Comedy and acting Forced to abandon rowing during a bout of
glandular fever, Laurie joined the
Cambridge Footlights, a university dramatic club that has produced many well-known actors and comedians, including members of the popular British surreal comedy group,
Monty Python. There he met
Emma Thompson, with whom he had a romantic relationship; the two remain good friends. In 1980–81, his final year at university, besides rowing, Laurie was president of the Footlights, with Thompson as vice-president. They took their annual revue,
The Cellar Tapes, to the
Edinburgh Fringe Festival and won the first
Perrier Comedy Award, which was presented to them by
Rowan Atkinson. The revue was written principally by Laurie and Fry, and the cast also included Thompson,
Tony Slattery,
Paul Shearer, and
Penny Dwyer. The Perrier Award led to a West End transfer for
The Cellar Tapes and a television version of the revue, broadcast in May 1982. It resulted in Laurie, Fry, and Thompson being selected, along with Ben Elton,
Robbie Coltrane, and
Siobhan Redmond, to write and appear in a new sketch comedy show for
Granada Television,
Alfresco, which ran for two series.
Fry and Laurie worked together on various projects throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Among them was the sitcom
Blackadder, written by Ben Elton and
Richard Curtis and starring Rowan Atkinson. Laurie first appeared in the last two episodes of the second series,
Blackadder II, debuting as Blackadder's drunken friend Simon Partridge in the episode "Beer", and then as the villainous Prince Ludwig the Indestructible in the episode "Chains". Laurie joined the main cast for the third series,
Blackadder the Third, where he played
Prince George, followed by the fourth and final series,
Blackadder Goes Forth, where he portrayed Lieutenant George. Laurie starred in the
Thames Television film
Letters from a Bomber Pilot (1985), directed by David Hodgson. This was a serious acting role, the film being dramatised from the letters home of
Pilot Officer J.R.A. "Bob" Hodgson, a pilot in
RAF Bomber Command, who was killed in action in 1943. Laurie appeared in the music videos for the 1986 single "
Experiment IV" by
Kate Bush, and the 1992
Annie Lennox single "
Walking on Broken Glass" in
British Regency period costume alongside
John Malkovich. Laurie appeared in the
Spice Girls' film
Spice World (1997) and had a brief guest-starring role on
Friends in "
The One with Ross's Wedding" (1998). Laurie's later film appearances include
Sense and Sensibility (1995), adapted by and starring
Emma Thompson; the
Disney live-action film
101 Dalmatians (1996), where he played Jasper, one of the bumbling criminals hired to kidnap the puppies; Elton's adaptation of his novel
Inconceivable,
Maybe Baby (2000);
Girl from Rio; the
2004 adaptation of
The Flight of the Phoenix, and
Stuart Little. Since 2002, Laurie has appeared in a range of British television dramas, guest-starring that year in two episodes of the first series of the spy thriller series
Spooks on BBC One. In 2003, he starred in and also directed ITV's comedy-drama series
fortysomething (in one episode of which Stephen Fry appears). In 2001, he voiced the character of a bar patron in the
Family Guy episode "
One If by Clam, Two If by Sea". Laurie voiced the character of Mr. Wolf in the cartoon
Preston Pig. He was a panellist on the first episode of
QI, alongside Fry as host. In 2004, Laurie guest-starred on
The Lenny Henry Show.
Jacob Vargas operated the camera for the audition tape. Laurie's American accent was so convincing that executive producer
Bryan Singer, who was unaware at the time that Laurie was British, pointed to him as an example of just the kind of "compelling American actor" he had been looking for. as well as during script read-throughs, although he used his native accent when directing the episode "
Lockdown". Laurie was nominated for an
Emmy Award for his role in
House in 2005. Although he did not win, he did receive a
Golden Globe in both 2006 and 2007 for his work on the series and the
Screen Actors Guild award in 2007 and 2009. Laurie was also awarded a large increase in salary, from what was rumoured to be a mid-range five-figure sum to $350,000 per episode. Laurie was not nominated for the 2006 Emmys, apparently to the outrage of Fox executives, but he still appeared in a scripted, pre-taped intro, where he parodied his
House character by rapidly diagnosing host
Conan O'Brien and then proceeding to grope him as the latter asked him for help to get to the Emmys on time. He would later go on to speak in French while presenting an Emmy with
Dame Helen Mirren, and was nominated in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011. Laurie was initially cast as
Perry White, the editor of the
Daily Planet, in Singer's film
Superman Returns, but had to bow out of the project because of his commitment to
House. In 2006, Laurie appeared on
Inside the Actors Studio, where he also performed one of his own comic songs, "Mystery", accompanying himself on the piano. In 2007, Laurie appeared on
BBC Four's documentary
Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out, filmed in celebration of Fry's 50th birthday. In 2008, he took part in
Blackadder Rides Again, which saw him reuniting with former Blackadder producer,
John Lloyd, who had travelled to the set of House MD in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, to interview Laurie, who recalled his time working on the Blackadder series. Laurie also appeared as Captain James Biggs in
Street Kings, opposite
Keanu Reeves and
Forest Whitaker, and then in 2009 as the eccentric Dr. Herbert Cockroach, PhD in
DreamWorks'
Monsters vs. Aliens. He also hosted
Saturday Night Live for the second time on the Christmas show, in which he sang a medley of three-second Christmas songs to close his monologue. In 2009, Laurie returned to guest star in another
Family Guy episode, "
Business Guy", parodying
Gregory House. In 2010, Laurie guest-starred in
The Simpsons episode "
Treehouse of Horror XXI" as Roger, a castaway who is planning a murder scheme on a ship during Homer and Marge's second honeymoon. Laurie was listed in the 2011
Guinness World Records as the most-watched leading man on television and was one of the highest-paid actors in a television drama at the time.
House ended in 2012 after an eight-series run. That same year, the media announced that Laurie was in negotiations to play the villain in
RoboCop, a remake of
the original RoboCop film. These negotiations ultimately fell through, and Laurie passed on the project. In 2012, Laurie starred in an independent feature called
The Oranges that had a limited release.
The Star-Ledger of Newark, New Jersey, thought that he was "particularly good". After the end of
House, Laurie took a three-year hiatus from film and TV work. Laurie was in negotiations to be cast in the role of
Blackbeard for the 2014 series
Crossbones. However, the role went to
John Malkovich. In 2015, he returned to TV work with a recurring role on
Veep as Tom James, a role written specifically for him after showrunner
Armando Iannucci heard he was a fan of the show. Laurie continued to recur on the show until the final series in 2019. For his work on
Veep, he received his 10th Emmy nomination in 2017. Laurie played the villain David Nix in
Brad Bird's 2015 film
Tomorrowland. Laurie played arms dealer Richard Onslow Roper in the
BBC One miniseries
The Night Manager. The series started filming in spring 2015 and aired first on the BBC. He was nominated for two Emmys for his work on the miniseries and won the
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film. In addition to being an executive producer on the show alongside Tom Hiddleston, it was also Laurie's first role on British TV in thirteen years. Laurie starred as Dr Eldon Chance, a San Francisco-based forensic neuropsychiatrist in the
Hulu thriller series
Chance, which lasted for two series from 2016 to 2017. In 2018, Laurie had a small role in the critically panned film
Holmes & Watson. In 2019, Laurie appeared in
Veep creator Armando Iannucci's film
The Personal History of David Copperfield, an adaptation of the novel
David Copperfield by
Charles Dickens. That same year, it was announced he would also work with Iannucci on the upcoming space comedy
Avenue 5 for HBO. series 2 of
Avenue 5 was released on 10 October 2022, with Laurie reprising his role as Captain Ryan. Laurie starred as Eric Peterson in the third series of
Tehran in 2024. Laurie is slated to headline a thriller drama called
The Wanted Man for
Apple TV+, portraying
crime lord Felix Carmichael. Laurie was announced as the voice of
Albus Dumbledore in
Harry Potter: The Full-Cast Audio Editions from
Audible and
Pottermore Publishing, with the first audiobook set to be released on 4 November 2025. In December 2025,
Deadline reported that Laurie has been tapped for the role of Neville, a British archaeology professor, in the new
Amy Poehler and
Mike Schur comedy TV series
Dig.
Music , Brazil, in 2014 Laurie is an accomplished pianist who began taking piano lessons at the age of six. On
House Laurie played several classic rock 'n roll instruments including
Gibson Flying V and
Les Paul guitars, as well as piano and
Hammond B-3 organ. On 26 July 2010 it was announced that Laurie would be releasing a
blues album after signing a contract with
Warner Bros. Records. The album, called
Let Them Talk, was released in France on 18 April 2011 and in Germany on 29 April. The album features collaborations from well-known artists such as
Tom Jones,
Irma Thomas and
Dr. John. On 1 May 2011 Laurie and a jazz quintet closed the 2011
Cheltenham Jazz Festival to great acclaim. He followed that up as the subject of the 15 May 2011 episode of
ITV's series
Perspectives, explaining his love for the
music of New Orleans and playing music, from his album
Let Them Talk, at studios and live venues in the city itself. He was the subject of
PBS Great Performances Let them Talk, also about New Orleans jazz, first broadcast on 30 September 2011. His second album, ''
Didn't It Rain, was released in the UK on 6 May 2013. In the same year he played at the together with his band. This concert was filmed and later released as Live on the Queen Mary'' on DVD and Blu-ray.
Writing In 1996 Laurie's first novel,
The Gun Seller, an intricate thriller laced with
Wodehouseian humour, was published and became a best-seller. ==Personal life==