Hugh Laurie

James Hugh Calum Laurie is an English actor, comedian, writer, and musician.

Laurie was born in Oxford, England. Laurie was raised in the Presbyterian church. He was brought up in Oxford and attended the Dragon School, a prestigious preparatory school. He later went on to Eton and then to Selwyn College, Cambridge, where he achieved a Third-Class Honours degree in archaeology & anthropology. Forced to abandon rowing during a bout of infectious mononucleosis, he joined the Cambridge Footlights, which has been the starting point for many successful British comedians.

Laurie married Jo Green, a theatre administrator, in June 1989. They live in north London with their daughter, Rebecca, and two sons, Bill and Charlie. Laurie is close friends with actress Emma Thompson and his House co-star Robert Sean Leonard.

Laurie stated on BBC Radio 2 in an interview with Steve Wright in January 2006 that he is currently living in an apartment in West Hollywood while he is in the United States working on House. Laurie can play the piano, guitar, drums, harmonica and saxophone. He has displayed his musical talents in episodes of several series, most notably A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Jeeves and Wooster, House and when he hosted Saturday Night Live on 28 October 2006. He is a vocalist and keyboard player for the Los Angeles charity rock group "Band From TV".

Laurie has periodically struggled with severe clinical depression, and continues to receive regular treatment from a psychotherapist. Laurie admires the writings of P.G. Wodehouse: he explained in a 27 May 1999 article in The Daily Telegraph how reading Wodehouse novels had saved his life.