For the past two decades, Bill Nighy has been one of Britain’s most prolific and versatile actors. Ever since he began acting on stage in the early 1970’s, Nighy has racked up an impressive resume of film, television and stage credits. But it wasn’t until the Richard Curtis-directed romantic comedy, “Love, Actually” (2003), that Nighy achieved true stardom, both in his native Britain and in the United States. As an aging rocker who tries to make one last attempt at a big comeback, Nighy received praise as being the only comic bright spot in a film otherwise considered lackluster. Prior to “Love Actually”, Nighy got much praise and recognition for the Golden Globe-nominated “Still Crazy” (1999), where he again played an aging rocker trying to reach for the brass ring one more time. Though success is always sweet no matter when one achieves it, for Nighy it has always been struggle, not only with career, but personal demons as well.
Nighy was born in 1949 and grew up a bit of a mixed-up kid in Caterham, Surrey, just southwest of London. His dad managed a garage, while his mum worked as a psychiatric nurse. He attended school until he was only fifteen and never received an O-level—a standardized test for the General Certificate of Education Ordinary. Instead, Nighy left school, enlisted the companionship of a school chum and the two ran off for the Persian Gulf. They made it as far as the south of France, when poverty and hunger ended their ambitions. Nighy went to the British embassy, where he was wired £25 by his dad to go back home. Upon return, Nighy managed to disappoint the folks again after he graduated to the employment office: he chose as his profession “author”, if only to emulate one of his heroes, Ernest Hemingway. Nighy dreamed of writing the proverbial grand novel, and even felt he was on the right track when he got a job at The Field as a messenger. Located in up town Mayfair, Nighy’s employ at The Field offered an opportunity to experience a bit of the high life, complete with limo rides and good tea. Then Nighy ran away again to Paris, this time at 17, where he thought he could write his novel. He never wrote a word, and instead found himself a pauper begging for change on the streets. His only job prospect—two hundred francs to sleep with an older woman—was promptly declined, and the shiftless young lad returned to England.
Nighy jumped right into acting and got his first gig at the Watermill Theatre in Berkshire, where he had six lines in the Tennessee Williams play, The Milk Train Does Not Stop Here Anymore. In one near-disastrous moment—the kind that nearly kills careers—Nighy was rehearsing with the lead actress, a flaunty American named Marcella Markham, and delivered his lines rather poorly. But instead of casting him off like a cheap fur coat, Markham gave the young actor high praise, an experience Nighy has felt was his big break. The young actor went on to the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool, where he raised bloody hell with the likes of Pete Postlethwaite, Julie Walters and Kevin Lloyd. The actors formed a theatre group called Van Load, where they performed at borstals, pubs and even a few prisons Nighy then began appearing in small roles on screen, including films like “Eye of the Needle” (1981), a spy thriller starring Donald Sutherland, “The Curse of the Pink Panther” (1983) and “The Little Drummer Girl”, a political thriller based on the John Le Carré novel.
The actor improved his lot in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s with several higher profile roles, including the Dwight Little-directed “Phantom of the Opera” (1989), “Mack the Knife” (1989) co-starring Raul Julia and Richard Harris, and the independent “Antonia and Jane” (1991). However, Nighy’s unhealthy drinking habit, coupled with a drug habit to help him drink, finally began taking it’s toll. After getting the proper help, Nighy stopped on May 17, 1992 and never went back. He continued acting with the love and support of his long-time girlfriend, actress Diana Quick, and their daughter, Mary. After starring in the children’s fantasy, “Fairytale: A True Story” (1997), Nighy landed appeared in “Still Crazy.” Nighy won the Evening Standard’s Peter Sellers Award as for his comedic performance as Ray, the egotistical lead singer of an old and disbanded rock band that seeks top relive it’s glory days. More accolades poured in, as Nighy received a nomination as Best Supporting Actor from the London Film Critics Circle for his work in Peter Cattaneo’s “Luck Break” (2002). In 2002, Nighy garnered another nomination, this time for Best Actor from the British Independent Film Awards for his performance as Dan in the sex romp, “The Lawless Heart” (2001). And for his work in the period romance “I Capture the Castle” (2002), Nighy won the 2003 award for Best Supporting Actor from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
Though no awards came Nighy’s way for his performance as the nefarious vampire, Viktor, in “Underworld” (2003), he did manage to get enough attention to get the role of the planet designer, Slartibartfast, in “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” (2005), the long-awaited adaptation of Douglas Adams' popular sci-fi novels. After high expectations and middling success, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide” disappeared from the public’s consciousness like an alien stranded on a faraway planet. Meanwhile, Nighy played a greedy British official in “The Constant Gardener” (2005), director Fernando Meirelles’ adaptation of the John le Carré novel about a diplomat (Ralph Fiennes) whose wife (Rachel Wiesz) is murdered after discovering massive corruption between the pharmaceutical industry and the Kenyan government. Meanwhile, he starred in “The Girl in the Café” (HBO, 2005), playing a shy civil servant who meets a mysterious woman (Kelly MacDonald) and develops a life-changing relationship with her. His performance earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television.
Nighy revived the evil vampire leader, Viktor, for the bloody and over-the-top sequel, “Underworld: Evolution” (2006), then toned it down to star in the BBC drama, “Gideon’s Daughter” (2006), playing a public relations mogul whose personal life is a mess after losing his wife while facing the prospect of his daughter graduating school and leaving home for good. He then played the undead pirate Davey Jones, captain of the fabled ghost ship the Flying Dutchman, in “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” (2006), a harrowing, energetic and worthy addition to the swashbuckling franchise that went on to break several box office records, including biggest single-day gross and biggest opening weekend ever, paving the way for the third installment, “Pirates of the Caribbean 3,” which was shot simultaneously with the second.