Biography
 |
Hugh Laurie was born and raised in Oxford, where he
attended the Dragon School before going on to Eton and
then to Selwyn College, Cambridge, where he read
Archaeology and Anthropology. His father had won an
Olympic gold medal in rowing, and he himself was a rower
in school and in his university, taking part in the
Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race of 1980. Cambridge lost
that year by five feet.
During his first year at university, Hugh Laurie dated
Emma Thompson. He also joined the famous Cambridge
Footlights, which has been the starting point for many
successful British comedians. When Footlights brought
their end-of-year revue to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
in 1980, Laurie met Stephen Fry. In his final year,
1981, he was the president of the Footlights Club, while
Emma Thompson was the vice-president. Laurie, Fry and
Thompson later parodied themselves as the University
Challenge representatives of "Footlights College,
Oxbridge" in "Bambi", an episode of The Young Ones.
Hugh Laurie as Lieutenant George in Blackadder Goes
Forth.Fry and Laurie had several series of their own as
a double act and starred in the television series Jeeves
and Wooster, an adaptation of P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves
stories. Laurie played Jeeves' employer, the amiable
twit Bertie Wooster, a role for which his talent as a
pianist and singer came in handy.
However, like Fry, Laurie has branched out into a career
as an actor in both comic roles (such as the Blackadder
series with Rowan Atkinson as Prince George and
Lieutenant George) and also had more serious roles in
such films as Peter's Friends and Sense and Sensibility.
Other film appearances include Maybe Baby and Stuart
Little. In 1996, his book The Gun Seller, a humorous
novel of suspense, was published and became a best
seller. Laurie is currently working on a second novel,
The Paper Soldier.
Since 2002, Laurie has been a familiar face in a range
of British television dramas, guest starring that year
in two episodes of the first season of the spy thriller
series Spooks on BBC One. In 2003 he starred in and also
directed ITV's comedy-drama series Fortysomething. He
also voiced a character in the Family Guy episode "One
If By Clam, Two If By Sea."
Although Laurie has been a household name in Britain
since the 1980s, he only really came to the attention of
the American public in 2004, when he first starred as
the cantankerous physician Dr. Gregory House in the
popular FOX medical drama, House, M.D.. Laurie uses an
American accent in this role, and is convincing enough
as an American that director Bryan Singer, upon viewing
Laurie's audition tape, pointed to him as an example of
a compelling American actor.
In July 2005, Hugh Laurie was nominated for an Emmy
Award for his role in House, M.D.. Although he didn't
win, he did win a Golden Globe in 2006 for his work on
the same series.
Hugh Laurie married Jo Green in June 1989. They live in
north London with their daughter Rebecca and two sons,
Bill and Charlie.
Trivia for Hugh Laurie
- During a guest appearance on The Tonight Show on 16 November 2005, Laurie revealed that he took the highly-addictive painkiller Vicodin in order to get into character for his role as Dr. House.
- Laurie's nose is slightly out of joint because of the many fights he was in as a boy.
- Laurie was badly burned by a petrol bomb that he made at the age of ten.
- In 1996 he concluded he was clinically depressed, a diagnosis that was later confirmed in analysis and treated successfully. Laurie first recognized the extent of his depression when he realized the car race he was in neither excited nor scared him.
- His favorite motorcycle is the Triumph Bonneville.
- His father, William “Ran” Laurie, won an Olympic gold medal in rowing at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.
- During the first season of filming for House, M.D. Hugh Laurie lived at the Chateau Marmont Hotel on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood.
Websites for Hugh Laurie
- Who is Hugh Laurie dating? - Hugh Laurie Dating, Relationships, Gossip, News and Famous Couples at WhosDatedWho.com