Hugh Laurie

The man best known in his homeland for portraying bumbling, English upper-class twits has become a sex symbol in the US for his role as a brooding, brilliant, blue-eyed American doctor in the hit series House.

Hugh Laurie was born in Oxford, in 1959, the youngest of four children. His father was a GP and Hugh was expected to follow him into the profession. He felt guilty that this didn't come about. The irony that he has achieved worldwide fame through being a doctor, albeit on TV, has not escaped him. In 1996, Hugh Laurie first admitted he was clinically depressed. He diagnosed this himself when, during a charity stock car race, with cars flying and exploding around him, he felt bored.Psychotherapy eventually confirmed his condition. His insecurities stemmed, it would seem, from a mother who continually criticised him, having set goals for him that he could never attain.