Not to be confused with Bill Nye.
William Francis "Bill" Nighy is an English actor, known for his distinctive raspy voice. He is best known for his film and television roles, such as Iain Cameron in the BBC1 sitcom Kiss Me Kate, Rufus Scrimgeour in the Harry Potter franchise, Billy Mack in Richard Curtis' 2003 Christmas-themed romance film Love Actually, Douglas Ainslie in the 2011 comedy-drama film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and Mr. Woodhouse in the 2020 romantic comedy film Emma. He is also well-known for voicing Whitey in DreamWorks/Aardman's 2006 adventure comedy film Flushed Away, Rattlesnake Jake in Paramount/Nickelodeon's Western comedy film Rango, and Grandsanta in Sony/Aardman's Christmas comedy-drama film Arthur Christmas (both released in 2011). Additionally, he played Howard Clifford, the main antagonist of the 2019 live-action film Pokémon: Detective Pikachu.
For Disney, he portrayed Davy Jones in the Disney adventure comedy films Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. He also played Slartibartfast in the 2005 Touchstone Pictures film The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Leonard Saber in the 2009 spy-fi comedy film G-Force.
Roles
(The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)
Gallery
Trivia
- Contrary to popular belief, his surname is not pronounced "Ny-ee", but is indeed meant to sound similar to famed scientist Bill Nye. Nighy stated, "My dad was very particular about it, and for a while, I used to correct people on his behalf, because he couldn't bear it when people said 'Nigh-y'. It really got to him. But I'm very, very accustomed to it."[1] Both Nighy and Nye meant each other at a New York City restaurant.[2]
- Nighy has Dupuytren's contracture, where the muscles in his hands are closely pinched together. This is noticeable in his roles, as he keeps his pinkie and ring fingers curled.
References
External links
Bill Nighy on Wikipedia
Bill Nighy on IMDb
Bill Nighy on 𝕏
