Bill Nighy stars as 'Mr. Woodhouse'

BILL NIGHY (Mr. Woodhouse) is an award-winning actor of the stage and screen whose extensive filmography illustrates an illustrious career. Among others, Nighy has received a BAFTA Award, a London Film Critics Circle Award, an Evening Standard British Film Award and a Golden Globe. He recently starred in the acclaimed animation Pokemon Detective Pikachu; detective fantasy/drama Sometimes, Always, Never; and can be seen in the romantic drama Hope Gap.

Nighy was seen in The Kindness of Strangers, co-produced, written and directed by Lone Scherfig, which follows the story of four people who connect during moments of hardship in their lives. The film opened the 2019 Berlin International Film Festival. He is also due to appear alongside Johnny Depp in redemptive thriller Minimata, which follows war photographer W. Eugene Smith as he travels to Japan and takes on a powerful corporation responsible for poisoning the people of Minamata, Japan, in 1971. Nighy will also star in Buckley’s Chance, set in Western Australia, as the estranged grandfather of a family seeking reconnection after a family tragedy. 

Nighy appeared in The Bookshop as reclusive book-lover Edmund Brundish, and in the TV mini-series adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Ordeal by Innocence, in which he played the lead role of Leo Argyll. In September 2017, he was seen on screens in The Limehouse Golem, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2016. Also featured during TIFF 2016 was Their Finest, which saw Nighy “in irresistible form” (Daily Express). His iconic turn as an aging rock star in Richard Curtis’s 2003 hit Love Actually won him his Evening Standard British Film Award. He reprised the role in the charity special Red Nose Day Actually (2017).

In recent years, Nighy has lent his talent to The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012) and its sequel, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015). 2014 saw Nighy star in Pride, which won Best British Independent Film at the 2014 BIFAs. In 2013, Nighy once again teamed up with Richard Curtis for time travelling romantic comedy About Time.

Nighy’s incredible list of film credits also includes Wild Target (2010), Pirate Radio (2009, which reunited him with Richard Curtis), Bryan Singer’s Valkyrie (2008), Richard Eyre’s Notes on a Scandal (2006), Fernando Meirelles’ The Constant Gardener (2005), Lawless Heart (2001) and Still Crazy (1998). 

Nighy began his career on the stage and has since earned acclaim for his work in numerous plays, including David Hare’s Pravda (1985), Skylight (1995) and A Map of the World (1983). He received an Olivier Award nomination in 2001 for Best Actor for his performance in Joe Penhall’s Blue/Orange. 

In 2012, Nighy earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor for his performance in the BBC television movie Page Eight, directed by David Hare. He reunited with Hare in 2014 for the second and third installments of The Worricker Trilogy. On the small screen, HBO’s The Girl in the Café (2005) brought Nighy a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries. Later in 2005, he won a Golden Globe in the same category for his performance in the 2005 telefilm Gideon’s Daughter.