Bill Nighy (Davy Jones) was born in Caterham, Surrey, in 1949 and trained for the stage at the Guildford School of Acting.
Bill Nighy
made his professional stage debut at Newbury's Watermill Theatre and subsequently gained experience at regional theatres like the Edinburgh Traverse, the Chester Gateway and the Liverpool Everyman.
Bill Nighy
made his first appearance in London in "Comings and Goings" at the Hampstead Theatre in November 1978.
Bill Nighy
has regularly appeared at the National Theatre in a succession of new plays by leading British writers. In 1993,
Bill Nighy
starred as an ambitious academic in Tom Stoppard's "Arcadia" in a production by Trevor Nunn. Seven years later, he won enormous critical acclaim for his performance as psychiatrist Dr. Robert Smith in "Blue/Orange," written by Joe Penhall and directed by Roger Michell. For Nicholas de Jongh in the Evening Standard, it was a "knockout performance." It was a performance that also brought
Bill Nighy
a Best Actor nomination in the prestigious Olivier Awards.
Bill Nighy
was also seen as Trigorin in a National Theatre production of Chekhov's "The Seagull" opposite Judi Dench as Arkadina.
Bill Nighy
had previously worked with Dame Judi on "Absolute Hell" (BBC) and they were recently reunited for the critically acclaimed "Notes on a Scandal," which also stars Cate Blanchett and is directed by Richard Eyre.
Bill Nighy
's long list of television credits includes virtually every major drama series on British TV, but it was his work on "The Men's Room" (BBC) in 1991 that brought him particular attention. More recently,
Bill Nighy
won a BAFTA Best Actor Award and a Royal Television Society Best Actor Award for his performance as a newspaper editor in the cult series "State of Play."
Bill Nighy
has also starred in two television films for writer/director Stephen Poliakoff in "The Lost Prince," for which he won a Golden Satellite Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, and the extraordinary "Gideon's Daughter." Referring to
Bill Nighy
's work in "Gideon's Daughter," the New York Herald news commented that "he dazzles with his subtlety...There ought to be a prize for him for making it look so real."
His playing of Lawrence, a middle-aged Treasury official rejuvenated by love in "The Girl in the Cafe," won
Bill Nighy
a Golden Globe® Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries and widespread praise from critics. For Entertainment Weekly,
Bill Nighy
was "effortlessly charming" and Alessandra Stanley wrote in the New York Times that "The cause is just, but
Bill Nighy
's performance is reason enough to sign up."
"The Constant Gardener" won
Bill Nighy
Best Supporting Actor at the British Independent Film Awards in 2005. But it was "Still Crazy" and his performance as ageing rock vocalist Ray Simms that established
Bill Nighy
's cinema profile and which won him the Peter Sellers Award for Best Comedy Performance, given by the London Evening Standard.
Bill Nighy
landed a second Peter Sellers Award for his unforgettably washed-up pop star Billy Mack in "Love, Actually," an enormously popular performance that also won him a London Film Critics Award and a Best Supporting Actor BAFTA.
Other cinema credits for
Bill Nighy
include "Underworld," "Underworld: Evolution," "Shaun of the Dead," and "Enduring Love." In 2003,
Bill Nighy
won four Best Supporting Actor awards from the L.A. Film Critics Association for his performances in "AKA," "Lawless Heart," "I Capture the Castle," and "Love, Actually."
Bill Nighy
's stellar performance as pirate captain Davy Jones—half-squid, half-human—in "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" will be reprised with the 2007 release of "
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End."
Bill Nighy
is currently performing on Broadway in David Hare's theater production "The Vertical Hour."
Bill Nighy
stars along side Julianne Moore in this story of an American war correspondent that is challenged about her beliefs and culture after meeting an Englishman whose way of life comes as a surprise. The Observer stated that
Bill Nighy
"gave one of the most remarkable performances ever seen on a New York stage."
Projects for 2007 include "Easy Virtue" where
Bill Nighy
will star opposite Renee Zellweger. This film takes place in the 1920s and follows the complicated experience of meeting new in-laws after an American woman marries an Englishman on the spur of the moment in France.
Bill Nighy
also has a cameo appearance in "Hot Fuzz," a film from the makers of "Shaun of the Dead."
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