Hugh Laurie | |
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![]() Laurie in 2012 | |
Born | James Hugh Calum Laurie 11 June 1959 Blackbird Leys, Oxfordshire, England |
Education | Eton College |
Alma mater | Selwyn College, Cambridge (BA) |
Occupations |
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Years active | 1981–present |
Works | Full list |
Spouse |
Jo Green (m. 1989) |
Children | 3 |
Father | Ran Laurie |
Musical career | |
Genres | Blues |
Instruments |
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Labels | Warner Records |
Website | hughlaurieblues |
James Hugh Calum Laurie CBE (/ˈlɒri/; born 11 June 1959) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and musician. He first gained recognition for his work as one half of the English comedy double act Fry and Laurie with Stephen Fry. The two acted together in a number of projects during the 1980s and 1990s, including the BBC sketch comedy series A Bit of Fry & Laurie and the P. G. Wodehouse adaptation Jeeves and Wooster. From 1986 to 1989 he appeared in three series of the period comedy Blackadder, first as a recurring guest star in the last two episodes of Blackadder II, before joining the main cast in Blackadder the Third, and going on to appear in Blackadder Goes Forth and many specials of the show except for The Black Adder and Blackadder: The Cavalier Years.
From 2004 to 2012, Laurie starred as Dr. Gregory House on the Fox medical drama series House. He received two Golden Globe Awards and many other accolades for the role. He was listed in the 2011 Guinness World Records as the most watched leading man on television and was one of the highest-paid actors in a television drama at the time, earning $409,000 (£250,000) per episode.[1][2] By the end of the series, he was earning $700,000 an episode.[3] His other television credits include appearing in the London-based Friends episode, "The One with Ross's Wedding" (1998), starring as the main antagonist, arms dealer Richard Onslow Roper in the miniseries The Night Manager (2016), for which he won his third Golden Globe, and playing Senator Tom James in the HBO sitcom Veep (2012–2019), for which he received his 10th Emmy Award nomination.
Laurie has appeared in the films Peter's Friends (1992), Sense and Sensibility (1995), 101 Dalmatians (1996), The Borrowers (1997), The Man in the Iron Mask (1998), Stuart Little (1999), Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows (2001), Flight of the Phoenix (2004), Tomorrowland (2015), Arthur Christmas (2011) in which he voiced Steven Claus, and The Personal History of David Copperfield (2020).[4] Outside acting, he released the blues albums Let Them Talk (2011) and Didn't It Rain (2013), both to favourable reviews. Laurie wrote the novel The Gun Seller (1996). He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2007 New Year Honours and CBE in the 2018 New Year Honours, both for services to drama.[5]