Long before his mainstream success as the brilliant but rude and arrogant Dr. Gregory on medical drama series "House M.D.", Hugh Laurie joined Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club. There he met then girlfriend, actress Emma Thompson, who introduced him to performer and playwright, Stephen Fry. The threesome wrote the sketch "The Cellar Tapes" (1981) and entered it in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It won the Perrier Comedy Award and was subsequently adapted for made-for-TV film, dubbed "Cambridge Footlights Review" (1982).

Throughout the early 1980s, Laurie and Fry wrote and starred in a string of comedy shows, one that became quite famous was "A Bit of Fry and Laurie" (1989 -1995). Following its success, Laurie appeared and was subsequently recruited as regular on "Blackadder". Thanks to his portrayal of the simpering idiot George, the Prince Regent, in the series that he became famous. In 1990 to 1993, he alongside Fry appeared in "Jeeves and Wooster".

In mid 1990s to mid 2000s, Laurie branched out into films, starring in "Sense and Sensibility" (1995), "101 Dalmatians" (1996), "Spice World" (1997), "The Man in the Iron Mask" (1998), "Stuart Little" (1999), "Stuart Little 2" (2002), and "Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild" (2006). Among his many projects, it was "House" that successfully catapulted him to stardom, earning him two Golden Globe awards, two Screen Actors Guild awards, and six Emmy nominations.

Born on June 11, 1959 in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, Laurie was born James Hugh Calum Laurie. He married wife Joanne Green, who is a theatre administrator, on June 16, 1989. The couple has three children together; sons Charlie and Bill and daughter Rebecca.