Understanding Hugh Laurie
About Hugh
Full name: James Hugh Calum Laurie
Birth date: June 11, 1959
Birthplace: Oxford, Oxforshire, England
Height: 6' 3
Eyes: Deep Ocean Blue
Married to: Jo - June 16, 1989
Children: Charlie, Bill, and Rebbecca
Father: Dr. George Ranald Mundell Laurie
Mother: Patricia
Schools: The Dragon School, Oxford; Eton College
School Highlights: House captain at Eton; rowed for the school and for the England youth team in 1977 (4th at Junior Worlds)
Rowing: Earned Blue in 1980 University Boat Race (loss to Oxford), finished 2nd in coxed pairs at Henley, 1980
Footlights: Participated in revues, 1979, 1980, 1981; President, 1981. Co-wrote Perrier Award-winning revue "The Cellar Tapes," 1981
TV Highlights:Alfresco; Saturday Live; Blackadder 2,3,4; Jeeves and Wooster; House M.D.
Film Highlights:Peter's Friends; 101 Dalmatians; Stuart Little; Maybe Baby; Flight of the Phoenix
Honors: Made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire by HM Queen Elizabeth II, May 2007
Biography
James Hugh Calum Laurie was born June 11, 1959 in Oxford, England, the youngest of four children to William George Ranald Mundell Laurie and Patricia Laurie. He attended the 'Dragon School', a well-known prep school in Oxford, and went on to Eton College, perhaps England's best-known public school.
He could have easily taken another career track rather than that of well-known performer. As a secondary and college student, he was also a world-class oarsman. Hugh's father had been an outstanding oarsman at Cambridge, Henley Royal Regatta, and in the Olympic games, where he won a gold medal in 1948. At Eton, Hugh also became an oarsman, following his father’s footsteps. He rowed for the school, becoming junior national champion in coxed pairs [with J.S. Palmer] and finished fourth in the Junior World Championships in 1977.
Hugh went up to Cambridge University in 1978 to read archeology and anthropology, and to continue rowing. He rowed for his college and also for the University in one of its premier sporting events, the annual Boat Race against Oxford University.
This race, going back to the mid-1800s, is a strenuous contest between two crews of eight rowed on the tidal Thames each spring. To be a rowing Blue, as those who participate in the race are called, is to have earned one of the most highly prized sporting honors Oxbridge has to offer. In his first year at Cambridge, Hugh was rowing in the "A" trials crew for Boat Race selection, and was tipped to be picked for the six-seat, the "strong man" position. Unfortunately, he fell ill with glandular fever and had to quit rowing in early January 1979. He did make the crew for the 1980 Boat Race, as did his former Etonian crewmate J.S. Palmer. The race they rowed in was one of the most exciting in years, with Cambridge almost coming from behind (an unheard-of occurrence for any crew in this race) and eventually losing to Oxford by less than ten feet, the closest finish of the century. Hugh has mentioned once or twice in interviews that it still mortifies.
Hugh also joined the Footlights Club at Cambridge, and started performing in their comedy revues and pantomimes. Footlights is a comedy club that has launched the show-business careers of such famous alumni as Alan Bennett, Peter Cook, John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, John Lloyd, Griff Rhy Jones, and the list goes on. Also joining Footlights that year was Emma Thompson, with whom he had a brief romance. Hugh was president and Emma vice-president of the club in 1980-1981, a year, which saw one of the club's most successful revues, The Cellar Tapes, the first Perrier "Pick of the Fringe" Award for comedy at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The revue co-starred and was co-written by new recruit Stephen Fry, whose 1980 Fringe ‘Play Latin!’ Had so impressed Hugh that he asked Emma to introduce them with a hope of getting Stephen to write with him for the coming year's revues. They then became good friends, and their writing partnership was to last more than ten years.
Winning the Perrier Award led to a West End transfer for the revue, and to a TV offer for Hugh, Emma and Stephen in two sketch series for Granada. Hugh and Stephen Fry went on to form a comedy double-act that became a fixture of British television through the mid-1990s in series such as Blackadder, A Bit of Fry & Laurie, and most notably, Jeeves and Wooster.
Subsequently, Hugh branched out into films, in such diverse roles as Cruella DeVil's henchman in 101 Dalmatians, Baron Hector Hulot in the adaptation of Balzac's Cousin Bette, Mr. Little in Stuart Little and its sequel, a BBC staffer in Maybe Baby, and an oil company exec in Flight of the Phoenix.
Hugh has also starred in a West End play (Ben Elton's satire Gasping), done TV commercials as both actor and director, been one of the leading commercial voice artists in Britain, and recorded a number of audio books.
Hugh then went on to write a novel, which was published 1996. The Gun Seller, an affectionate homage to the espionage novels of LeCarre and others, made the best-seller list in Britain and was well received on both sides of the Atlantic.
In 2004, Hugh took on the career-changing role of Dr. Gregory House in a medical drama series for Fox-TV. The series House introduced Hugh to a new audience of appreciative fans. He was widely credited for much of the show's first-season success. He won an award for Best Actor - Drama from the Television Critics' Association, and was nominated for an Emmy in 2005. In January 2006, he took home the Golden Globe from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for his role in House.
Hugh was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the January 2007 New Year's Honours. He attended an investiture by HM Queen Elizabeth II in May 2007.
Hugh married Jo Green in June 1989. They have two sons and one daughter. Hugh now divides his time between the family home in London, and Los Angeles, where House is filmed. He visits home during the holidays, and any other time he can put in.
Hugh is also a musician, invariably performing as a keyboardist with the rock band 'Poor Whit Trash and Little Big horns.' He now plays keyboards and occasionally sings main vocals with 'Band From T.V.' a band featuring other television stars that preform to raise money for various charities.