Biography

Accomplished musician - able to play piano, guitar, keyboards, and more.

Auditioned for the role of Gimli (The Dwarf) in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001).

An avid Star Trek fan, he named his son (born 2003) after the Star Trek: Deep Space 9 character Dax and often refers to himself as a Klingon. He once claimed during his "Part Troll" tour that his ear-mounted microphone made him resemble "a wizard in a call center" and "a Klingon motivational speaker". On The Graham Norton Show S12.E13 aired January 26. 2013, Bill Bailey denied the popular reference to Dax from ST: DS9, and added that Dax is an old French name.

His death was erroneously reported by the BBC in December 2018. On The Graham Norton Show S24.E11 aired December 14. 2018, Bill Bailey explained that he believed there was a mix-up with the death of a DJ in Kentucky USA, who was his namesake.

Best French Actor - Institut Francais awards, UK

I saw Motörhead in New York earlier this year and they were great - Lemmy's just so fantastically pissed off all the time.

Being a metal fan, I've put in loads of references to metal bands into my shows over the years. I'm getting a band together to kind of 'metal up' a lot of songs - there's a Rammstein element creeping into my Kraftwerk numbers. Rammstein are just an angry Kraftwerk. Kraftwerk look like a bunch of regional managers of a carpet warehouse being asked to perform some computer functions.

I don't reject popular culture - I'm not the sort of grumpy old man who says: 'Well actually I switched off after 1982.' Good music is being made all the time; you just have to filter out the chaff. And there is a lot of chaff, unfortunately. The stuff I listen to doesn't get played on the radio. I really like the new Bon Iver album and I saw My Morning Jacket recently and they were great - languid and very soulful.

In the West End you can banter with the audience because it's more intimate. There's not much chance of intimacy with 60,000 people but there's much more call and response.

Most of the instruments I play are fairly low-tech - ouds and sitars and guitars and keyboards, I pretty much know my way around them. But I have no idea how the Tenori-on works. I'm slightly in awe of it. I like the fact it's an instrument but also kind of a video installation-cum-lighting effect. It's all manner of things - I'm a bit scared of it.