- Title: PROFILE: Actor Bill Nighy turns 75 on December 12
- Date: 11th December 2024
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FILE - OCTOBER 15, 2024) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** (SCREEN LEFT TO RIGHT) ACTORS JAMES NORTON, THOMASIN MCKENZIE AND BILL NIGHY POSING FOR GROUP PHOTOS ON RED CARPET FOR "JOY" NORTON, MCKENZIE AND NIGHY POSING FOR PHOTOS AND JOINED BY DIRECTOR BEN TAYLOR NIGHY SPEAKING TO REPORTER LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (F
- Embargoed: 25th December 2024 11:44
- Keywords: About Time Bill Nighy Davy Jones actor Living Love Actually Pirates of the Caribbean Valkyrie actor
- Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
- City: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
- Country: UK
- Topics: Celebrities,Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe
- Reuters ID: LVA003610810122024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: British stage and screen actor Bill Nighy, known for playing a potty-mouthed aging rocker in festive film "Love Actually" and a tentacled ghost sailor in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" saga, turns 75 on Thursday (December 12).
Born in 1949 in Caterham, southeast England, UK, Nighy began his acting career in theatre in Liverpool, before heading to London's Royal National Theatre in 1977.
He starred on Broadway in 2006 opposite Julianne Moore in David Hare's "The Vertical Hour", before being nominated for a Tony award for best actor in Hare's "Skylight" in 2015.
After years taking TV roles from the late 1970s, one Nighy's earliest film parts included rocker Ray Simms in 1998 British comedy film directed by Brian Gibson, opposite Stephen Rea, Billy Connolly and Timothy Spall.
Years later in 2003 Nighy would star in one of many filmmaker Richard Curtis's films, "Love Actually", as another has-been rocker who promises to strip live on TV if he can clinch a Christmas number one hit. The role earned him multiple wards, including the BAFTA for best performance by an actor in a supporting role.
Nighy also embodied the role of menacing Davy Jones in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise, complete with an octopus face. His voice and character featured on a Disneyland ride.
The actor has been nominated for films "Valkyrie" (2009), "About Time" (2014) and more recently for "Living", including best leading actor Oscar nominee in 2023 for playing a British bureaucrat who decides to take time off work to experience life after receiving a stark diagnosis. For the latter role, the actor received the International Star award in the same year at Palm Springs International Film Festival, joking in his deadpan manner that people would have to "put my name and the words 'international star' in the same sentence".
On the small screen, Nighy has won a TV BAFTA for political thriller "State of Play" in 2004, and a Golden Globe for best performance by an actor in a miniseries or a motion picture made for television in 2007 for "Gideon's Daughter", where he plays a father who reassesses his life after his adult daughter, played by Emily Blunt, begins to ignore him.
Nighy has also lent his voice to animation, including "Flushed Away", "G-Force", "Astro Boy", "Rango", "Arthur Christmas", "Jack the Giant Slayer" and recent 2024 Netflix film "That Christmas", written by Curtis, voicing Lighthouse Bill opposite Brian Cox's Santa.
Nighy has one daughter, actor and filmmaker Mary Nighy, 40, with actor Diana Quick. He also has two grandchildren.
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