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Hugh Laurie is a Actor and Director British born on 11 june 1959 at Oxford (United-kingdom)

Hugh Laurie

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Birth name James Hugh Calum Laurie
Nationality United-kingdom
Birth 11 june 1959 (64 years) at Oxford (United-kingdom)
Awards Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire

James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE (born 11 June 1959), known professionally as Hugh Laurie (/ˌhjuː ˈlɒri/), is an English actor, writer, director, musician, singer, comedian, and author. He first became known as one-half of the Fry and Laurie double act with his friend and comedy partner Stephen Fry, whom he joined in the cast of A Bit of Fry & Laurie, Blackadder, and Jeeves and Wooster in the 1980s and 1990s.

From 2004 to 2012, he played Dr. Gregory House, the protagonist of House, for which he received two Golden Globe awards, two Screen Actors Guild awards, and six Emmy nominations. 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, earning £250,000 ($409,000) per episode in House.

Biography

Laurie's mother, Patricia (née Laidlaw), died from motor neurone disease in Oxfordshire at the age of 73 in 1989, when Laurie was 30. According to Laurie, it took her two years to die, and she suffered "painful, plodding paralysis" while being cared for by Laurie's father, whom he called "the sweetest man in the whole world".

Laurie married theatre administrator Jo Green in June 1989 in Camden, London. They live in Belsize Park, north London with sons Charlie (b. 1988) and Bill (b. 1990) and daughter Rebecca (b. 1992). They had planned to move the whole family to Los Angeles in 2008 due to the strain of being mostly separated for nine months each year, but ultimately decided against it.
Charlie had a cameo in A Bit of Fry & Laurie in the last sketch of the episode entitled "Special Squad", as baby William. Stephen and Hugh begin to "interrogate" him about "what he's done with the stuff", calling him a scumbag and telling him that he's been a very naughty boy. Rebecca had a role in the film Wit as five-year-old Vivian Bearing. Laurie's best friend is long-time comedy partner Stephen Fry, who was best man at his wedding and is godfather to his children.

On 23 May 2007, Laurie received his award as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), to which he was appointed in the 2007 New Year Honours for his services to drama. While appearing on Inside the Actors Studio in 2006, Laurie discussed his struggle with severe clinical depression. He continues to receive regular treatment from a psychotherapist. He told host James Lipton that he first concluded he had a problem whilst driving in a charity demolition derby, during which he realised that seeing two cars collide and explode in front of him caused him to be neither excited nor frightened, but bored. "Boredom," he commented, "is not an appropriate response to exploding cars."

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. In a further interview in The Daily Telegraph Laurie confirmed his atheism. He is also an avid motorbike enthusiast. He has two motorbikes, one at his London home and one at his Los Angeles home. His bike in the United States is a Triumph Bonneville, his "feeble attempt to fly the British flag".

In March 2012 Laurie was made an honorary fellow of his alma mater Selwyn College. In June 2013 he was the guest on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs when he chose Joe Cocker ("The Letter"), Sister Rosetta Tharpe ("My Journey to the Sky"), Randy Newman ("Louisiana 1927"), Professor Longhair ("Go to the Mardi Gras"), Son House ("Grinnin' in Your Face"), Nina Simone ("I Wish I Knew How It Would Be to Be Free"), Lester Young–Buddy Rich Trio ("I Cover the Waterfront") and Van Morrison ("Brown Eyed Girl") as his eight favourite discs. This was his second appearance on the show, having previously been a 'castaway' in 1996.