Willing is the son of Portuguese painter Dame Paula Rego[1] and English artist Victor Willing and was largely brought up in Portugal, but settled in England at the age of 12[2] after the family suffered a business collapse.

[3] He graduated from The National Film and Television School in 1982 and started directing music videos for bands such as Eurythmics, Bob Geldof, Swing Out Sister, Debbie Gibson, Kirsty MacColl, Kim Appleby, Tony Banks, and Nik Kershaw.

[4] Alice in Wonderland followed with a cast which included Whoopi Goldberg, Ben Kingsley, Robbie Coltrane, Martin Short, Peter Ustinov, Gene Wilder, Ken Dodd, Christopher Lloyd, George Wendt and Miranda Richardson.

[7] In 2013, Nick stepped in to help negotiate an alternative contract for Casa Das Historias Paula Rego, the Cascais, Portugal museum dedicated to his mother’s work.

[8] As a consequence of the 2011–14 international bailout to Portugal by the European Union and the IMF, the Portuguese government closed several foundations, including Paula Rego's, leaving the museum in limbo.