Jimmy Nail is an actor and singer from Newcastle upon Tyne, England. He is known for his strong Geordie accent, his screen roles, and a recording career that spans pop, country and soft rock.

Screen career

Nail first comes to prominence playing Leonard Jeffrey “Oz” Osborne in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet in 1983. He has no acting experience when he is cast, although he has appeared as an extra in Get Carter. After the first two series of the programme, he finds himself typecast and then creates the detective series Spender with Ian La Frenais. That series runs for three seasons from 1990 to 1993 and also leads to a television film. In 1995 he creates and stars in Crocodile Shoes as musician Jed Shepherd. He also appears in Evita with Madonna and Antonio Banderas, and later co-stars in Still Crazy.

Music

Nail is a singer before his casting in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, and he goes on to build a long musical career. He releases albums of his own songs, beginning with Take It Or Leave It in 1986. Growing Up In Public follows in 1991 and includes contributions from Gary Moore, David Gilmour and George Harrison. His 1995 album Crocodile Shoes sells over a million copies. His final album listed in the bio is Tadpoles In A Jar in 1999. Mark Knopfler plays guitar on some tracks, and Nail’s work also includes the 1992 number one single “Ain’t No Doubt”.

Recognition

A song from Still Crazy, “The Flame Still Burns”, sung by Nail, is nominated for a Golden Globe. His work brings him five BAFTA nominations in total, including three for Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, one for Spender and one for Crocodile Shoes. He also receives an Ivor Novello nomination for “Ain’t No Doubt” and has numerous other awards and nominations.

Other notes

He is associated with the term “Nailing”, which is used for links that lead a user to the video for “Ain’t No Doubt”, in a similar way to “Rickrolling”.