I dont think its cheating having two Richard Curtis-directed performances on the list, considering how different the roles Nighy played are. His role as Dohmnall Gleesons dad in About Time is guaranteed to tug on the heartstrings, unless youre some sort of Terminator. The very simple story of a young man who discovers the men in his family have the genetic trait of being able to travel through time, Gleeson (obviously) f*cks around with his gift so much that his life gets royally messed up - so much so that he changes the sex of his child. He manages to fix this, and his dad informs him that as soon as he has a child, he cant change the past any further - as any further tampering before the inception of the child means the child could change from boy to girl or not even have existed at all. When his dad passes away, it leads to a heartbreaking moment as he travels back one last time (because of his kid) - meaning, the last time he can ever see his dad (jeez, time travel is a headache - just watch the damn movie). Nighy and Gleeson give such a believable performance as father and son that their last goodbye is truly touching. Although the entire film is rather off-key, it should be seen for Nighys wonderful performance as father of a lifetime.