Foreign travel
It's entirely apt that an actor who has made acclaimed appearances as a (somewhat washed up) pop star riddled with addictions has lived a life with a large element of the rock 'n' roll about it. His previous battles with drugs and alcohol are well-documented but his free spiritedness started early. Aged 15, this lover of the Rolling Stones ran away from home with a friend. Hoping to make it to the Persian Gulf, he got as far as the South of France before losing his bottle and pleading for money from his father for a ticket home.

The delays
Nighy once said: "I am a world-class procrastinator. I'm only an actor because I've been putting off being a writer for 35 years." Hemingway remains a hero since boyhood and Nighy began his working life as a messenger boy, then a sub-editor, at The Field Magazine in Mayfair. However, aged 16, he took once more to Paris, heavy with the wish to become a great novelist. When his only offers of work came from brothels, he returned home to try to become a journalist at his local rag, the Croydon Advertiser.

No more addictions
For his move into drama, Nighy has a girlfriend to thank who suggested he become an actor. He trained at the Guildford School of Drama and since the early 1980s, a ever-growing stream of work on stage, screen and radio has come his way. It was also around this time, however, that he started drinking and taking mind-altering substances. After getting help, thankfully, he quit drinking 17th May 1992. Even the fags have been given up too - also on a day that, rather revealingly, he can still quote: 13th September 2003. These days, Bill's only addictions, apart from the Stones, seems to be Coca Cola.

Quick Steps
Nighy's early career brought him, like so many of our best actors, to the National Theatre, where he starred in several David Hare world premieres such as 'Pravda' (alongside Sir Anthony Hopkins) and 'A Map Of The World'. The latter play left a deep impact on Bill's life - he fell in love with his co-star, Diana Quick, who he described as the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. Diana remains his partner to this day and they have a daughter, Mary Nighy, who is also contemplating an acting career.

Bizarre Bill
There are two rather unusual things about Bill, apart from his being a Crystal Palace fan. One is his surname, Nighy. No one else has it and nobody seems to know where it comes from. He suspects that it might be a Hungarian name as he noticed "Nagy" was quite a common name when he was in Budapest. He does look a bit Hungarian too. And then there are his hands. Bill suffers from a genetic condition inherited from his mother's side of the family called Dupuytren's Contracture which makes the little and ring finger of each hand permanently bent back against the palm. Thatcher's got it too you know.

The end is nowhere near nigh
Always respected, thanks to his aging rocker in "Love Actually", Nighy is now of course something of a star. His recent appearances includes such large Hollywood productions as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and you will soon see him in the sequel to Pirates of the Carribbean, opposite Orlando Bloom. Hello! Magazine reports him working with Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench on a film version of Zoe Heller's novel ''Notes on a Scandal' - which would be huge. Not bad for someone who, by his own admission is very worried how he is received. "I speculate to be sociable" he once said "but it's a very big deal for me that any work I do should be well received." Perhaps an Oscar would help?