Hugh Laurie

Laurie was born on 11 June 1959, in the Blackbird Leys area of Oxford,{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/hugh-laurie-because-hes-worth-it-2309540.html |title=Hugh Laurie: Because he's worth it |newspaper=The Independent |date=9 July 2011}}{{cite episode |title=Hugh Laurie |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1013111/ |series=Inside the Actors Studio |series-link=Inside the Actors Studio |credits=Host: James Lipton |network=Bravo |airdate=31 July 2006 |season=12 |number=18}} the youngest of four children of Patricia (née Laidlaw) and William George Ranald Mundell "Ran" Laurie, who was a physician and winner of an Olympic gold medal in the coxless pairs (rowing) at the 1948 London Games.{{cite web |title=Hugh Laurie Biography (1959–) |access-date=13 May 2008 |url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/33/Hugh-Laurie.html |publisher=Film Reference}} He has an older brother, Charles Alexander Lyon Mundell Laurie, and two older sisters, Susan and Janet.{{cite web |title=House Star Hugh Laurie Supports 'Save the Children' |access-date=4 June 2012 |url=http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/news/2007/08/house-star-hugh-laurie-supports-save-the-children |publisher=Save the Children}}{{dead link|date=June 2013}}{{cite journal |title=Interview |journal=GQ magazine |date=December 1992 |page=105}} He had a strained relationship with his mother,{{cite news |title=Faces of the week |access-date=13 May 2008 |publisher=BBC |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4631772.stm |date=20 January 2006}} whom he noted as "Presbyterian by character, by mood". He later said, "I was frustration to her. She didn't like me." His mother died from motor neurone disease in 1989, at the age of 73. According to Laurie, she endured the disease for two years and suffered "painful, plodding paralysis" while being cared for by Laurie's father, whom he has called "the sweetest man in the whole world".

Laurie's parents, who were both of Scottish descent, attended St Columba's Presbyterian Church (now United Reformed Church){{cite web |url=http://www.saintcolumbas.org/about-us/our-history |title=Our History |publisher=St Columba's United Reformed Church, Oxford}} in Oxford.{{cite magazine |title=Dr. Feelbad |magazine=Rolling Stone |author=Strauss, Neil |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/13893076/dr_feelbad_hugh_laurie_became_the_dark_prince_of_prime_time_by_playing_the_best_vicodinaddicted_t |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070401072046/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/13893076/dr_feelbad_hugh_laurie_became_the_dark_prince_of_prime_time_by_playing_the_best_vicodinaddicted_t |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 April 2007 |date=5 April 2007 |access-date=13 May 2008}}{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/5421264/Hugh-Laurie-interview.html |title=Hugh Laurie interview |work=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=11 December 2012 |date=3 June 2009 |last1=Husband |first1=Stuart }} He notes that "belief in God didn't play a large role" in his home, but "a certain attitude to life and the living of it did". He followed this by stating, "Pleasure was something that was treated with great suspicion, pleasure was something that... I was going to say it had to be earned but even the earning of it didn't really work. It was something to this day, I mean, I carry that with me. I find pleasure a difficult thing; I don't know what you do with it, I don't know where to put it." He later stated, "I don't believe in God, but I have this idea that if there were a God, or destiny of some kind looking down on us, that if he saw you taking anything for granted, he'd take it away."[http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sunday-telegraph/man-about-the-house/story-e6frewt9-1111114738268 Man about the House], The Daily Telegraph, 28 October 2007.

Laurie was brought up in Oxford and attended the Dragon School from seven to 13, later stating, "I was, in truth, a horrible child. Not much given to things of a 'bookey' nature, I spent a large part of my youth smoking Number Six and cheating in French vocabulary tests."{{cite web |title=Hugh Laurie: Wodehouse Saved my Life |access-date=4 June 2012 |url=http://www.pgwodehousebooks.com/lauriesaved.htm |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=25 May 1999}} He went on to Eton College, which he described as "the most private of private schools". He arrived at Selwyn College, Cambridge, in 1978,{{cite book |title=The House That Hugh Laurie Built: An Unauthorized Biography and Episode Guide |last=Challen |first=Paul |publisher=ECW Press; TELE edition |year=2008 |isbn=9781550228038 |page=10}} which he says he attended "as a result of family tradition" since his father went there. Laurie notes that his father was a successful rower at Cambridge and that he was "trying to follow in [his] father's footsteps". He studied archaeology and anthropology, specialising in social anthropology,{{cite web |url=http://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/alumni/Selwyn%20Honorary%20Fellows%20Announcement.pdf |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20120712162327/http://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/alumni/Selwyn%20Honorary%20Fellows%20Announcement.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 July 2012 |title=Welcome back to Selwyn! |publisher=Selwyn College |access-date=13 June 2013 }} and graduated with third-class honours in 1981.{{cite book |title=The House That Hugh Laurie Built: An Unauthorized Biography and Episode Guide |last=Challen |first=Paul |publisher=ECW Press; TELE edition |year=2008 |isbn=9781550228038 |page=13}}

Like his father, Laurie rowed at school and university. In 1977, he was a member of the junior coxed pair that won the British national title before representing Britain's Youth Team at the 1977 Junior World Rowing Championships. In 1980, Laurie and his rowing partner, J.S. Palmer, were runners-up in the Silver Goblets"[http://www.rowinghistory.net/HRR%20US/hrr_1946-2000.htm Henley Royal Regatta Results of Final Races – 1946–2003 (1980).] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716161931/http://www.rowinghistory.net/HRR%20US/hrr_1946-2000.htm |date=16 July 2011 }}" RowingHistory.net. coxless pairs for Eton Vikings rowing club. He also achieved a Blue while taking part in the 1980 Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.{{cite news |title=Hugh Laurie on House, fame and LA |author=Crampton, Robert |work=The Times |location=UK |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article3617324.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512001356/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article3617324.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 May 2008 |access-date=30 March 2008 |date=29 March 2008 }} Cambridge lost that year by five feet.{{cite news |last=Husband |first=Stuart |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/5421264/Hugh-Laurie-interview.html |title=Hugh Laurie interview at |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=UK |date=3 June 2009 |access-date=12 August 2011}} During this time, Laurie was training for up to eight hours a day and was on course to become an Olympic-standard rower.[http://www.motleyhealth.com/celeb/hugh-laurie-the-super-fit-athlete-and-actor Hugh Laurie – the Super Fit Athlete and Actor], MotleyHealth, 18 December 2011. He is a member of the Leander Club, one of the oldest rowing clubs in the world, and was a member of the Hermes Club and Hawks' Club.

File:Hugh Laurie Actors Guild.jpg

Forced to abandon rowing during a bout of glandular fever, Laurie joined the Cambridge Footlights,{{cite web |title=The Tatler List |url=http://www.tatler.com/the-tatler-list|publisher=Tatler|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205224814/http://www.tatler.com/the-tatler-list |archive-date=5 February 2016}} a university dramatic club that has produced many well-known actors and comedians including members of the popular British surreal comedy group, Monty Python. There he met Emma Thompson, with whom he had a romantic relationship; the two remain good friends. She introduced him to his future comedy partner, Stephen Fry. Laurie, Fry and Thompson later parodied themselves as the University Challenge representatives of "Footlights College, Oxbridge" in "Bambi", an episode of The Young Ones, with the series' co-writer Ben Elton completing their team.{{cite web |url=http://www.fortunecity.com/lavendar/hawkslane/231/yo21.html |title=The Young Ones – Bambi |access-date=10 February 2007 |work=Transcription of the "Young Ones" episode "Bambi" as it aired on American MTV in the mid-'80s |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070309155934/http://www.fortunecity.com/lavendar/hawkslane/231/yo21.html |archive-date=9 March 2007 |url-status=dead }}

In 1980–81, his final year at university, besides rowing Laurie was president of the Footlights, with Thompson as vice-president. They took their annual revue, The Cellar Tapes, to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and won the first Perrier Comedy Award which was presented to them by Rowan Atkinson. The revue was written principally by Laurie and Fry, and the cast also included Thompson, Tony Slattery, Paul Shearer and Penny Dwyer. The Perrier Award led to a West End transfer for The Cellar Tapes and a television version of the revue, broadcast in May 1982. It resulted in Laurie, Fry and Thompson being selected, along with Ben Elton, Robbie Coltrane and Siobhan Redmond to write and appear in a new sketch comedy show for Granada Television, Alfresco, which ran for two series.

Fry and Laurie worked together on various projects throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Among them were the Blackadder series, written by Ben Elton and Richard Curtis, starring Rowan Atkinson, with Laurie in various roles, including two roles in Blackadder II which marked his debut appearance in the series, first as drunk Simon Partridge in "Beer" and then as the villainous Prince Ludwig the Indestructible in the Blackadder II final episode, "Chains" and then Prince George in Blackadder the Third and Lieutenant George in Blackadder Goes Forth. Other projects followed, of which one was their BBC sketch comedy series A Bit of Fry & Laurie; another project was Jeeves and Wooster, an adaptation of P. G. Wodehouse's stories, in which Laurie played Jeeves's employer, the amiable twit Bertie Wooster. He and Fry participated in charity stage events, such as Hysteria! 1, 2 & 3 and Amnesty International's The Secret Policeman's Third Ball, Comic Relief TV shows and the variety show Fry and Laurie Host a Christmas Night with the Stars. They collaborated again on the film Peter's Friends (1992) and came together for a retrospective show in 2010 titled Fry and Laurie Reunited.

Laurie starred in the Thames Television film Letters from a Bomber Pilot (1985) directed by David Hodgson. This was a serious acting role, the film being dramatised from the letters home of Pilot Officer J.R.A. "Bob" Hodgson, a pilot in RAF Bomber Command, who was killed in action in 1943.{{cite web |url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/410109 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120517160335/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/410109 |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 May 2012 |title="LETTERS FROM A BOMBER PILOT (1985)" at bfi.org |publisher=Ftvdb.bfi.org.uk |date=16 April 2009 |access-date=12 August 2011}}

Laurie appeared in the music videos for the 1986 single "Experiment IV" by Kate Bush, and the 1992 Annie Lennox single "Walking on Broken Glass" in British Regency period costume alongside John Malkovich.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Og0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA26 |title=Billboard |date=7 December 2002 |access-date=7 November 2011 |page=26 }} Laurie appeared in the Spice Girls' film Spice World (1997) and had a brief guest-starring role on Friends in "The One with Ross's Wedding" (1998).

Laurie's later film appearances include Sense and Sensibility (1995), adapted by and starring Emma Thompson; the Disney live-action film 101 Dalmatians (1996), where he played Jasper, one of the bumbling criminals hired to kidnap the puppies; Elton's adaptation of his novel Inconceivable, Maybe Baby (2000); Girl from Rio; the 2004 adaptation of The Flight of the Phoenix, and Stuart Little.

Since 2002, Laurie has appeared 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 (in one episode of which Stephen Fry appears). In 2001, he voiced the character of a bar patron in the Family Guy episode "One If by Clam, Two If by Sea". Laurie voiced the character of Mr. Wolf in the cartoon Preston Pig. He was a panellist on the first episode of QI, alongside Fry as host. In 2004, Laurie guest-starred as a professor in charge of a space probe called Beagle, on The Lenny Henry Show.

File:LaurieJacobsShore.jpg and David Shore in 2009]]

Between 2004 and 2012, Laurie starred as an acerbic physician specialising in diagnostic medicine, Dr. Gregory House, in the Fox medical drama House. For his portrayal, he assumed an American accent. He was in Namibia filming Flight of the Phoenix and recorded his audition tape for the show in the bathroom of the hotel, as it was the only place he could get enough light.{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2004-11-15-hugh-laurie_x.htm |title=Hugh Laurie Gets Into 'House' |author=Bill, Keveney |date=15 November 2004 |work=USA Today |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230429134259/https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2004-11-15-hugh-laurie_x.htm |archive-date=29 April 2023}} Jacob Vargas operated the camera for the audition tape. Laurie's American accent was so convincing that executive producer Bryan Singer, who was unaware at the time that Laurie was British, pointed to him as an example of just the kind of "compelling American actor" he had been looking for. Laurie also adopted the accent between takes on the set of House,{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/arts/television/12house.html |title=Tormented Doctor Turns to Directing |access-date=16 June 2010 |author=Bill, Carter |date=11 April 2010 |work=The New York Times}} as well as during script read-throughs, although he used his native accent when directing the episode "Lockdown". He also served as director for the episode "The C-Word".{{cite web |title=Hugh Laurie: Directing House episode for final series was huge responsibility |url=http://metro.co.uk/2012/05/03/hugh-laurie-directing-house-episode-for-final-series-was-huge-responsibility-419349/ |work=Metro |access-date=1 February 2013 |date=3 May 2012}}

Laurie was nominated for an Emmy Award{{cite web |url=http://www.emmys.com/celebrities/hugh-laurie |title=Hugh Laurie Emmy Nominated |publisher=Emmys.com |access-date=30 April 2012}} for his role in House in 2005. Although he did not win, he did receive a Golden Globe in both 2006 and 2007 for his work on the series and the Screen Actors Guild award in 2007 and 2009. Laurie was also awarded a large increase in salary, from what was rumoured to be a mid-range five-figure sum to $350,000 per episode. Laurie was not nominated for the 2006 Emmys, apparently to the outrage of Fox executives,{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090422200515/http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/1416%2Cfeatures%2Cfans-fury-over-laurie8217s-emmy-snub |archive-date=22 April 2009 |url=http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/1416,features,fans-fury-over-laurie8217s-emmy-snub |title=Fans' fury over Laurie's Emmy snub |first=Anne |last=Bergman |work=The First Post |url-status=dead }} but he still appeared in a scripted, pre-taped intro, where he parodied his House character by rapidly diagnosing host Conan O'Brien and then proceeding to grope him as the latter asked him for help to get to the Emmys on time. He would later go on to speak in French while presenting an Emmy with Dame Helen Mirren, and was since nominated in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.

Laurie was initially cast as Perry White, the editor of the Daily Planet, in Singer's film Superman Returns but had to bow out of the project because of his commitment to House.{{cite web |url=http://movies.ign.com/articles/701/701987p1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120501015024/http://movies.ign.com/articles/701/701987p1.html |archive-date=1 May 2012 |title=Superman Returns: The New Lex Luthor – Movies Feature at IGN |date=1 May 2012 |website=movies.ign.com}} In July 2006, Laurie appeared on Inside the Actors Studio, where he also performed one of his own comic songs, "Mystery", accompanying himself on the piano. He hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live, in which he appeared in drag in a sketch about a man (Kenan Thompson) with a broken leg who accuses his doctor of being dishonest. Laurie played the man's wife.

File:Emmys-laurie-cropped.jpg

In August 2007, Laurie appeared on BBC Four's documentary Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out, filmed in celebration of Fry's 50th birthday. In 2008, he took part in Blackadder Rides Again which saw him reuniting with former Blackadder producer, John Lloyd who had travelled to the set of House MD in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California to interview Laurie who recalled his time working on the Blackadder series. Laurie also appeared as Captain James Biggs in Street Kings, opposite Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker, and then in 2009 as the eccentric Dr. Herbert Cockroach, PhD in DreamWorks' Monsters vs. Aliens. He also hosted Saturday Night Live for the second time on the Christmas show in which he sang a medley of three-second Christmas songs to close his monologue. In 2009, Laurie returned to guest star in another Family Guy episode, "Business Guy", parodying Gregory House. In 2010, Laurie guest starred in The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror XXI" as Roger, a castaway who is planning a murder scheme on a ship during Homer and Marge's second honeymoon.{{cite web |title=Hugh Laurie in The Simpsons 'Treehouse of Horror XXI': B-Roll |date=27 October 2010 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOx5vZk_wtU |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211029/eOx5vZk_wtU |archive-date=29 October 2021 |publisher=YouTube |access-date=18 September 2013}}{{cbignore}}

On 8 February 2012 Fox announced that season eight of House would be the last. On 13 June 2012 the media announced that Laurie was in negotiations to play the villain in RoboCop, a remake of the original RoboCop film.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jun/13/hugh-laurie-villain-robocop |title=Hugh Laurie in talks to play villain in Robocop remake |newspaper=The Guardian |date=13 June 2012 |access-date=6 February 2014}} These negotiations ultimately fell through and Laurie passed on the project.{{cite web |url=https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/robocop/22446/hugh-laurie-won%E2%80%99t-be-in-the-robocop-reboot |title=Hugh Laurie won't be in the RoboCop reboot |access-date=28 August 2012 |archive-date=28 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120828213305/http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/robocop/22446/hugh-laurie-won%E2%80%99t-be-in-the-robocop-reboot |url-status=dead }} In 2012, Laurie starred in an independent feature called The Oranges that had a limited release. The Star-Ledger of Newark, New Jersey thought that he was "particularly good".{{cite web |last=Whitty |first=Stephen |title='The Oranges' review: Lust and found in New Jersey |url=http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2012/10/the_oranges_review_lost_and_lu.html |work=The Star-Ledger |access-date=9 January 2013 |date=5 October 2012}} After the end of House Laurie took a three-year hiatus from film and TV work.

File:Mr Pip 04 (8064130736).jpg

Laurie was in negotiations to be cast in the role of Blackbeard for the 2014 series Crossbones. However, the role went to John Malkovich.{{cite web |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/house-hugh-laurie-blackbeard-crossbones-nbc-393387/ |title='House's' Hugh Laurie Near Deal to Star in NBC Pirate Drama 'Crossbones' |website=The Hollywood Reporter |date=20 November 2012 }} In 2015 he returned to TV work with a recurring role on Veep as Tom James, a role written specifically for him after showrunner Armando Iannucci heard he was a fan of the show.{{cite web |last1=Phelan |first1=Paige |title='Veep' Creator Talks Selina's Political Competition and Hugh Laurie's "Big Hitter" |website=The Hollywood Reporter |date=12 April 2015 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/veep-season-4-spoilers-laurie-787787}} Laurie continued to recur on the show until the final season in 2019. The same year he played the villain David Nix in Brad Bird's 2015 film Tomorrowland.{{cite web |url=http://io9.com/5988178/leaked-plot-to-brad-birds-tomorrowland-sounds-like-disneys-brave-new-world |title=Leaked plot to Brad Bird's Tomorrowland sounds like Disney's Brave New World |first=Meredith |last=Woerner |date=3 March 2013 |publisher=io9.com |access-date=3 March 2013 |archive-date=9 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150309052337/http://io9.com/5988178/leaked-plot-to-brad-birds-tomorrowland-sounds-like-disneys-brave-new-world |url-status=dead }}{{cite news |date=22 May 2015 |title=Hugh Laurie challenges Hollywood's 'scary' view of future |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-32842312 |access-date=14 April 2022}}

Laurie played arms dealer Richard Onslow Roper in the BBC 1 miniseries The Night Manager. The series started filming in spring 2015 and aired first on the BBC.{{cite web |title=Hugh Laurie and Tom Hiddleston to Star in The Night Manager |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2015/night-manager-casting |publisher=BBC |access-date=4 March 2015 |date=12 January 2015}} He was nominated for two Emmys for his work on the miniseries and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film. In addition to being an Executive Producer on the show alongside Tom Hiddleston, it was also Laurie's first role on British TV in thirteen years.

Laurie starred as Dr Eldon Chance, a San Francisco-based forensic neuropsychiatrist in the Hulu thriller series Chance which lasted for two seasons from 2016 to 2017.{{cite magazine |title='Chance' Drama Series Starring Hugh Laurie Lands 2-Season Order At Hulu |url=https://deadline.com/2016/01/chance-seriesg-hugh-laurie-star-hulu-1201676912/ |magazine=Deadline |access-date=27 October 2016 |date=6 January 2016}}{{cite web |last=Goodman |first=Tim |date=29 November 2017 |title=Critic's Notebook: No 'Chance' — How a Hulu Series Starring Hugh Laurie Disappeared Before Your Eyes |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/critics-notebook-no-chance-how-a-hulu-series-starring-hugh-laurie-disappeared-before-your-eyes-1062764/ |access-date=14 April 2022 |website=The Hollywood Reporter }} In 2018 Laurie had a small role in the critically panned film Holmes & Watson.

In 2019 Laurie appeared in Veep creator Armando Iannucci's film The Personal History of David Copperfield, an adaptation of the novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. That same year it was announced he would also work with Iannucci on the upcoming space comedy Avenue 5 for HBO.{{cite web |last1=Otterson |first1=Joe |title=Armando Iannucci Space Comedy 'Avenue 5' Ordered to Series at HBO |url=https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/armando-iannucci-avenue-5-hbo-1203194502/ |access-date=28 April 2019 |date=22 April 2019 }} Season 2 of Avenue 5 was released on 10 October 2022, with Laurie reprising his role as Captain Ryan.{{cite web |title=Hugh Laurie and Armando Iannucci on the Down-to-Earth Chaos in Season 2 of Outer-Space Comedy Avenue 5 |url=https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/hugh-laurie-and-armando-iannucci-on-season-2-of-avenue-5/ |access-date=23 October 2022 }}

It was reported in February 2023 that Laurie would be the feature guest star for the third season of Tehran.{{cite news |last=Meiri |first=Gilad |date=8 February 2023 |title=House star Hugh Laurie joins cast of Israeli hit show Tehran |work=ynet.news.com |url=https://www.ynetnews.com/culture/article/rjn1ciwps |access-date=9 February 2023}}{{cite news |last=Steinberg |first=Jessica |date=9 February 2023 |title=Hugh Laurie joins 'Tehran' cast for season 3 of Israeli TV series |work=The Times of Israel |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/hugh-laurie-joins-tehran-cast-for-season-3-of-israeli-tv-series/ |access-date=10 February 2023}}

File:Hugh Laurie Gig in Belo Horizonte - Brazil (13368646525).jpg, Brazil in 2014]]

Laurie is an accomplished pianist who began taking piano lessons at the age of six. He sings and plays the piano, guitar, drums, harmonica, and saxophone. He has displayed his musical talents throughout his acting career, such as on A Bit of Fry & Laurie, Jeeves and Wooster, House and when he hosted Saturday Night Live in October 2006. He is a vocalist and keyboard player for the Los Angeles charity rock group Band From TV.

Following Meat Loaf's appearance in the House episode "Simple Explanation", Laurie played piano as a special guest on the song "If I Can't Have You" from Meat Loaf's 2010 album Hang Cool Teddy Bear. Laurie co-wrote and performed the humorous blues song, "Sperm Test in the Morning", in the film Maybe Baby.{{cite web |url=http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/person/hugh-laurie/ |title=Hugh Laurie Filmography |publisher=Yahoo! Movies |access-date=11 May 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130820152834/http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/person/hugh-laurie/ |archive-date=20 August 2013}}

On House Laurie played several classic rock 'n roll instruments including Gibson Flying V and Les Paul guitars. His character has a Hammond B-3 organ in his home and on one episode performed the introduction to Procol Harum's classic "Whiter Shade of Pale".{{cite web |url=http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/newreleases/release.aspx?releaseID=427 |title=Hang Cool Teddy Bear by Meat Loaf |publisher=Roadrunner Records |access-date=13 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100729145218/http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/newreleases/release.aspx?releaseID=427 |archive-date=29 July 2010 }}

On 26 July 2010 it was announced that Laurie would be releasing a blues album after signing a contract with Warner Bros. Records.{{cite magazine |url=http://music-mix.ew.com/2010/07/26/hugh-laurie-blues/ |title='House' star Hugh Laurie to record blues album |author=Simon Vozick-Levinson |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |date=26 July 2010 |access-date=13 August 2010}} The album, called Let Them Talk, was released in France on 18 April 2011 and in Germany on 29 April. The album features collaborations from well-known artists such as Tom Jones, Irma Thomas and Dr. John.

On 1 May 2011 Laurie and a jazz quintet closed the 2011 Cheltenham Jazz Festival to great acclaim.[https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/may/03/hugh-laurie-at-cheltenham-jazz-festival Hugh Laurie at Cheltenham Jazz Festival – Review], The Guardian, 3 May 2011 He followed that up as the subject of the 15 May 2011 episode of ITV's series Perspectives, explaining his love for the music of New Orleans and playing music, from his album Let Them Talk, at studios and live venues in the city itself."Down by the River" in Perspectives, broadcast on UK's ITV 15 May 2011. He was the subject of PBS Great Performances Let them Talk, also about New Orleans jazz, first broadcast on 30 September 2011.[https://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/episodes/hugh-laurie-let-them-talk/about-the-concert/1172/ Hugh Laurie: Let Them Talk], PBS Great Performances

His second album, Didn't It Rain, was released in the UK on 6 May 2013.{{cite web |title=Didn't it Rain release date |url=http://hughlaurieblues.com/|publisher=Hugh Laurie |access-date=26 March 2013}} In the same year he played at the {{RMS|Queen Mary}} together with his band. This concert was filmed and later released as Live on the Queen Mary on DVD and Blu-ray.

In 1996 Laurie's first novel, The Gun Seller, an intricate thriller laced with Wodehouseian humour, was published and became a best-seller. He has since been working on the screenplay for a film version. His second novel, The Paper Soldier, was scheduled for September 2009 but has yet to appear.

Laurie married theatre administrator Jo Green on 16 June 1989 in the Camden area of London.{{cite web |url=http://www.notablebiographies.com/newsmakers2/2007-Co-Lh/Laurie-Hugh.html |work=notablebiographies.com |title=Hugh Laurie Biography}} They have three children, Charlie, Bill, and Rebecca.{{cite web |url=http://www.standard.co.uk/news/a-brighter-life-for-hugh-laurie-6302187.html |title=A brighter life for Hugh Laurie |date=13 June 2002 |website=Evening Standard |access-date=27 October 2020}} Laurie's elder son Charlie played a small role as baby William in A Bit of Fry & Laurie, during a sketch titled "Special Squad". His daughter Rebecca had a role in the film Wit as five-year-old Vivian Bearing. Stephen Fry, Laurie's best friend and long-time comedy partner, was the best man at his wedding and is the godfather of his children.{{cite news |last=Smith |first=David |title=Doctor Hugh |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2005/apr/24/comment.broadcasting |access-date=14 November 2011 |newspaper=The Observer |date=23 April 2005 |location=London}}

While appearing on Inside the Actors Studio in 2006 he discussed his struggles with severe clinical depression. He told host James Lipton that he first concluded he had a problem while driving in a charity demolition derby, during which he realised that seeing two cars collide and explode made him feel bored rather than excited or frightened; he quipped that "boredom is not an appropriate response to exploding cars". As of 2006 he was having regular sessions with a psychotherapist.

Laurie admires the writings of P. G. Wodehouse, explaining in a 27 May 1999 article in The Daily Telegraph how reading Wodehouse novels had saved his life.{{cite web |access-date=13 May 2008 |url=http://www.pgwodehousebooks.com/lauriesaved.htm |title=Hugh Laurie Wodehouse Saved my Life |publisher=P. G. Wodehouse}} In an interview also in The Daily Telegraph, he confirmed that he is an atheist.{{cite web |last=Clune |first=Richard |url=http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/insider/man-about-the-house/story-e6frewt9-1111114738268 |title=Man about the House |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=Australia |date=28 October 2007 |access-date=30 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120820081425/https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/insider/man-about-the-house/story-e6frewt9-1111114738268#top |archive-date=20 August 2012}} He is an avid motorcycle enthusiast and has two motorbikes, one at his London home and one at his Los Angeles home. His bike in the U.S. is a Triumph Bonneville, his self-proclaimed "feeble attempt to fly the British flag".The Late Late Show, 5 May 2008.

In June 2013 Laurie was the guest on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, where he chose tracks from Joe Cocker, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Randy Newman, Professor Longhair, Son House, Nina Simone, Lester Young–Buddy Rich Trio, and Van Morrison as his eight favourite discs.{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b02y0wn6 |title=Hugh Laurie |publisher=BBC |date=23 June 2013 |access-date=28 June 2013}} This was his second appearance on the show, having previously been on a 1996 episode, where he chose tracks by Muddy Waters, Max Bruch, the Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra with Count Basie, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Van Morrison and Dr. John.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0093nkb |title=Desert Island Discs, Hugh Laurie |publisher=BBC Radio 4 |date=19 January 1997 |access-date=28 April 2016}}

Laurie is a supporter of Arsenal FC.{{cite news |title=Hugh Laurie: happy now?|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8880979/Hugh-Laurie-happy-now.html |work=The Telegraph |date=13 November 2011 |access-date=20 December 2022}}

Laurie has won three Golden Globe Awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and has been nominated for 10 Primetime Emmy Awards.{{cite news |title=Hugh Laurie |url=https://www.goldenglobes.com/person/hugh-laurie |access-date=4 September 2022 |work=Golden Globes}}{{cite news |title=Emmy Awards |url=https://www.emmys.com/bios/hugh-laurie |access-date=4 September 2022 |work=Emmys}}

On 23 May 2007 Laurie was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to drama in the 2007 New Year Honours.{{London Gazette |issue=58196 |date=30 December 2006 |page=11 |supp=1}}{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6217693.stm |title=Rod and Zara top New Year Honours |publisher=BBC |date=29 December 2006 |access-date=13 May 2008}}{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6685349.stm |title=Queen hands OBE to actor Laurie |publisher=BBC |date=23 May 2007 |access-date=13 May 2008}}{{cite news |access-date=13 May 2008 |url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2007-05-23-hugh-laurie_N.htm |title=Hugh Laurie honoured by Queen Elizabeth II |work=USA Today |date=23 May 2007}} He was promoted to Commander of the same Order (CBE) for his services to drama in the 2018 New Year Honours.{{London Gazette|issue=62150|date=29 December 2017|page=N9|supp=y}}

In March 2012 Laurie was made an Honorary Fellow of his alma mater Selwyn College, Cambridge.{{cite news |title=Selwyn honours alumnus Hugh Laurie |url=http://www.varsity.co.uk/news/4551 |publisher=Varsity |date=3 March 2012}}{{cite news |title=Announcement |url=http://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/alumni/Selwyn%20Honorary%20Fellows%20Announcement.pdf |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20120712162327/http://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/alumni/Selwyn%20Honorary%20Fellows%20Announcement.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 July 2012 |publisher=Selwyn College, Cambridge |year=2012 }}

In October 2016 he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/oct/26/repulsively-handsome-hugh-laurie-gets-star-on-hollywood-walk-of-fame |title='Repulsively handsome' Hugh Laurie gets star on Hollywood Walk of Fame |website=theguardian.com |date=25 October 2016 |access-date=27 October 2016}}

{{main|List of awards and nominations received by Hugh Laurie}}

;Commonwealth honours

; University degrees

; Chancellor, visitor, governor, rector and fellowships

{{reflist}}

{{wikiquote}}

• {{commons category-inline}}
• {{IMDb name|491402}}
• {{Screenonline name|id=499497|name=Hugh Laurie}}
• [https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/hugh-laurie Hugh Laurie | Culture] The Guardian
• [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/5421264/Hugh-Laurie-interview.html Hugh Laurie interview] The Daily Telegraph
• {{Official website|https://hughlaurieblues.com}}

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{{BIFA Award for Best Supporting Actor}}

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{{TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Drama}}

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