Character Actor Countdown: Bill Nighy

I continue my running countdown of favorite character actors glimpsed on DVD this year with a favorite Brit.

9.

Tall, gaunt Bill Nighy never fails to make an impression in any film he's in, even if it's for only a few moments - as in his cameo in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as the nonplussed planetary designer Slartabartfast - or in an earnest supporting role, such as as Cate Blanchett's husband in the fine new drama Notes on a Scandal. This year's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest was a perfect example; Nighy practically stole the film from Johnny Depp, even under a heavy layer of squid-squishy makeup as the look-what-the-tide-brought-in Davy Jones. Nighy also gave added weight and depth to what by all rights could have been an underwritten role as the stepfather of Simon Pegg's Shaun, and object of his resentment, in the zombie spoof Shaun of the Dead. And broke my heart as the eccentric, helpless writer's-blocked patriarch in I Captured the Castle. In a rare lead role, Nighy was lovely in the romantic comedy The Girl in the Cafe, falling for an odd woman to form a mismatched relationship.

Even when not aided by makeup, Nighy often physically inhabits his parts, sometimes to the point of looking like death warmed over - as in the rehabbing rocker in Still Crazy (for which he also sun his own songs).

Nighy is in his fifties but while he's been acting since the seventies, after a lengthy career on stage and in BBC productions, he's only recently begun to make an impact in film. In a recent interview he half-jokingly remarked that he's been getting good parts ever since he lost his looks, but there's no denying his features - long hazel hair, drooping face, resigned expressions - are one-of-a-kind.

Also known as: That tall, gaunt British guy; "Slarti.. Slatri..Slartibartfarst...Slart... Well, whatever."