William Nicholson is a British screenwriter, playwright, and novelist, best known for Everest, Les Misérables, Gladiator, and First Knight. Other screenplay credits include Indian Summer, 1066, Resurrection, Breathe, Unbroken, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Grey Owl, Firelight, Nell, Shadowlands, Sarafina!, and The March. 

Broadway theatre credits include his plays Shadowlands (Brooks Atkinson Theatre) and The Retreat from Moscow (Booth Theatre).

Nicholson's novels include The Society of Others, The Secret Intensity of Everyday Life, All the Hopeful Lovers, The Golden Hour, and The Lovers of Amherst.