Age: 76
male
William Francis Nighy (born 12 December 1949) is an English actor. Known for his work on screen and stage, he has received numerous awards, including two BAFTA Awards, a Golden Globe Award and nominations for an Academy Award and a Tony Award. Nighy started his career with the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool and made his London debut with the Royal National Theatre starting with The Illuminatus! in 1977. There he gained acclaim for his roles in David Hare's Pravda in 1985, Harold Pinter's Betrayal in 1991, Tom Stoppard's Arcadia in 1993, and Anton Chekov's The Seagull in 1994. He received a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor nomination for his performance in Blue/Orange in 2001. He made his Broadway debut in Hare's The Vertical Hour in 2006, and returned in the 2015 revival of Hare's Skylight earning a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play nomination. Early film roles include in the comedies Still Crazy (1998), and Blow Dry (1999) before his breakout role in Love Actually (2003) which earned him a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor. He soon gained recognition portraying Davy Jones in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series (2006-2007), and Viktor in the Underworld film series (2003-2009). Other films include Shaun of the Dead (2004), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), The Constant Gardener (2005), Notes on a Scandal (2006), Hot Fuzz (2007), Valkyrie (2008), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012), About Time (2013), Emma (2020), and Living (2022), the last of these earning him his first career Academy Award nomination. Nighy has gained acclaim for his roles in television earning a British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for his performance in BBC One series State of Play (2003), and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for the BBC film Gideon's Daughter (2007). He's also known for his roles in HBO's The Girl in the Café (2006) and PBS's Page Eight (2012).
Richard Mayhew has spent three years in London living a safe, predictable life defined by a dull job and a controlling fiancée, Jessica. But one rainy night, everything changes when he encounters Door, a wounded young woman who emerges from a mysterious door in a wall while being hunted by two terrifying assassins, Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar. Richard chooses to help her rather than attend his important dinner, costing him his engagement—and, by morning, his entire identity. No one remembers him, his home and job are gone, and only the forgotten inhabitants of a hidden world beneath London can see him. Determined to find Door and reclaim his life, Richard descends into London Below, a vast, dangerous realm of forgotten people, ancient courts, magical markets, monsters, and impossible places. Reunited with Door and joined by the enigmatic Marquis de Carabas and legendary warrior Hunter, Richard follows clues left by Door’s murdered family toward the mysterious angel Islington, who promises answers about their deaths. Their journey takes them through the Floating Market, Earl’s Court, the British Museum, the Black Friars’ deadly trials, and the labyrinthine depths beneath London, where Richard must confront the Beast of London and discover the courage he never knew he possessed. But as Door uncovers the truth, she learns that Islington orchestrated her family’s murder and manipulated her into retrieving a magical key so it can open a gateway to Heaven and seize power over the angels who banished it. With Richard captured and Door seemingly trapped, she outwits Islington by using a counterfeit key, sending the angel, Croup, and Vandemar into an unknown realm. Door then restores Richard’s passage to London Above, but he soon realizes that his old life no longer feels like home. When he finally despairs of ever returning to London Below, the resurrected Marquis appears with one final door—and Richard steps willingly into the world that changed him forever.
