| Full Name: |
James Hugh Calum Laurie |
| Birth Date: |
June 11, 1959 |
| Astrological Sign: |
Gemini |
| Birth Place: |
Oxford, England |
| Spouse(s): |
- Jo Green (1989 – present) 3 children
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| College: |
- Attended Eton College in Berkshire, England; Selwyn College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England (BS in Anthropology)
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| Awards: |
- 2007 Emmy: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series - Nominee
- 2006 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama - Winner
- 2007 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama - Winner
- 2005 Emmy: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series - Nominee
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| Fast Facts: |
- Represented Cambridge as an oarsman in the University Boat Race of 1980 against Oxford.
- Member of the Cambridge Footlights Revue theatre group with Emma Thompson and Stephen Fry; president in 1981.
- Dated Emma Thompson while at Cambridge and later appeared in Sense and Sensibility with her.
- British TV debut was Footlights special The Cellar Tapes, which won the Perrier "Pick of the Fringe" Award at the Edinburgh Festival of 1981.
- Starred in numerous British comedy series, often with college friend Stephen Fry: A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Blackadder, and Jeeves and Wooster.
- Has played keyboards in the group Poor White Trash and the Little Big Horns since the ’90s.
- First novel, The Gun Seller, was published in both the UK and the U.S. to critical acclaim and adapted into a screenplay for MGM.
- Appeared in Annie Lennox’s "Walking on Broken Glass" video, opposite John Malkovich.
- Named one of TV’s Sexiest Men by TV GUIDE in 2005.
- Named an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) in December 2006.
- Hugh Laurie attended the gala Red Tie Affair event on March 24, 2007, that recognizes the 90 years of service the Santa Monica chapter of the American Red Cross has provided to the community. In the festive spirit of the affair, Mr. Laurie wore red socks.
- In March 2007, Hugh Laurie autographed a 2005 CBR1000RR Repsol sports bike, a replica of the motorcycle he rides on House, to be auctioned online to raise money for the American Red Cross.
- On The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (November 6, 2006), Hugh Laurie admitted to Jay that he has a tendency to sleep while standing up and has actually fallen asleep while riding his motorcycle. He also revealed he rarely feels as though he is having fun due to his Presbyterian upbringing.
- When interviewed at the FOX party at the Ritz-Carlton following the 2006 TCA summer tour, Hugh told reporters he doesn’t want to know what is going to happen on House. He quipped jokingly that he didn’t even want to know what’s going to happen after lunch.
- When Ellen DeGeneres asked Hugh Laurie on her show (September 12, 2006) if he finds it easier to work with an American accent after two seasons on House, he told her it was the single most difficult thing he has to do everyday. He lamented that almost every other thing done in life, whether it’s making omelettes or having sex, a person gets better at it the more it’s done. But, for some reason, he finds putting on the accent is as hard today as it was on the first day.
- Hugh’s middle child, Bill, auditioned for a part in one of the Harry Potter films, but didn’t get the role.
- Mr. Laurie’s youngest child and only daughter, Rebecca (born in 1992), had a role in the film Wit (2001) as Vivian Bearing, age 5. The starring role of the adult Vivian was played by Emma Thompson, a close friend of Hugh’s since their years at Cambridge.
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| Important Links: |
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| Quotes: |
- (discussing being overlooked for an Emmy nomination in 2006 at the 2007 TCA Summer Press Tour) You know, this is the natural ebb and flow of human affairs. No one has any right to ever feel slighted because one is never entitled to anything. I think all of us would agree that actors who have a job and, secondly, actors who have a job with other actors whose company they enjoy, while doing scripts they absolutely adore, have nothing to complain about. It’s actually slightly unhealthy. Those blessings are so manifold. Our cup runneth over, so we have absolutely no business being crabby if we don’t get a particular cherry on top. We already have so many cherries on top of so many cherries that one more cherry is - I’ve exhausted the metaphor.
- (Los Angeles Times, June 7, 2007) I don’t talk like House, or walk like him. I certainly don’t think like him. I don’t like to think for more than 15 minutes at a stretch actually; I am a fragile flower.
- (discussing Dr. House with Los Angeles Times reporter Mary McNamara, June 6, 2007) As a real person, he wouldn’t last a minute, would he? But drama is about imperfection. And we’ve moved away from the aspirational hero. We got tired of it, it was dull. If I was House’s friend, I would hate it. How he so resolutely refuses to be happy or take the kind-hearted road. But we don’t always like morally good people, do we?
- (when asked by Ray Richmond, The Hollywood Reporter, May 22, 2007, where he keeps his Golden Globe award and does it make an effective bookend) Forgive me for being pedantic here, but I actually now have two — so your bookend idea works even better. Particularly since they weigh more than any earthly substance could in that volume. They are now installed in my son’s bedroom, which I have converted into a Hall of Fame. He sleeps in the garden.
- (from his acceptance speech at the 2007 Golden Globe Awards) I’d like to thank Robert Sean Leonard. I can’t remember why. He did give me a reason.
- People magazine’s Sexiest Man issue (November 2005) talking about having to mask his British accent in House: It’s as if you’re playing left-handed. Or like everyone else is playing with a tennis racket and you have a salmon. I moan about it a lot.
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