Birthday: Dec 12, 1949

Birthplace: Caterham, Surrey, England, UK

Biography: Nighy has starred in many radio and television dramas, notably the BBC serial, The Men's Room (1991), and more recently the thriller State of Play (2003) and costume drama He Knew He Was Right (2004). He played Sam in the 1981 BBC Radio dramatisation of The Lord of the Rings, and also appeared in the 1980s BBC radio versions of Yes Minister episodes. In addition, he also had a minor role in Softly, Softly. In February 2004 he was awarded the BAFTA Film Award for Best Supporting Actor ... ... (read more...) for his role in Love Actually, and followed this up at the British Academy Television Awards in April with the Best Actor award for State of Play. In early 2004 the British tabloid press reported Nighy's partner as saying that he had been offered the coveted role of the Doctor in the 2005 revival of the BBC television series Doctor Who. He is alleged to have told reporters that he had considered but ultimately rejected the offer. The editor of Doctor Who Magazine, Clayton Hickman, had earlier mentioned to the press that Nighy was the first choice of executive producer and writer Russell T. Davies. The role was accepted by Christopher Eccleston some weeks later and Davies subsequently claimed that Eccleston had always been the first choice for the role. In 2005, he appeared as Slartibartfast in the film adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams and also in the one-off BBC One comedy-drama The Girl in the Café. In February 2006 he appeared in acclaimed scriptwriter Stephen Poliakoff's one-off drama, Gideon's Daughter. Nighy took the lead character of Gideon, a successful events organiser who begins to lose touch with the world around him. Nighy recently finished working on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, where he plays the principal villain, Davy Jones. Nighy was born in Caterham in Surrey, and attended the John Fisher School in Purley. He is the partner of actress Diana Quick. He once asked her to marry him but she said: "don't ask me again." He calls her his wife in public because "anything else would be too difficult." They have one daughter, Mary. He trained at the Guildford School of Acting, formerly known as The Guildford School of Dance and Drama.