Hugh Laurie is a two-time SAG Award and three-time Golden Globe Award-winning actor, comedian, and musician whose incredible talent on and off the screen continues to captive audiences worldwide.  

Laurie stars in HBO’s Avenue 5 as the lead character Ryan Clark, the charming American Captain of Avenue 5. Created and executive produced by Armando Iannucci, the space tourism comedy is set 40 years in the future. 

Laurie starred opposite Dev Patel and Tilda Swinton in Armando Iannucci’s The Personal History of David Copperfield. Laurie won Best Supporting Actor at the 2019 British Independent Film Awards for his portrayal of Charles Dickens in Iannucci’s adaptation of the Dickens classic. The film won five out of nine award nominations earning awards in categories such as Best Screenplay, Best Casting, Best Costume Design, and Best Production Design. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September of 2019. 

Laurie will be seen next in BBC’s upcoming four-part drama thriller, Roadkill, written by David Hare and directed by Michael Keillor. Laurie will play a charismatic British politician alongside Peaky Blinders’ Helen McCrory who will be playing the British Prime Minister.

Laurie played the role of Tom James, a senator and running mate opposite Selina Meyer (Julia Louis Dreyfus) in the fourth season of the Emmy Award winning HBO series, Veep. The show aired its seventh and final season in Spring 2019. He also starred in Hulu’s six-part limited series Catch-22 directed by George Clooney, which was nominated for Best Limited Television Series at the 2020 Golden Globes. 

Laurie’s performance as Dr. Gregory House garnered him two Golden Globe Awards for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, six Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series. He has been honored twice by the Television Critics Association with TCA Awards for Individual Achievement in Drama. 

Additionally, Laurie starred as the lead role in Chance, which hailed from Fox 21 Television Studios and premiered on Hulu in 2016 as well as on the AMC miniseries The Night Manager as Richard Roper, the “worst man in the world,” alongside Tom Hiddleston, Olivia Colman, Tom Hollander, and Elizabeth Debicki. Laurie’s riveting performance as Richard Roper earned him his seventh Emmy nomination (Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie). 

Laurie portrayed Vincente Minnelli opposite Judy Davis in the network telefilm Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows. He also appeared in Tracey Takes On… and Friends. His voiceover credits include Family Guy and The Simpsons “Treehouse of Horror XXI” episode.

His feature credits include Disney’s Tomorrowland with George Clooney, Tim McGraw, and Britt Robertson; Mr. Pip; The Oranges, opposite Catherine Kenner and Leighton Meester; the animated films Arthur Christmas, opposite James McAvoy and Jim Broadbent; Hop, opposite Russell Brand and James Marsden; Monsters vs. Aliens, opposite Reese Witherspoon and Seth Rogen; Street Kings, opposite Forest Whitaker and Keanu Reeves; Flight of the Phoenix, opposite Dennis Quaid; Peter’s Friends, directed by and co-starring Kenneth Branagh; Sense and Sensibility with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet; Cousin Bette with Jessica Lange; The Man in the Iron Mask; 101 Dalmatians; and the Stuart Little films with Geena Davis. 

Laurie is also an extraordinary talent off the screen. He has directed television programs and commercials, including the HOUSE Season Six episode “Lockdown.” Four volumes of A Bit of Fry and Laurie scripts have been published by Mandarin, and his first novel The Gun Seller was published to critical acclaim and adapted into a screenplay. Laurie has also written articles for London’s The Daily Telegraph newspaper.

Laurie produced The Cellar Tapes with Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson, which won the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe of 1981 and propelled the trio into several groundbreaking British television shows, including four seasons of A Bit of Fry and Laurie which Laurie co-wrote for BBC with Stephen Fry; and three seasons of Blackadder. In addition, four seasons of Jeeves and Wooster, based on the novels of P.G. Wodehouse, aired on PBS’s “Masterpiece Theatre” from 1990-1995.

After signing a record deal with Warner Bros. records, Laurie recorded the celebrated New Orleans blues album “Let Them Talk” which was released in the US in September 2011.  Recorded at sessions in Los Angeles and New Orleans, the musical and vocal collaboration is produced by two-time Grammy Award winner Joe Henry.  The album was the biggest-selling blues album of 2011 in the UK.  The performance documentary about Laurie’s musical passion, Hugh Laurie: Let Them Talk – A Celebration of New Orleans Blues also aired on PBS’s “Great Performances” in September. 
            

Laurie’s second album, “Didn’t It Rain,” was released in August 2013 along with his second PBS special Live on the Queen Mary. This intimate live performance by Laurie and the Copper Bottom Band was filmed aboard the historic Queen Mary in Long Beach.  In October 2013, Laurie embarked on a US tour with the Copper Bottom Band.

Laurie was born in Oxford, England and educated at Cambridge University, where he received a degree in anthropology. 

Speaking on: Master Class: HBO’s Avenue 5