Oct 14, 2016 10:23 AM EDT By Jane Reed, UniversityHerald Reporter

He has a knack for medical cases. But in real life, Hugh Laurie is an expert in a different field. In fact, he could be considered as an archaeologist.

Born in 1959 in Oxford, England, Hugh Laurie is the son of a mother who he says did not like him and a father who is a doctor who won a 1948 London Olympic gold medal in rowing. As a child, he attended the St. Columbia's Presbyterian Church of England (now known as the United Reformed Church in Oxford). He grew up in Oxford and later attended the Dragon school when he was seven years old.

To get his higher education, he enrolled in Eton College. He calls Eton as the "most private of private schools." He also attended, like his father before him, Selwyn College in Cambridge. Following family tradition, he went to Cambridge and applied to the same college his dad did. And like his dad, he wanted to be an oarsman at Cambridge. From there, according to Top Universities, he took anthropology and archaeology, specializing in social anthropology.

He was a member of the Leander club, one of the oldest rowing clubs in the world. He trained for eight hours a day and was on his way to becoming an Olympic rower. However, his pursuit to become an athlete in the rowing sport was dim because of mononucleosis. He decided to drop his passion to become an oarsman and joined the university's drama club. From there, he met Emma Thompson, who at the time was studying at Newnham College, and Stephen Fry from Queen's College.

He immersed himself in acting, theater, music and drama. You can see his flair for dramatics in his long time running television, Dr. House. He landed that role after twenty years of movies and television shows. Although he never really pursued his major, his passion for acting during his time in the University was well spent.

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