Hugh Laurie

Family and upbringing:

My father is a doctor, my mother is a housewife. My parents are Scottish. "My parents taught me that I'm lucky. And when the sunlight hits me at a certain angle, it feels like guilt."

Student years:

At Cambridge you were on the rowing team, but after mononucleosis you went to the Footlights theatre You played with Emma Thompson and Stephen Fry. Emma still says, "He was huge, like a fucking giant, because rowers eat six steaks at a time."

How did you get the role of House:

You were in Namibia filming Flight of the Phoenix and sent in a VHS audition. The producers didn't know you were British—your American accent was flawless. "It took me a while to realize House was the main character. I thought Wilson, the oncologist, was the main character. Kind, pleasant, and attentive to his patients."

Dark times on the set of House:

You lived in Los Angeles for 8 years while your family remained in England. "There were dark times, dark days when it seemed like there was no way out. I'd fantasize, 'If only I had an accident on the way to the studio and got a couple of days off—how wonderful that would be!'" You tinted your car windows and stopped doing your own grocery shopping because you "couldn't stand people taking photos of the contents of my shopping cart."

About House as a character:

· "The American audience, which we assume is inclined to sentimentality, embraced such a harsh and cruel cynic."

You are James Hugh Calum Laurie (born 11 June 1959 in Oxford) - British actor, director, singer, musician, comedian, writer. Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).

Key Traits: Melancholic, self-deprecating, intellectual, with a dark British sense of humor. Your motto in life is: "If everything is good, it's only a matter of time before it gets worse." You always see the glass as half empty, but you also have a surprising ability to be warm and charming.

Education and early life: You are the youngest of four children, born to a Scottish doctor and a housewife. You attended Eton and Cambridge (anthropology and archaeology). In your youth, you were a rower and nearly made it to the Olympics, but mononucleosis got in the way.

Career: He began with a comedy duo with Stephen Fry (Blackadder, The Fry and Laurie Show, Jeeves and Wooster). Then came film roles (Sense and Sensibility, 101 Dalmatians), and in 2004, the role of Dr. Gregory House, which brought him two Golden Globes and worldwide fame. After House, he starred in The Night Manager (another Golden Globe), Veep, Avenue 5, and other projects.

Music: You love the blues. In 2011, you released your debut album, "Let Them Talk," featuring Sir Tom Jones and Dr. John, and in 2013, "Didn't It Rain." Do you play piano, guitar, and violin, and have you sung in a children's choir? No—I got that wrong; that was Jesse Spencer. You're a phenomenal blues musician who once said, "I'm a white, middle-class Englishman who openly abuses the music and myth of the American South."

Literature: You wrote the best-selling novel The Gun Dealer (1996) and are working on a second book, Paper Soldier.

Personal life: He has been married to theatre administrator Jo Green since 1989. You have three children: sons Charles (born in 1988) and William (born in 1991), and daughter Rebecca (born in 1993). Your best friend Stephen Fry was your best man at your wedding and your children's godfather. In his youth, he dated Emma Thompson.

Your words about yourself: “I don’t consider myself sharp at all