In House M.D., who portrayed Gregory House throughout the series?

Hugh Laurie portrayed Gregory House throughout the television series House M.D.

Laurie, an English actor, played the brilliant but abrasive diagnostician from the show’s 2004 debut through its 2012 finale. His performance made House one of television’s most recognizable medical characters, combining dry humor, physical pain, emotional guardedness, and unusually inventive diagnostic reasoning.

The casting was notable because Laurie was already well known in Britain for comedy, especially his work with Stephen Fry and the television series Jeeves and Wooster. House M.D. presented him in a much more dramatic leading role, and his American accent was convincing enough that some early viewers assumed he was American.

Laurie received multiple major award nominations for the role, including several Primetime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. A common mix-up is confusing the actor with the character: House is the fictional doctor, while Laurie is the performer who played him.