rattlesnake Jake in Rango (2011) (voice)
- Douglas Ainslie in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and its sequel
- Grandsanta in Arthur Christmas (2011) (voice)
- Hephaestus in Wrath of the Titans (2012)
- Matthias Lair in Total Recall (2012)
- Fallon in Jack the Giant Slayer (2013)
- The Network in The World's End (2013)
- James Lake in About Time (2013)
- Naberius in I, Frankenstein (2014)
- The Speaker in Destiny (2014) (voice)
- High King Emeric in The Elder Scrolls Online (2014) (voice)
- Johnny Worricker in Page Eight (2011), Turks & Caicos (2014), and Salting The Battlefield (2014)
- Sergeant Arthur Wilson in Dad's Army (2016)
- Ambrose Hilliard in Their Finest (2017)
- Howard Clifford in Pokémon Detective Pikachu (2019)
- Sinclair in Star Dog And Turbo Cat (2019)
- Mr. Woodhouse in Emma (2020)
- Odin in The Sandman (2021) (voice)
- Rodney Williams in Living (2022)
- Lawrence in The First Omen (2024)
- Longneck in The Wild Robot (2024) (voice)
- Mal in The Beautiful Game (2024)
Tropes associated with him include:
- Awesome, Dear Boy:
- His reason for taking smaller supporting roles in Harry Potter and Doctor Who. He didn't want to be one of the few British actors to not be in Harry Potter.
- Also his reason why he reprised his role as Viktor from Underworld (2003) in its sequels Evolution and Rise of the Lycans, since had so much fun playing a vampire in the first film.
- British Stuffiness: A master at these sorts of roles.
- Character Tics: He often points and gestures with his middle finger instead of his index.
- The Comically Serious: He has this down to a science in his roles.
- Large Ham: Often and with much gusto.
- Playing Against Type:
- Nighy's role in Total Recall (2012) shows him as a very serious heroic figure. Could also double as a Subverted Trope.
- An odd case with his role as Sam in the BBC radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. He's physically about the least-suited actor to playing a Hobbit imaginable, but somehow the use of his voice alone fits perfectly.
- Typecasting: If he's not hamming, many of his characters have a pensive stumbling delivery with nervous pauses and a somewhat melancholy tone.
- What Could Have Been: He was considered for the role of the Ninth Doctor in Doctor Who before the casting of Christopher Eccleston. He would later go on, in an uncredited cameo, to portray Dr. Black in the Eleventh Doctor story "Vincent and the Doctor".