“The great trap for non-American actors trying to play Americans, I think, is to start thinking of American-ness as a characteristic. It isn't. It is no more a character trait than height. It is just a physical fact, and that's all there is to it.”

English actor, comedian, and musician

Hugh Laurie is an English actor, comedian, and musician. Born James Hugh Calum Laurie, he first came to wider attention through his comedy partnership with Stephen Fry, in the double act Fry and Laurie. He and Fry worked together on several projects in the 1980s and 1990s, including the BBC sketch series A Bit of Fry & Laurie and the P. G. Wodehouse adaptation Jeeves and Wooster. Laurie also appeared in three series of the period comedy Blackadder from 1986 to 1989.