Who plays Davy Jones in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and what does he look like in real life?

It may come as a surprise to hear this, but the actor who played Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean doesn’t actually have tentacles attached to his face. In fact, he’s a very ordinary looking man, although his prolific acting career and lifetime achievements are anything but ordinary.

It’s hard to tell behind that impressive CGI, but it’s actually Bill Nighy portraying the villainous captain of The Flying Dutchman in Pirates: Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End. That’s Bill Nighy the actor, not to be confused with Bill Nye the science guy.

The British actor has had a number of notable roles over his decades-long career. Although his role in the Pirates franchise has arguably been his most memorable, you may recognize his other roles in some pretty big franchises such as Harry Potter. He played Rufus Scrimgeour — a member of the ministry of magic who later becomes the minister — in The Order of the Phoenix through to The Deathly Hallows. And he doesn’t have his face obscured by CGI so you can see what he really looks like here.

If you’re a fan of the Cornetto trilogy from Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg then you’ll certainly recognize him from those films as he appeared in all three. His most memorable role was Philip from Shaun of the Dead, who unfortunately ends up a zombie. 

If not the Cornetto trilogy, maybe you’d recognize him from his breakout role, Billy Mack in Love Actually.

More recently Nighy has appeared in films like Detective Pikachu – which apparently made him a fan of the franchise (Mew is his favorite Pokémon if you’re wondering). He’s also done voice work for games such as Destiny 2 and The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind and he’s got even more projects lined up for the future so if you haven’t seen anything else with him in yet, maybe you will soon.