Look up America in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

America usually refers to either:

• The Americas, a landmass comprising North America and South America
• The United States of America, a country in North America

America may also refer to:

Other locations[link]

• América, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
• America, Limburg, Netherlands
• América, Tamaulipas, Mexico
• America, Illinois, U.S.
• America, Oklahoma, U.S.

Astronomy[link]

• 916 America, a minor planet

Film and television[link]

• America (1924 film), a film by D. W. Griffith
• America (2009 film), an American made-for-television film
• America (2011 film), a 2011 Puerto Rican film
• America: Freedom to Fascism, a 2006 documentary
• América (TV series), a Brazilian telenovela
• America (US TV series), a syndicated afternoon talk show
• Amreeka, a 2009 film (Amreeka the Arabic pronunciation for America)
• America America, an American film by Elia Kazan
• America: A Personal History of the United States, a 13-part BBC television documentary series
• America: The Story of Us, a six-part, 12-hour television documentary depicting the history of the United States

Literature[link]

• America (novel), a young adult novel by E. R. Frank
• "America" (Judge Dredd story), a story by John Wagner
• "America" (poem), a poem by Allen Ginsberg
• America (The Book), a book written by the staff of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
• "America" (short story), by Orson Scott Card
• America, a Jake Grafton novel by Stephen Coonts
• "America", a poem by Walt Whitman from Leaves of Grass

Music[link]

• America (band), an English-American rock band
• America Records (France), a French jazz record label

Albums[link]

• America (America album)
• America (Havalina album)
• America (John Fahey album)
• America (Kurtis Blow album)
• America (Modern Talking album)
• America – The EP, an EP by Rebecca St. James
• America, an album by George Adams
• America: An Album for All Ages, an album by Bobby Susser
• América & En Vivo, an EP by Luis Miguel

Songs[link]

• "America" (Bree Sharp song)
• "America" (Killing Joke song)
• "America" (Neil Diamond song)
• "America" (Prince song)
• "America" (Razorlight song)
• "America" (Simon & Garfunkel song)
• "America" (West Side Story song)
• "America, Fuck Yeah", the satirical theme song of the 2004 film Team America: World Police
• "America", a song by Tracy Chapman from Where You Live
• "America", a song by Waylon Jennings from Turn the Page
• "America", a song by Nas from his untitled ninth studio album
• "America", a song by Santana featuring P.O.D. from Shaman
• "América", a song by José Luis Perales
• "America", a song by Bobby Susser from America: An Album for All Ages
• "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" or "America", a patriotic song of the United States

Other media[link]

• America (magazine), a weekly Roman Catholic magazine
• America (XM), an XM satellite radio channel
• América 2, an Argentine television station
• America One, an American over-the-air television network
• América Televisión, a Peruvian television network

People[link]

• America Ferrera, American actress
• America Hoffman, son of activist Abbie Hoffman
• America Olivo, American actress

Sports[link]

• América Football Club (disambiguation)
• América de Cali, a football club from Cali, Colombia
• América Managua, a football club from Managua, Nicaragua
• Club América, a football club from Mexico City
• Copa América (Spanish and Portuguese for "America Cup") football competition in South America

Vehicles[link]

• America (aircraft), a multi-engine airplane used by Richard E. Byrd and his crew on a 1927 transatlantic flight
• America (airship), an airship flown in 1907 and 1909 attempts to reach the North Pole, and a 1910 attempt to cross the Atlantic
• America (Spanish automobile), an automobile produced in Barcelona, Spain
• America (American automobile)
• America, the callsign of the Apollo 17 Command/Service Module

Ships[link]

• America (yacht), a racing yacht that won the America's Cup in 1851
• French ship America (1788), a Téméraire-class ship of the French Navy
  • America class ship of the line, derived from the French ship America
• SS America, several ships of the name
• HMS America, several ships of the Royal Navy
• USS America, several ships of the United States Navy
• America class steamship, Cunard sidewheel transatlantic steamships
  • RMS America, first of the America-class
• America class amphibious assault ship

Video games[link]

• America (video game), a 2001 Wild West-themed real-time strategy game

See also[link]

• Air America (disambiguation)
• American (disambiguation)
• Americana (disambiguation)
• Americas (terminology)
• Amerika (disambiguation)
• Amerigo Vespucci, for whom the Americas were named
• Amerrique Mountains
• All pages beginning with "America"

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Hugh Laurie OBE
Hugh Laurie during the House session of the 2009 Fox Winter TCA
Born	James Hugh Calum Laurie (1959-06-11) 11 June 1959 (age 53) Oxford, England, UK
Alma mater	Cambridge University Eton College
Occupation	Actor, comedian, musician, singer, writer, director
Years active	1981–present
Spouse	Jo Green (m. 1989) «start: (1989)»"Marriage: Jo Green to Hugh Laurie" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Hugh_Laurie)
Children	2 sons, 1 daughter
Website
hughlaurieblues.com

James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE (born 11 June 1959), known as Hugh Laurie (/ˈhjuː ˈlɒri/), is an English actor, voice artist, comedian, writer, musician, recording artist, and director. He first became known as one half of the Fry and Laurie double act, along with his friend and comedy partner Stephen Fry, whom he joined in the cast of Blackadder and Jeeves and Wooster from 1987 to 1999.

From 2004 to 2012, he played Dr Gregory House, the protagonist of House, for which he received two Golden Globe awards, two Screen Actors Guild awards, and six Emmy nominations. As of August 2010, Laurie is the highest paid actor in a drama series on US television.^[1] He has been listed in the 2011 Guinness Book of World Records as the highest paid actor ever in a TV Drama—earning US$ 700,000^[2] per episode in House—and for being the most watched leading man on television.^[3][4]

Early life and education[link]

Laurie was born in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England.^[5] The youngest of four children, Laurie has an older brother named Charles and two older sisters named Susan and Janet.^[6] He had a somewhat strained relationship with his mother, Patricia (née Laidlaw).^[5][7] His father, Ran Laurie, was a medical doctor who also won an Olympic gold medal in the coxless pairs (rowing) at the 1948 London Games.^[5][8]

Although Laurie was brought up in the Presbyterian church as a child,^[5][9] he has declared: "I don't believe in God, but I have this idea that if there were a God, or destiny of some kind looking down on us, that if he saw you taking anything for granted he'd take it away."^[10] He was brought up in Oxford and attended the Dragon School. He later went on to Eton and then to Selwyn College, Cambridge, where he studied for a degree in Archaeology and Social Anthropology. While at Cambridge he was a member of Footlights, the university dramatic club that has produced many well-known actors and comedians, and he was club president in 1981. He was also a member of the Hermes Club and the Hawks' Club.^[5]

Like his father, Laurie was an oarsman at school and university;^[5] in 1977, he was a member of the junior coxed pair that won the British national title before representing Britain's Youth Team at the 1977 Junior World Rowing Championships. In 1980, Laurie and his rowing partner, J. S. Palmer, were runners-up in the Silver Goblets^[11] coxless pairs for Eton Vikings rowing club. Later, he also achieved a Blue while taking part in the 1980 Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.^[12] Cambridge lost that year by 5 feet.^[13] During this time Laurie was training for up to 8 hours a day and was on course to become an Olympic standard rower.^[14] Laurie is a member of Leander Club, one of the oldest rowing clubs in the world.

Forced to abandon rowing during a bout of glandular fever (mononucleosis), he joined the Cambridge Footlights, which has been the starting point for many successful British comedians. There he met Emma Thompson, with whom he had a romantic relationship; the two remain good friends.^[5] She introduced him to his future comedy partner, Stephen Fry. Laurie, Fry and Thompson later parodied themselves as the University Challenge representatives of "Footlights College, Oxbridge" in "Bambi", an episode of The Young Ones, with the series' co-writer Ben Elton completing their team. In 1980–81, his final year at university, besides rowing, Laurie was also president of the Footlights, with Thompson as vice-president. They took their annual revue, The Cellar Tapes, to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and won the first Perrier Comedy Award. The revue was written principally by Laurie and Fry, and the cast also included Thompson, Tony Slattery, Paul Shearer and Penny Dwyer.

Acting career[link]

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 went on to work together on various projects throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Among them were the Blackadder series, written by Ben Elton and Richard Curtis, starring Rowan Atkinson, with Laurie in various roles, but most notably Prince George and Lieutenant George.^[5] Other projects followed, of which one was their BBC sketch comedy series A Bit of Fry & Laurie; another project was Jeeves and Wooster,^[5] an adaptation of P. G. Wodehouse’s stories, in which Laurie played Jeeves’s employer, the amiable twit Bertie Wooster. He and Fry worked together at various charity stage events, such as Hysteria! 1, 2 & 3 and Amnesty International’s The Secret Policeman’s Third Ball, Comic Relief TV shows and the variety show Fry and Laurie Host a Christmas Night with the Stars. They collaborated again on the film Peter's Friends and came together for a retrospective show in 2010 titled Fry and Laurie Reunited.

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.^[15]

Laurie appeared in the music videos for the 1986 single "Experiment IV" by Kate Bush, and the 1992 single "Walking on Broken Glass" by Annie Lennox, in full Georgian-period costume, a toned-down version of his Prince George character from Blackadder the Third, opposite John Malkovich, similarly reprising his role of the Vicomte Valmont from Dangerous Liaisons.^[16]

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 remake of The Flight of the Phoenix; and the three Stuart Little films.

In 1996, Laurie’s first novel, The Gun Seller, an intricate thriller laced with Wodehouseian humour, was published and became a best-seller.^[5] He has since been working on the screenplay for a movie version and on a second novel, The Paper Soldier. In 1998, Laurie had a brief guest-starring role on Friends in "The One with Ross's Wedding, Part Two".

Since 2002, Laurie has appeared in a range of British television dramas, guest-starring that year in two episodes of the first season 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 as a professor in charge of a space probe called Beagle, on The Lenny Henry Show.

Laurie's fame expanded to the American public in 2004, when he first starred as the acerbic physician specialising in diagnostic medicine, Dr Gregory House in the popular Fox medical drama House. For his portrayal, Laurie assumes an American accent.^[5] Laurie was in Namibia filming Flight of the Phoenix and recorded the audition tape for the show in the bathroom of the hotel, the only place he could get enough light.^[17] While working on Flight of the Phoenix, Jacob Vargas operated the camera to shoot Laurie's audition tape for House. Laurie's US accent was so convincing that executive producer Bryan Singer, who was unaware at the time that Laurie is English, pointed to him as an example of just the kind of compelling American actor he had been looking for.^[17] Laurie also adopts the accent between takes on the set of House,^[18] as well as during script read-throughs, although he used his native accent when directing the House episode "Lockdown".^[18]

Laurie was nominated for an Emmy Award^[19] 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.^[20] Laurie was not nominated for the 2006 Emmys, apparently to the outrage of Fox executives,^[21] 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 proceeded 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 has since been nominated in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. Laurie's success on the show extends to the financial, earning over $700,000 per episode.^[2]

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 involvement in House. In July 2006, Laurie appeared on Bravo!'s Inside the Actors Studio, where he also performed one of his own comic songs, "Mystery", accompanying himself on the piano.^[5] He hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live, in which he appeared in drag in a sketch about a man (Kenan Thompson) with a broken leg who accuses his doctor of being dishonest. Laurie played the man’s wife.

In August 2007, Laurie appeared on BBC Four's documentary Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out, filmed in celebration of Fry’s 50th birthday. In 2008, Laurie appeared as Captain James Biggs in Street Kings, opposite Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker, and then in 2009 as the eccentric Dr. 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 and himself assuming an American accent. In 2010, Laurie filmed an independent feature called The Oranges. In 2010, Laurie guest starred in The Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror XXI" as Roger, a castaway who is planning a murder scheme on a ship during Homer and Marge's second honeymoon.^{[citation needed]} On 8 February 2012, Fox announced that season 8 of House will be the last.

Music career[link]

From the age of six, Laurie took piano lessons with a Mrs. Hare.^[22] He plays the piano, guitar, drums, harmonica and saxophone. He has displayed his musical talents in episodes of several television series, most notably A Bit of Fry & Laurie, Jeeves and Wooster, House and when he hosted Saturday Night Live in October 2006. He is a vocalist and keyboard player for the Los Angeles charity rock group Band From TV. Additionally, following Meat Loaf's appearance in the House episode "Simple Explanation", Laurie played piano as a special guest on the song "If I Can't Have You" from Meat Loaf's 2010 album Hang Cool Teddy Bear.

On episodes of House he has played several classic rock 'n roll instruments including Gibson Flying V and Les Paul guitars. His character has a Hammond B-3 organ in his home and on one episode performed the introduction to Procol Harum's classic "Whiter Shade of Pale".^[23] Laurie appears as a scientist/doctor in the pop video to accompany Kate Bush's song Experiment IV. On 1 May 2011, Laurie and a jazz quintet closed the 2011 Cheltenham Jazz Festival to great acclaim.^[24]

On 15 May 2011 Laurie was the subject of the ITV 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.^[22] He was the subject of PBS Great Performances Let them Talk, also about New Orleans jazz, first broadcast on 30 September 2011.^[25]

Personal life[link]

Laurie's mother, Patricia (née Laidlaw), died from motor neurone disease in Oxfordshire at the age of 73 in 1989, when Laurie was 30. According to Laurie, it took her two years to die, and she suffered "painful, plodding paralysis" while being cared for by Laurie's father, whom he called "the sweetest man in the whole world".^[6]

Laurie married theatre administrator Jo Green in June 1989 in Camden, London. They live in Belsize Park, London with sons Charlie and Bill and daughter Rebecca.^[26] They had planned to move the whole family to Los Angeles in 2008 due to the strain of being mostly separated for 9 months each year,^[26] but ultimately decided against it.^[27] Charlie had a cameo in A Bit of Fry & Laurie in the last sketch of the episode entitled Special Squad, as baby William (whom Stephen and Hugh begin to "interrogate" about "what he's done with the stuff", calling him a scumbag and telling him that he's been a very naughty boy) during his infancy, while Rebecca had a role in the film Wit as five-year-old Vivian Bearing.

Laurie's best friend is long time comedy partner Stephen Fry, who was best man at his wedding and is godfather to his children.^[28] Laurie is good friends with his House co-star Robert Sean Leonard and continues his friendship with actress Emma Thompson.^[29]

On 23 May 2007 Laurie was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2007 New Year Honours List, for his services to drama, by Queen Elizabeth II.^[30][31][32]

Laurie has struggled with severe clinical depression, and continues to receive regular treatment from a psychotherapist. He stated in an interview that he first concluded he had a problem while driving in a charity demolition derby in 1996, during which he realised that driving around explosive crashes caused him to be neither excited nor frightened, but instead bored.^[5][7] "Boredom," he commented in an interview on Inside the Actors Studio, "is not an appropriate response to exploding cars.".^[5]

Laurie admires the writings of P.G. Wodehouse, explaining in a 27 May 1999 article in The Daily Telegraph how reading Wodehouse novels had saved his life.^[33]

In a further interview in The Daily Telegraph Laurie confirms his atheism.^[34]

Laurie is an avid motorcycle enthusiast. He has two motorcycles, one at his London home and one at his Los Angeles home. His bike in the United States is a Triumph Bonneville, his "feeble attempt to fly the British flag".^[35]

In March 2012 Laurie was made an honorary fellow of his alma mater Selwyn College.^[36][37]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

On 26 July 2010, it was announced that Laurie would be releasing a blues album after signing a contract with Warner Bros. 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.

Singles[link]

Other charting songs[link]

Appearances[link]

Filmography[link]

Awards[link]

All of the following are nominations or wins for Laurie's role on House:

Emmy Awards

• 2005 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
• 2007 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
• 2008 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
• 2009 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
• 2010 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
• 2011 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Golden Globe Awards

• 2005 – Winner – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama^[54]
• 2006 – Winner – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
• 2007 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
• 2008 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
• 2009 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
• 2010 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama

Satellite Awards

• 2005 – Winner – Outstanding Actor in a Series, Drama
• 2006 – Winner – Outstanding Actor in a Series, Drama
• 2007 – Nominated – Outstanding Actor in a Series, Drama

Screen Actors Guild Awards

• 2006 – Nominated – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
• 2007 – Winner – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
• 2008 – Nominated – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
• 2009 – Winner – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
• 2010 – Nominated – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
• 2011 – Nominated – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series

Television Critics Association

• 2005 – Winner – Individual Achievement in Drama
• 2006 – Winner – Individual Achievement in Drama
• 2007 – Nominated – Individual Achievement in Drama^[55]

Teen Choice Award

• 2006 – Nominated – TV Actor: Drama
• 2007 – Winner – TV Actor: Drama

People's Choice Awards

• 2008 – Winner – Favorite Male TV Star
• 2009 – Winner – Favorite Male TV Star^[56]
• 2010 – Winner – Favorite TV Drama Actor
• 2011 – Winner – Favorite TV Drama Actor
• 2011 – Winner – Favorite TV Doctor

Other Awards

• 2011 – Winner – GQ Music Man Of The Year

Writing[link]

Hugh Laurie has written one full-length novel, The Gun Seller, which has undergone multiple printings from several publishers. His second novel, Paper Soldiers (US: The Paper Soldier), was scheduled for September 2009, but has yet to appear.

• The Gun Seller UK (HB) (William Heinemann Ltd (May 1996)) ISBN 0-434-00297-6 (PB) (William Heinemann Ltd (May 1996)) ISBN 0-434-00375-1
  • (PB) (Arrow Books Ltd (November 2000); New Ed (October 2004)) ISBN 0-09-941927-0 & ISBN 0-09-946939-1
• The Gun Seller US (HB) (Soho Press (May 1997)) ISBN 1-56947-087-1 (PB) (Mandarin (March 1997)) ISBN 0-7493-2385-X
  • (PB) (Washington Square Press (November 1998)) ISBN 0-671-02082-X
• Paper Soldiers UK (PB) (Michael Joseph (24 September 2009)) ISBN 0-7181-4391-4
• The Paper Soldier US (HB) (Michael Joseph (27 September 2009)) ISBN 0-7181-4390-6
  • (PB) (Penguin Books (28 September 2009)) ISBN 0-14-028210-6

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Hugh Laurie

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hugh Laurie

• The Official Hugh Laurie Website
• Hugh Laurie at the Internet Movie Database
• Hugh Laurie at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
• Hugh Laurie interview with the Guardian
• Hugh Laurie Interview with the Daily Telegraph
• Hugh Laurie interview with Time Out
• Hugh "Laurie 'snubbed' after US success" – BBC News
• Hugh Laurie at Emmys.com