Shaun of the Dead Crew - Bill Nighy

Bill Nighy was born on December 12th, 1949, in Caterham, Surrey. His mother worked as a psychiatric nurse and his father managed a garage in Croydon, with the family living in the top floor of the garage.

The youngest of three children, Bill proved to be an average student in school. He did, however, love to read and especially enjoyed the works of Ernest Hemingway. He ran away from home at the age of 15 and headed to the Persian Gulf with a friend. He made it as far as Southern France before he headed back.

He decided not to return to school, and therefore was forced to start looking for a job. Bill wanted to be an author, and he was able to secure a job as a messenger boy at The Field Magazine in Mayfair. He was soon invited to train as a sub-editor, but Bill refused when he learned that the position would require him to learn shorthand (he suffered from a ailment which caused the pinky fingers on both hands to bend inwards, making such tasks as shorthand incredibly difficult).

He ran away from home again at 16, this time heading to Paris to write “the great novel.” After running out of money, Bill was forced to beg for change, and he even turned down an offer from a brothel to sleep with some of their much older female clients.

Returning to England, he tried to become a journalist, but found that he lacked the required levels of education. For a time, he found employment at the hospital where his mother worked.

A girlfriend suggested he should try his hand at acting, so Bill began training at the Guildford School of Dance and Drama. After graduation, Bill began the life of a professional actor.

In the 70s, he became a member of the Everyman Theatre Company in Liverpool and stayed with the troupe for three years. Afterwards, he performed at the National Theatre with such greats as Anthony Hopkins.

In the early 80s, Bill began to abuse drugs and alcohol. Luckily, he also met Diana Quick (most famous for her role in Brideshead Revisited) in 1982. They became a real-life couple, and although she refused to marry Bill, they had a child in 1984 and remain together to this day. Thankfully, Bill was able to stop drinking in 1992 (he would go on to kick nicotine in 2003).Bill’s career really picked up around the start of the new century. He was cast as a vampire lord in Underworld in 2003 and later that year appeared in the BBC mini-series State of Play, for which he would win a BAFTA Award as Best Actor on TV.

Shortly after, he would play an aging rocker named Billy Mack in the hit film Love Actually. Nighy was the breakout performer of the film, and the role garnered him a Peter Sellers Award, another BAFTA award, a London Film Critics Award, and a Los Angeles Film Critics Award. His on-screen hit “Christmas Is All Around” was released in the UK and hit number 16 on the British charts (with all proceeds going to charity).

In 2004, he appeared in the hit zombie/comedy film, Shaun of the Dead, which proved to be a surprise critical and commercial success. Since then, he has continued his streak of success, appearing in high-profile films such as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Constant Gardener, Underworld: Evolution, and the smash hit Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.In the near future, he will lend his voice to the animated film Flushed Away, as well as star in Stormbreaker and Pirates of the Caribbean 3. Bill is also working on Hot Fuzz, a cop/action film which will reunite him with Shaun of the Dead co-stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

Bill currently lives in northern London with his companion, Diana, their daughter, two dogs and a one-eyed cat. He enjoys walking his pets, reading a good book, drinking a cup of tea, and listening to rockers such as The Rolling Stone, Eric Clapton, or Marvin Gaye.