Despite earning a staggering $700,000 per episode during the final season of House, Hugh Laurie, the actor behind the iconic role of Dr. Gregory House, has admitted to feeling like a fraud. In a candid reflection, Laurie confessed that he regretted not following his father’s wishes and becoming a real doctor, as his father had hoped. Instead, Laurie pursued a career in acting, a decision he believes his father would have disapproved of.

Born in June 1959, Hugh Laurie was the youngest son of Dr. William “Ran” Laurie, a respected physician and Olympic gold medalist in rowing. Dr. Laurie, a graduate of the University of Cambridge, had always envisioned his son following in his footsteps, both academically and professionally. Growing up, Laurie was on track to do just that. He attended the same college his father had, where he was a member of the rowing team with aspirations of competing in the Olympics before going on to medical school.

However, Laurie’s path took an unexpected turn when he discovered the world of drama. He became involved with the Cambridge Footlights, a sketch comedy troupe, where he met notable figures like actress Emma Thompson and comedian Stephen Fry. This encounter would change the course of Laurie’s career. Instead of heading to medical school, Laurie found himself drawn to comedy and acting, and by the 1980s and 1990s, he had already established himself in British television, including starring in the popular sitcom Blackadder alongside Fry.

During this time, Laurie also appeared in several notable films, such as Sense and Sensibility (1995), 101 Dalmatians (1996), and even made a guest appearance on Friends. By 2004, Laurie’s career took another pivotal turn when he was cast as Dr. Gregory House in the medical drama House. The show became an international hit, and Laurie’s portrayal of the irritable, brilliant, and often controversial doctor earned him widespread acclaim, including multiple Golden Globe Awards.

However, despite his success on House, Laurie struggled with the pressure and challenges of being a celebrity. In a 2013 interview, he opened up about the dark times he faced during the series. Laurie, known for his strong work ethic, was determined never to miss a day of filming. But there were moments when he fantasized about taking time off, even considering faking an accident just to get a few days of rest.

By 2012, as House approached its final season, Laurie began to feel the weight of his fame. He continued to stay busy with other projects, including appearances in TV shows like Veep and movies such as Tomorrowland (2015), in which he starred alongside George Clooney, another actor famous for playing a TV doctor.

In 2016, Laurie took on another role as a doctor, this time playing Dr. Eldon Chance, a neuropsychiatrist in the series Chance. The show, which ran for two seasons, allowed Laurie to explore a very different kind of doctor. Unlike Dr. Gregory House, Dr. Chance had a vastly different attitude towards life and his practice, which Laurie found to be a refreshing challenge. However, despite the appeal of new roles, Laurie couldn’t escape the feeling that he had failed to live up to his father’s expectations.

Reflecting on his career and life choices, Laurie admitted that his decision to pursue acting instead of medicine had been a source of ongoing guilt. “My father had high hopes for me following him into medicine,” Laurie said, acknowledging that his father’s hopes for him to become a doctor remained unfulfilled. “I would have liked to have become a doctor myself, and I still have doctor fantasies,” he confessed. Despite playing a doctor on screen for many years, Laurie referred to himself as a “fake version” of a doctor, acknowledging that he had taken shortcuts in life.

Laurie expressed that his decision to act rather than follow in his father’s footsteps had been a form of “cop out.” “We live in a world of shortcuts,” he said, “and I took them.” He also admitted that this was a source of great guilt for him, especially after his father’s death from Parkinson’s disease in 1998. Laurie, who often felt he was trying to live up to the ideal of his father, acknowledged that his choice to become an actor, rather than a doctor, had always weighed heavily on him.

While Hugh Laurie’s career has undoubtedly been successful and widely admired, his reflections on his life and choices reveal the internal struggle he faces, caught between the world of fame and the unfulfilled dream his father had for him.