Bill Nighy on screen and stage

Bill Nighy (born 12 December 1949) is a British actor of the stage and screen.

Bill Nighy at the Goya Awards in 2018

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1979	The Bitch	Flower Delivery Boy	Uncredited
1980	Death Watch	Man in 'Harriet scene'	Uncredited
1980	Little Lord Fauntleroy	Army officer	Uncredited
1981	Eye of the Needle	Squadron Leader Blenkinsop
1983	Curse of the Pink Panther	ENT Doctor
1984	The Little Drummer Girl	Al
1985	Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil	Helmut Hoffmann
	Thirteen at Dinner	Ronald Marsh
1989	The Phantom of the Opera	Martin Barton
	Mack the Knife	Tiger Brown
1994	Being Human	Julian
1996	True Blue	Jeremy Saville
	Indian Summer	Tristan
1997	FairyTale: A True Story	Edward Gardner
1998	Still Crazy	Ray Simms
1999	Guest House Paradiso	Mr Johnson
2001	Blow Dry	Raymond "Ray" Robertson
	Lawless Heart	Dan
	Lucky Break	Roger "Rog" Chamberlain
2002	AKA	Uncle Louis Gryffoyn
2003	Ready When You Are, Mr. McGill	Phil Parish
	Love Actually	Billy Mack
	I Capture the Castle	James Mortmain
	Underworld	Viktor
2004	Shaun of the Dead	Philip
	Enduring Love	Robin
2005	The Magic Roundabout	Dylan (voice)	UK version only
	The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy	Slartibartfast
	The Constant Gardener	Sir Bernard Pellegrin
2006	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest	Davy Jones
	Underworld: Evolution	Viktor
	Stormbreaker	Alan Blunt
	Flushed Away	Whitey (voice)
	Notes on a Scandal	Richard Hart
2007	Hot Fuzz	Chief Inspector Kenneth
	Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End	Davy Jones
2008	Valkyrie	Friedrich Olbricht
	A Fox's Tale	The Ringmaster
2009	Underworld: Rise of the Lycans	Viktor
	The Boat That Rocked	Quentin
	G-Force	Leonard Saber
	Astro Boy	Professor Simon Elefun/Robotsky (voice)
	Glorious 39	Sir Alexander
2010	Wild Target	Victor Maynard
	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1	Rufus Scrimgeour
2011	Rango	Rattlesnake Jake (voice)
	Chalet Girl	Richard
	Arthur Christmas	Grandsanta (voice)
	The Man with the Stolen Heart	Narrator (voice)	[1]
2012	The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel	Douglas Ainslie
	Wrath of the Titans	Hephaestus
	Total Recall	Matthias Lair
2013	Great White Shark 3D	Narrator (voice)	[2]
	Jack the Giant Slayer	Fallon (voice)
	The World's End	The Network (voice)
	About Time	James Lake
2014	I, Frankenstein	Naberius
	Pride	Cliff
	Turks & Caicos	Johnny Worricker
2015	The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel	Douglas Ainslie
2016	Dad's Army	Sergeant Wilson
	Norm of the North	Socrates (voice)
	Their Finest	Ambrose Hilliard / Uncle Frank
	The Limehouse Golem	John Kildare
2017	The Bookshop	Edmund Brundish
2018	Sometimes Always Never	Alan
2019	The Kindness of Strangers	Timofey
	Detective Pikachu	Howard Clifford / Mewtwo (voice)
	Hope Gap	Edward
	StarDog and TurboCat	Sinclair (voice)
2020	Emma.	Mr Woodhouse
	Minamata	Robert Hayes
2021	Buckley's Chance	Spencer
2022	Living	Mr Rodney Williams
2024	Role Play	Bob
	The Beautiful Game	Mal
	The First Omen	Lawrence
	10 Lives	Professor Craven (voice)
	Gracie & Pedro: Pets to the Rescue	Conrad (voice)
	The Wild Robot	Longneck (voice)
	Joy	Patrick Steptoe
	That Christmas	Lighthouse Bill (voice)
2025	500 Miles	TBA	Post-production[3]
TBA	Untitled Ric Roman Waugh film	TBA	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1976	Softly, Softly: Taskforce	Albert Blake	Episode: "Say it with Flowers"
1978–1982	Play for Today	Dave/William/Bill	3 episodes
1979	Premier	Deasey	Episode: "Deasey"
1980	Agony	Vincent Fish	Season 2
	Fox	Colin Street	2 episodes
	BBC2 Playhouse	Bruno	Episode: "Standing in for Henry"
1982	Minder	Oates	Episode: "Looking for Micky"
	Play for Tomorrow	Connor Mullen	Episode: "Easter 2016"
1983	Reilly, Ace of Spies	Goschen	Episode: "1905: The Visiting Fireman"
	Jemima Shore Investigates	David Cullen	Episode: "A Model for Murder"
1984	Crown Court	Lee Sinclair	Episode: "The Son of His Father: Part 1"
1985	The Last Place on Earth	Cecil Meares	Miniseries: 4 episodes
1989	Storyboard	Sam	Episode: "Making News"
1990	Making News	Sam Courtney	6 episodes
	ScreenPlay	Howard Nash	Episode: "Antonia and Jane"
	TECX	Brill	Episode: "Writing on the Wall"
1991	The Men's Room	Mark Carleton	BBC serial
	Bergerac	Barry	Episode: "All For Love"
	Boon	Steve Reeves	Episode: "Pillow Talk"
1991–1993	Performance	Roger Maitland/Hugh Marriner	2 episodes
1992	Chiller	Tom Dickenson	Episode: "The Cat Brought It In"
	A Masculine Ending	John Tracey	Television film
1993	Eye of the Storm	Tom Frewen	6 episodes
	Peak Practice	Alan Sinclair	Episode: "Growing Pains"
	Don't Leave Me This Way	John Tracey	Television film
	The Maitlands	Roger Maitland	BBC TV production
1994	Wycliffe	David Cleeve	Episode: "The Four Jacks"
1996	Testament: The Bible in Animation	Belshazzar (voice)	Episode: "Daniel"
1997	Insiders	Mark Gordon	Episode: "The Vat Man"
	Kavanagh QC	Giles Culpepper QC	Episode: "Ancient History"
1999–2000	Kiss Me Kate	Ian	5 episodes
1998–2000	The Canterbury Tales	The Merchant	2 episodes
1999	People Like Us	Will Rushmore	Episode: "The Photographer"
2000	Longitude	Lord Sandwich	Television film
	Animated Tales of the World	Tiger (Voice)	Episode: "A Story of Taiwan: Aunt Tiger"
2002	Auf Wiedersehen, Pet	Jeffrey Grainger	Season 3
	The Inspector Lynley Mysteries	Alan Lockwood	Episode: "Well Schooled in Murder"
2003	State of Play	Cameron Foster	6 episodes
	Ready When You Are, Mr. McGill	Phil Parish	Television film
	The Lost Prince	Arthur Bigge, 1st Baron Stamfordham
	The Canterbury Tales	James	Episode: "The Wife of Bath"
	The Young Visiters	Earl of Clincham	Television film
	Life Beyond the Box: Norman Stanley Fletcher	Narrator (voice)
2004	He Knew He Was Right	Colonel Osborne	3 parts
2005	The Girl in the Café	Lawrence	Television film
	Gideon's Daughter	Gideon Warner
2006	Horizon	Narrator (voice)	Episode: "The Great Robot Race"
2009	10 Minute Tales	Mr Jellaby	Episode: "Statuesque"
2010	Doctor Who	Dr Black	Uncredited; episode: "Vincent and the Doctor"
2011	Page Eight	Johnny Worricker	BBC TV series: The Worricker Trilogy
2014	Turks & Caicos
	Salting the Battlefield
2017	Red Nose Day Actually	Billy Mack	Television short film
2018	Ordeal by Innocence	Leo Argyll	3 episodes[4]
2019–present	The World's Most Scenic Railway Journeys	Narrator (voice)	Television series
2020–2021	Castlevania	Saint Germain (voice)	14 episodes
2021–present	World’s Most Scenic River Journeys	Narrator (voice)	Television series
2022	The Man Who Fell to Earth	Thomas Jerome Newton
2024	Kent: The Garden of England[5]	Narrator (voice)
2025	Lazarus†	Dr. Lazarus	Filming[6]
TBA	Ride or Die†	The Director	Filming[7]
TBA	California Avenue†	Jerry	Filming[8]

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Playwright	Venue	Ref.
1969	Plaza Suite	Asst. Stage Manager	Neil Simon	Watermill Theatre, Newbury	[9]
1969	The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore	Performer	Tennessee Williams	Watermill Theatre, Newbury	[10]
1971	Landscape and Silence	Performer	Harold Pinter	Gateway Theatre, Chester	[10]
1971	Entertaining Mr Sloane	Mr. Sloane	Joe Orton	Gateway Theatre, Chester	[10]
1971	Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead	Performer	Tom Stoppard	Arts Theatre, Cambridge	[11]
1971	The Immoralist	Performer	André Gide	Hampstead Theatre	[11]
1971	Speak Now	Timmy	Olwen Wymark	Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh	[11]
1971	Under New Management	Harold	Chris Bond	Everyman Theatre, Liverpool	[10]
1972	Freedom of the City	Skinnwe	Brian Friel	Everyman Theatre, Liverpool	[12]
1976	Occupy!	Player		Everyman Theatre, Liverpool	[13]
1977	Illuminatus!	Performer	Ken Campbell/Chris Langham	National Theatre, London	[14]
1978	Comings and Goings	Vernon	Mike Stott	Hampstead Theatre Club	[15]
1979	The Warp	Performer	Neil Oram/ Ken Campbell	Institute of Contemporary Arts, London	[13]
1980	Illuminations	Gorman	Arthur Rimbaud	Lyric Hammersmith	[16]
1983	A Map of the World	Stephen Andrews	David Hare	National Theatre, London
1985	Pravda	Eaton Sylvester	David Hare/ Howard Brenton	National Theatre, London	[17]
1986	King Lear	Edgar	William Shakespeare	National Theatre, London	[18]
1987	Mean Tears	Julian	Peter Gill	National Theatre, Cottesloe	[19]
1991	Betrayal	Jerry	Harold Pinter	Almeida Theatre, London
1993	Arcadia	Bernard Nightingale	Tom Stoppard	National Theatre, London	[20]
1994	The Seagull	Trigorin	Anton Chekhov	National Theatre, London	[21]
1995–97	Skylight	Tom Sergeant	David Hare	National Theatre, Vaudeville Theatre	UK tour
1998	A Kind of Alaska	Hornby	Harold Pinter	Donmar Warehouse	[22]
2000–01	Blue/Orange	Robert	Joe Penhall	National Theatre, Cottesloe Duchess Theatre, London	[13]
2006	The Vertical Hour	Oliver Lucas	David Hare	Music Box Theater, Broadway	[13]
2014	Skylight	Tom Sergeant	David Hare	Wyndham's Theatre, West End	[23]
2015				John Golden Theatre, Broadway	[23]

Radio

Date	Title	Role	Station
1981	The Lord of the Rings	Sam Gamgee[24]	BBC Radio 4
1983	Yes Minister	Frank Weisel	BBC Radio 4
1990	Pravda	Eaton Sylvester	BBC Radio 3
1993	Arcadia	Bernard Nightingale	BBC Radio 3
1994	Ancient Enemies	Un­known	BBC Radio 4
1999	So Much Blood	Charles Paris	BBC Radio 4 Saturday Play
2002	Blue/Orange	Un­known	BBC Radio 4
2003	Baldi: The Book Case	O'Connor	BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play
2003	Turtle Diary	William	BBC Radio 4 Saturday Play
2004	A Series of Murders	Charles Paris	BBC Radio 4 Saturday Play
2004	All Fingers and Thumbs	Tom	BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play
2006	A Charles Paris Mystery: Sicken and So Die[25]	Charles Paris	BBC Radio 4
2007	A Charles Paris Mystery: Murder Unprompted[26]	Charles Paris	BBC Radio 4
2008	I Wish to Apologise for My Part in the Apocalypse[27]	Keith	BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play
2008	A Charles Paris Mystery: Dead Side of the Mic[28]	Charles Paris	BBC Radio 4
2009	Educating Rita[29]	Frank	BBC Radio 4 Saturday Play
2010	Private Lives[30]	Elyot	BBC Radio 4 Saturday Play
2010	A Charles Paris Mystery: Cast in Order of Disappearance[31]	Charles Paris	BBC Radio 4
2010	A Charles Paris Mystery: Murder in the Title[32]	Charles Paris	BBC Radio 4
2011	The Bat Man[33]	Christopher	BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play
2013	Darkside[34]	The Witch Finder / Doctor Antrobus	BBC Radio 2
2016	A Charles Paris Mystery: A Decent Interval[35]	Charles Paris	BBC Radio 4
2019	A Charles Paris Mystery: Star Trap[36]	Charles Paris	BBC Radio 4
2020	A Charles Paris Mystery: A Doubtful Death[37]	Charles Paris	BBC Radio 4
2021	A Charles Paris Mystery: A Deadly Habit[38]	Charles Paris	BBC Radio 4
2023	A Charles Paris Mystery: So Much Blood[39]	Charles Paris	BBC Radio 4

Video games

Bill Nighy in Ordeal by Innocence 2018

Year	Title	Voice
2009	G-Force	Leonard Saber
2013	Disney Infinity	Davy Jones
2014	The Elder Scrolls Online	High King Emeric
	Destiny	The Speaker[40]
2015	The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited	High King Emeric
	Disney Infinity 3.0	Davy Jones[41]
2017	The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind	High King Emeric
	Destiny 2	The Speaker
2018	The Elder Scrolls Online: Summerset	High King Emeric
2019	The Elder Scrolls Online: Elsweyr	High King Emeric
2020	The Elder Scrolls Online: Greymoor	High King Emeric
2020	Kosmokrats	Narrator
2021	The Elder Scrolls Online: Blackwood	High King Emeric

Audio drama

Year	Title	Role	Author	Production company	Notes
2021	The Sandman: Act II	Odin	Neil Gaiman, Dirk Maggs	Audible	[42]

Music Video

Year	Song	Artist	Role
2022	Free[43]	Florence + The Machine	Florence Welch's anxiety