Biography
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 ...
Known For
Complete Filmography

That Christmas
2024
as Lighthouse Bill (voice)
It's an unforgettable Christmas for the townsfolk of Wellington-on-Sea when the worst snowstorm in history alters everyone's plans — including Santa's...

Joy
2024
as Patrick Steptoe
A young nurse, a visionary scientist and an innovative surgeon face opposition from the church, state, media and medical establishment, in their pursu...

The Wild Robot
2024
as Longneck (voice)
After a shipwreck, an intelligent robot called Roz is stranded on an uninhabited island. To survive the harsh environment, Roz bonds with the island's...

Gracie & Pedro: Pets to the Rescue
2024
as Conrad (voice)
Family frenemies, Gracie and Pedro, must put their differences aside, embarking on a thrilling quest packed with perilous escapades in order to reunit...

10 Lives
2024
as Professor Craven (voice)
A pampered cat takes for granted the lucky hand he has been dealt after he is rescued and loved by Rose, a kind-hearted and passionate student. When h...

The First Omen
2024
as Cardinal Lawrence
When a young American woman is sent to Rome to begin a life of service to the church, she encounters a darkness that causes her to question her own fa...

The Beautiful Game
2024
as Mal
A group of advocates to end homelessness organize an annual tournament for homeless people to compete in a series of football matches known as The Hom...

Role Play
2023
as Bob
Emma has a wonderful husband and two kids in the suburbs of New Jersey – she also has a secret life as an assassin for hire – a secret that her husban...

Darkling
2023
The wanderer of Roger Hyams' films Sunday and Grand Union steps out into the night.

Spectre of the Bear
2023
as Bennett (voice)
One man's obsession with crisps becomes unhealthy - and not because he's eating them. Tom's quest for the truth takes him on a journey into the unknow...

Bloody Fury
2023
as Bloody's Consciousness (voice)
In the Far West, the fur trade is booming. Bloody Furry, one of the last red wolves still alive, decides to avenge his slaughtered family. But is reve...

The Laughter & Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later – A Diane Sawyer Special
2022
as Self
ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer marks the 20th anniversary of the making of the holiday classic movie “Love Actually” in this primetime special. Featurin...

Living
2022
as Williams
London, 1953. Mr. Williams, a veteran civil servant, is an important cog within the city's bureaucracy as it struggles to rebuild in the aftermath of ...

Christmas Magic at Kew Gardens
2021
as Self - Narrator (voice)
Follows Christmas celebrations at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew as staff prepare for one of their busiest times of year. Vegetables are prepared read...

Lotus: A New Dawn
2021
as Self - Narrator (voice)
This short documentary follows the fortunes of iconic car manufacturer 'Lotus'. In the past 'Lotus' has been famous for producing championship winning...

Buckley's Chance
2021
as Spencer
A fish-out-of-water story of a young boy Ridley who becomes lost in the harsh Australian outback with nothing but his camcorder and new friend, a wayw...

Katherine Jenkins Christmas Spectacular
2020
as Self
Classical music superstar Katherine Jenkins OBE returns to the iconic Royal Albert Hall, her all-time favourite venue, crafting a unique and unforgett...

Minamata
2020
as Robert "Bob" Hayes
War photographer W. Eugene Smith travels back to Japan where he documents the devastating effect of mercury poisoning in coastal communities.

Emma.
2020
as Mr. Woodhouse
In 1800s England, a well-meaning but selfish young woman meddles in the love lives of her friends.

The Kindness of Strangers
2019
as Timofey
Clara and her two sons escape from her abusive husband with little more than their car and plan to start over in New York. After the car towed away, t...

StarDog and TurboCat
2019
as Sinclair (voice)
When vigilante cat, Felix, and loyal canine, Buddy, set out to find Buddy’s lost owner, they discover not only the power of friendship, but their inne...

Hope Gap
2019
as Edward
Grace lives an idyllic life in a British seaside town, but her world soon comes crashing down when her husband of 29 years tells her he's leaving her ...

Pokémon Detective Pikachu
2019
as Howard Clifford
In a world where people collect pocket-size monsters (Pokémon) to do battle, a boy comes across an intelligent monster who seeks to be a detective.

Sometimes Always Never
2019
as Alan
Alan is a stylish tailor with moves as sharp as his suits. He has spent years searching tirelessly for his missing son Michael who stormed out over a ...

Sometimes Always Never
2019
Executive Producer
Alan is a stylish tailor with moves as sharp as his suits. He has spent years searching tirelessly for his missing son Michael who stormed out over a ...

The Bookshop
2017
as Mr. Brundish
Set in a small English town in 1959, a woman decides, against polite but ruthless local opposition, to open a bookshop, a decision which becomes a pol...

Red Nose Day Actually
2017
as Billy Mack
Fourteen years after the events of the first film, a series of encounters between people in Britain reminds us that in these different times Love, act...

Their Finest
2017
as Ambrose Hilliard / Uncle Frank
During the Blitz of World War II, a female screenwriter works on a film celebrating England's resilience as a way to buoy a weary populace's spirits. ...

The Limehouse Golem
2016
as John Kildare
A series of murders has shaken the community to the point where people believe that only a legendary creature from dark times – the mythical Golem – m...

Dad's Army
2016
as Sergeant Wilson
A cinema remake of the classic sitcom Dad's Army (1968). The Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard platoon deal with a visiting female journalist and a German ...

Norm of the North
2016
as Socrates (voice)
Polar bear Norm and his three Arctic lemming buddies are forced out into the world once their icy home begins melting and breaking apart. Landing in N...

A Grand Night In: The Story of Aardman
2015
as Self - 'Flushed Away' and 'Arthur Christmas'
Julie Walters tells the story of how Morph, Shaun the Sheep and that cheese-loving man Wallace and his dog Gromit first came to life.

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
2015
as Douglas Ainslie
As the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel has only a single remaining vacancy - posing a rooming predicament for two fresh arrivals - Sonny pursues his expans...

Pride
2014
as Cliff
In 1984, a group of LGBT activists decide to raise money to support the National Union of Mineworkers during their lengthy strike. There is only one p...

National Theatre Live: Skylight
2014
as Tom Sergeant
On a bitterly cold London evening, schoolteacher Kyra Hollis receives an unexpected visit from her former lover, Tom Sergeant, a successful and charis...

Salting the Battlefield
2014
as Johnny Worricker
David Hare concludes his trilogy of films about MI5 renegade Johnny Worricker with another fugue on power, secrets and the British establishment. John...

Turks & Caicos
2014
as Johnny Worricker
The second movie in David Hare's Johnny Worricker trilogy. Loose-limbed spy Johnny Worricker, last seen whistleblowing at MI5 in Page Eight, has a new...

I, Frankenstein
2014
as Naberius
200 years after his shocking creation, Dr. Frankenstein's creature, Adam, still walks the earth. But when he finds himself in the middle of a war over...

About Time
2013
as Dad
The night after another unsatisfactory New Year's party, Tim's father tells his son that the men in his family have always had the ability to travel t...

The World's End
2013
as The Network (voice)
Five friends who reunite in an attempt to top their epic pub crawl from 20 years earlier unwittingly become humankind's only hope for survival.

The Hungry Corpse
2013
as The Hungry Corpse
In London's bustling, yet desolate Trafalgar Square, an ancient corpse meets a pigeon with a broken wing.

Great White Shark
2013
as Self - Narrator (voice)
Misrepresented, maligned and on the verge of extinction, the great white shark is an iconic predator: the creature we love to fear. Great White Shark ...

Jack the Giant Slayer
2013
as General Fallon
The story of an ancient war that is reignited when a young farmhand unwittingly opens a gateway between our world and a fearsome race of giants. Unlea...

Dangerous Edge: A Life of Graham Greene
2013
as Graham Greene (voice)
The documentary uses Graham Greene's own words from his books and recordings, as well as photographs and clips from his many films, to reveal the fasc...

London: The Modern Babylon
2012
as Spoken Quotations (voice)
London: The Modern Babylon is legendary director Julien Temple's epic time-traveling voyage to the heart of his hometown.

Total Recall
2012
as Matthias
Factory worker Doug Quaid takes a virtual mind-trip vacation with the Rekall company, opting for implanted memories of being a spy. When the procedure...

Wrath of the Titans
2012
as Hephaestus
Perseus tries to live a quieter life as a village fisherman while – dangerously weakened by humanity's lack of devotion – the gods are losing control ...

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
2012
as Douglas Ainslie
British retirees travel to India to take up residence in what they believe is a newly restored hotel. Less luxurious than its advertisements, the Mari...

Arthur Christmas
2011
as Grandsanta (voice)
For hundreds of years, the Claus family has delegated the title "Santa" to a chosen few of its members, which can be passed down upon retirement. Each...

Page Eight
2011
as Johnny Worricker
Johnny is a long-serving MI5 officer. His boss dies suddenly, leaving behind an inexplicable file which threatens the stability of the organisation.

Page Eight
2011
Executive Producer
Johnny is a long-serving MI5 officer. His boss dies suddenly, leaving behind an inexplicable file which threatens the stability of the organisation.

Astonish Me
2011
as The Professor
When a young boy gets locked in the Natural History Museum after closing, a mysterious guard gives him a magical ticket that allows him to visit a res...

Real Creatures of Dirt
2011
as Self / Rattlesnake Jake
In this fun and educational piece, animal experts talk about the real creatures that inspired the characters of Rango and the filmmakers explain why t...

Rango
2011
as Rattlesnake Jake (voice)
When Rango, a lost family pet, accidentally winds up in the gritty, gun-slinging town of Dirt, the less-than-courageous lizard suddenly finds he stand...

Chalet Girl
2011
as Richard Madsen
While working a job at an exclusive ski resort to support her Dad, Kim learns to snowboard and is so good at it that she enters a competition with a h...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
2010
as Rufus Scrimgeour
Harry, Ron and Hermione walk away from their last year at Hogwarts to find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes, putting an end to Voldemort's bid for ...

Wild Target
2010
as Victor Maynard
Victor Maynard is a middle-aged, solitary assassin who lives to please his formidable mother, despite his own peerless reputation for lethal efficienc...

Glorious 39
2009
as Alexander Keyes
A mysterious tale set around a traditional British family on the eve of World War Two. Oblivious to the looming shadow of World War II, the wealthy Ke...

Astro Boy
2009
as Dr. Elefun / Robotsky (voice)
Set in the futuristic Metro City, Astro Boy (Atom) is a young robot with incredible powers created by a brilliant scientist in the image of the son he...

G-Force
2009
as Leonard Saber
A team of trained secret agent animals, guinea pigs Darwin, Hurley, Juarez, Blaster, mole Speckles, and fly Mooch takes on a mission for the US govern...

The Boat That Rocked
2009
as Quentin
An ensemble comedy, where the romance is between the young people of the 60s, and pop music. It's about a band of DJs that captivate Britain, playing ...

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
2009
as Viktor
A prequel to the first two Underworld films, this fantasy explains the origins of the feud between the Vampires and the Lycans. Aided by his secret lo...

Valkyrie
2008
as Friedrich Olbricht
Wounded in Africa during World War II, Nazi Col. Claus von Stauffenberg returns to his native Germany and joins the Resistance in a daring plan to cre...

Slapper
2008
as Arnold Percy
A young boy watches a fight in a crowded bar: a masked man versus the people’s champ. But rather than boxing, this is an adult, brutal version of ‘Sla...

Conclusive: We Made Hot Fuzz
2007
as Self
A documentary about the making of Hot Fuzz.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
2007
as Davy Jones
Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann join forces with the revived Captain Barbossa to free Jack Sparrow from Davy Jones' locker. The group must navigate da...

Hot Fuzz
2007
as Met Chief Inspector
Former London constable Nicholas Angel finds it difficult to adapt to his new assignment in the sleepy British village of Sandford. Not only does he m...

Notes on a Scandal
2006
as Richard Hart
A veteran high school teacher befriends a younger art teacher, who is having an affair with one of her 15-year-old students. However, her intentions w...

Flushed Away
2006
as Whitey (voice)
London high-society mouse, Roddy is flushed down the toilet by Sid, a common sewer rat. Hang on for a madcap adventure deep in the sewer bowels of Rat...

Stormbreaker
2006
as Alan Blunt
Alex Rider thinks he is a normal school boy, until his uncle is killed. He discovers that his uncle was actually spy on a mission, when he was killed....

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
2006
as Davy Jones
Captain Jack Sparrow races to recover the heart of Davy Jones to avoid enslaving his soul to Jones' service, as other friends and foes seek the heart ...

We Love Cigarettes
2006
as Narrator
A day in the life of the cigarette. A love of nicotine unites all peoples across the globe, regardless of colour, wealth or creed. Where religion and ...

Underworld: Evolution
2006
as Viktor
As the war between the vampires and the Lycans rages on, Selene, a former member of the Death Dealers (an elite vampire special forces unit that hunts...

Anatomy of a Global Thriller: Behind the Scenes of The Constant Gardener
2006
as Self
The Constant Gardener featurette.

Gideon's Daughter
2005
as Gideon Warner
Bill Nighy and Miranda Richardson star in a story of grief and celebrity, set in the intense spring and summer of New Labour's election victory and Di...

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'
2005
as Self
An in-depth examination of the complete production of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005).

The Constant Gardener
2005
as Sir Bernard Pellegrin
Justin Quayle is a low-level British diplomat who has always gone about his work very quietly, not causing any problems. But after his radical wife Te...

Inside 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'
2005
as Self
Documentary charting the rise of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy from its original guise as a radio series through to becoming a Hollywood blockb...

The Girl in the Café
2005
as Lawrence
Lawrence, an aging, lonely civil servant falls for Gina, an enigmatic young woman. When he takes her to the G8 Summit in Reykjavik, however, their bon...

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
2005
as Slartibartfast
Mere seconds before the Earth is to be demolished by an alien construction crew, Arthur Dent is swept off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a res...

Enduring Love
2004
as Robin
Two strangers become dangerously close after witnessing a deadly accident. On a beautiful cloudless day a young couple celebrate their reunion with a...

The Magic Roundabout
2004
as Dylan (voice)
A shaggy, candy-loving puppy named Dougal along with a group of friends embarks on a dangerous journey in an effort to imprison their oppressor -- the...

Ready When You Are, Mr McGill
2004
as Phil Parish
Remake of the 1976 TV drama by Jack Rosenthal. An extra in a TV drama is finally given a line to say. He goes on to cause mounting chaos

Peter Ustinov: The Parkinson Interviews
2004
as Self - Narrator
A selection of highlights from Sir Peter Ustinov's appearances on Parkinson. A look back at a multitalented writer, director, actor and ambassador for...

Shaun of the Dead
2004
as Phillip
Shaun lives a supremely uneventful life, which revolves around his girlfriend, his mother, and, above all, his local pub. This gentle routine is threa...

Burst
2004
as Maxwell's Fan 22
A short film about fictional actor Maxwell McCourtney, featuring the cast and crew of 'Enduring Love'.

Life Beyond the Box: Norman Stanley Fletcher
2003
as Narrator
Spoof documentary looking at the life of Normal Stanley Fletcher, the star of 1970s sitcom Porridge played by Ronnie Barker. Featuring fictional foota...

The Young Visiters
2003
as Earl of Clincham
The Young Visiters, written in twelve days by nine-year-old Daisy Ashford in 1890, is a surreal blend of naiveté, precocious perception and inadverten...

Below Deck: An Interactive History Of Pirates
2003

Underworld
2003
as Viktor
Vampires and werewolves have waged a nocturnal war against each other for centuries. But all bets are off when a female vampire warrior named Selene, ...

Love Actually
2003
as Billy Mack
Eight very different couples deal with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in Londo...

I Capture the Castle
2003
as James Mortmain
A love story set in 1930s England that follows 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain, and the fortunes of her eccentric family, struggling to survive in a de...

Lawless Heart
2002
as Dan
In a British seaside resort, several lives intertwine following the funeral of a gay restaurant owner.

AKA
2002
as Uncle Louis Gryffoyn
In 1970s Britain, 18-year old Dean feels hampered by his working-class background and his family. In order to make something of himself, he assumes an...

Lucky Break
2001
as Roger
Half-way through his 12-year prison sentence for an incompetent armed robbery, Jimmy Hands gets a lucky break: he's transferred to a prison from which...

Blow Dry
2001
as Ray Robertson
The annual British Hairdressing Championship comes to Keighley, a town where Phil and son Brian run a barbershop and Phil's ex-wife Shelly and her lov...

Longitude
2000
as Lord Sandwich
Parallel stories: 18th century Harrison builds the marine chronometer for safe navigation at sea; 20th century Gould is obsessed with restoring it.

Guest House Paradiso
1999
as Mr. Johnson
Richie and Eddie are in charge of the worst hotel in the UK, Guest House Paradiso, neighbouring a nuclear power plant. The illegal immigrant chef has ...
The Bass Player
1999
In the 1800s, a bass player's attempts to woo a young woman lead to both parties being trapped in an awkward situation.

Still Crazy
1998
as Ray Simms
In the 1970s, Strange Fruit were it. They lived the rock lifestyle to the max, groupies, drugs, internal tension and an ex front man dead from an over...

FairyTale: A True Story
1997
as Edward Gardner
In 1917, two children take a photograph, which is soon believed by some to be the first scientific evidence of the existence of fairies. Based on the ...

True Blue
1996
as Jeremy Saville
The story of the year the Oxford and Cambridge boat race changed from a gentleman's race to one where winning was everything.

Alive and Kicking
1996
as Tristan
A passionately committed young dancer is forced to re-examine his career and life when faced with death, finding hope through an older man who becomes...

Being Human
1994
as Julian
One man must learn the meaning of courage across four lifetimes centuries apart.

The Maitlands
1993
as Roger Maitland
There is a strained atmosphere in the Maitland household which has fallen on hard times.

Don't Leave Me This Way
1993
as John Tracey
British academics Loretta and Bridget run into Sandra, an old school friend at a book launch. Although Sandra appears to be gay and carefree, Loretta ...

Unnatural Causes
1993
as Oliver Latham
Roy Marsden returns as author P.D. James's indefatigable gumshoe, Inspector Adam Dalgliesh. This time, he's investigating the murder of a famous myste...

A Masculine Ending
1992
as John Tracey
While English professor Loretta Lawson is attending a conference in Paris, she stays the night in the flat of a friend's acquaintance. She discovers a...

Absolute Hell
1991
as Hugh Marriner
Black comedy set in Soho, London, right after World War II. Half of the fun is seeing a slew of very familiar faces kick up their heels as gay men, le...

Antonia and Jane
1990
as Howard Nash
Plain Jane Hartman hates her life. She's goofy, boring and only has sex if she reads Iris Murdoch novels out loud to her loopy boyfriend. Her oldest f...

The Phantom of the Opera
1989
as Martin Barton
An aspiring opera singer finds herself transported back to Victorian-era London -- and into the arms of a reclusive, disfigured maestro determined to ...

Mack the Knife
1989
as Tiger Brown
In the 19th century London, a young girl falls for a famous womanizing criminal and they decide to get married. Her family strongly disapproves so her...

Thirteen at Dinner
1985
as Ronald Marsh
Actress Jane Wilkinson wants a divorce, but her husband, Lord Edgware, refuses. She convinces Hercule Poirot to use his famed tact and logic to make h...

Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil
1985
as Helmut Hoffmann
The two-part TV movie Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil crystallizes that evil by concentrating on two Berlin brothers. In 1931, Helmut Hoffman a brillian...

The Little Drummer Girl
1984
as Al
An American Actress with a penchant for lying is forceably recruited by Mosad, the Israeli intelligence agency to trap a Palestinian bomber, by preten...

Curse of the Pink Panther
1983
as ENT Doctor
Inspector Clouseau disappears, and the Surete wants the world's second best detective to look for him. However, Clouseau's enemy, Dreyfus, rigs the Su...

Easter 2016
1982
as Connor Mullan
Set in 2016 prior to the centennial of the Easter Rising at Northern Ireland's only integrated teacher training college. A struggle develops between t...

Under the Skin
1982
as Dave
"When you get to a man in the case, they're like as a row of pins - For the colonel's lady an' Judy O'Grady are sisters under their skins." - Kipling....

Eye of the Needle
1981
as Squadron Leader Blenkinsop
Great Britain, 1944, during World War II. Relentlessly pursued by several MI5 agents, Henry Faber the Needle, a ruthless German spy in possession of v...

Standing in for Henry
1980
as Bruno
At an advertising agency in Nottingham, young graphic designer Graham is recruited as a temporary replacement for the iconic Henry. The agency are des...

Little Lord Fauntleroy
1980
as Officer
Young Cedric Errol and his widowed mother live in genteel poverty in 1880s Brooklyn after the death of his father. Cedric's grandfather, the Earl of D...
Fox
1980
as Colin Street
The thirteen-part series recounted the lives of the titular Fox family, who lived in Clapham in South London and had gangland connections.

Death Watch
1980
as Katherine's Co-worker (uncredited)
In a future world where the disease has been finally defeated and everything can be sold, even the crude spectacle of death, the rare case of a dying ...

Dreams of Leaving
1980
as William
William came to work in Fleet Street in 1971. London meant girls, as many girls as he could find. Then he met Caroline and so it began, that very stra...

Deasey (Desperate)
1979
as Deasy
Deasey is a dreamer - torn between earning his precarious living as reporter on the London end of a Dublin paper, and writing the 'Great Irish Novel'....

Soldiers Talking, Cleanly
1978
as Bill
One man's view of the British Army in Germany - the social life, discipline, drink, women and, occasionally, the defence of the West.

Occupy!
1976
as Player in Everyman Theatre Company, Liverpool
Bill Nighy, Pete Postlewaite and (briefly) Julie Walters, then all of the Everyman Theatre Company, feature in this potent reportage/dramatisation hyb...
500 Miles
N/A
A broken family is forced to come together when 16 year old Finn and his livewire younger brother Charlie run away from trouble at home in England to ...
& Sons
N/A
Andrew is a novelist best known to the world as A.N. Dyer. He wrote his first book when he was 27, and it became an instant classic, selling 45 millio...
Untitled Jason Statham Action-Thriller
N/A
Mason's isolated life on a remote island of Scotland is life is upended when he rescues a girl from the ocean in a terrible storm, which brings on the...

Welcome to Paradise
N/A
as Hooker Duck Host (voice)
A woman finds herself in a strange, magical carnival with no memory of anything but her own name. Time seems to be of the essence, can she find her wa...

Heart of Darkness
N/A
as (voice)
Based on Joseph Conrad's novel, Marlow captains a leaky steamboat up the River Congo in search of a mysterious figure named Kurtz who has carved out a...
Pink Sky at Night
N/A
as Man
'Pink Sky at Night' follows brother and sister Finn and Ruby over an unforgettable Cornish midsummer. Hidden away in their grandfather's garage, they...