Hugh Laurie In 'The Night Manager' Was An Athlete In His Early Career Life

Everybody who has known Hugh Laurie can tell you that he was epic as Dr. House in the long-time running hit television show, House. Now, Hugh Laurie is back on your television screens again with Tom Hiddleston in "The Night Manager." According to E Online, viewers were much more interested and "hungry" to see more of Hugh Laurie.

"The Night Manager" revolves around Hiddleston's Pine - a night manager, and Hugh Laurie works the lead villain Mr. Roper. He is considered to be "the worst man in the world." The spy story focuses on the back and forth between the two. But before he became House and Mr. Roper, did you know that he never saw himself winding up in an acting career?

Hugh Laurie was brought up in Oxford and attended Dragon School from ages seven to 13. He wanted to follow his father's footsteps as an oarsman at Cambridge, from which he took a degree in archaeology and anthropology, specializing in social anthropology. He became a member of the oarsmen in school and university and later brought home the trophy for the 1977 Junior World Rowing Championships. Clearly, he wanted to be an athlete. He was training up to 8 hours a day and entered every rowing club and teams in the area. He may have been an Olympian rower if things were different.

His Biography states that Laurie's rowing career came to an end during his freshman year, when a serious case of mono kept him off the team. To keep himself busy, he auditioned for Footlights, the university's world-renowned dramatic society, known for launching the careers of such famous alumni as John Cleese, Douglas Adams and Sacha Baron Cohen. The decision would change Hugh Laurie's life forever.

If he hadn't stopped rowing, he wouldn't have made his way to viewers' hears as House. In addition to his acting talents, his early career details that he had music lessons as a young boy and then later learned how to play piano, guitar, drums, the harmonica and the saxophone. He was able to display his musical talents in most aspects of his acting career in the form of rock n roll and blues.

The Night Manager airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on AMC.

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