(Photo: Getty Images)
Hugh Laurie celebrates his 63rd birthday Saturday (June 11), so we're marking the occasion by making the charming House star our British Icon of the Week. Here are 10 things we admire and appreciate about his prolific actor (who does lots more besides).
1. He credits his longtime role in House with boosting his confidence as an actor.
Before the show became a huge global success, Laurie suffered from what sounds like imposter syndrome. "I always felt I wasn't really sure whether I belonged, whether I was good enough," he told The Guardian. "You know, I never went to drama school, I don't have any certificates saying: 'He's a qualified actor.' But I did think that House was something I didn't have to apologize for. It was something I was really proud of and it was sort of … whether you liked it or not, it was undeniable."
2. He also starred in AMC's brilliant adaptation of John le Carré's The Night Manager.
Laurie won a Golden Globe award – his third – for his menacing performance as the morally bankrupt arms dealer Richard Onslow Roper. 

3. He enjoyed a super-fruitful partnership with Stephen Fry.
Fry and Laurie, as their double act became known, met at the University of Cambridge through mutual friend Emma Thompson. They went on to appear together in several TV series in the 1980s and 1990s, including their own comedy sketch show A Bit of Fry and Laurie. In the classic sketch below, they imagine what the British police force might be like if it was turned into a privately owned corporation.

4. He has remained good friends with Emma Thompson, whom he dated at university.
In fact, she recently appeared in Laurie's detective miniseries Why Didn't They Ask Evans?. Recalling their relationship, Thompson told Time: "He was rowing in the Oxford and Cambridge boat race. He was enormous and eating steak all the time. And asleep for the rest of the time. He was also very funny."
5. He has a wonderfully dry sense of humor.
And he's not afraid to make himself the butt of the joke, as we found out when he talked about acting n Stuart Little during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show.

6. And a keen sense of irony.
During his House years, when Laurie set a new record for the highest-paid actor in a TV drama, he couldn't help but compare himself to his father: a real-life doctor. "I often think about my father, who was a physician, and how strange it is that I am better rewarded for faking this job than he ever was for doing the real thing," he told Playboy. "Go figure. It doesn’t seem right. He certainly treated more patients in an average week than I do."
7. He's also a director.
Laurie recently directed Why Didn't They Ask Evans?, a three-part Agatha Christie adaptation that premiered on BritBox in April. Before that, he directed two episodes of House, three episodes of his early noughties comedy-drama series Fortysomething, and the '90s miniseries Look at the State We're In!.

8. And a successful musician.
Laurie has released two albums comprising mainly blues songs: 2011's Let Them Talk and 2013's Didn't It Rain.  They both topped the U.S. blues chart and peaked inside the U.K. top three, prompting Laurie to embark on popular concert tours. You can catch a taste of his musical flavor below.

9. He has spoken incredibly candidly about his experience of depression.
Notably, Laurie opened up in a 2002 interview with London's Evening Standard in which he confided that his depression "affected everything" in his life including his "family and friends."
"A friend recommended a fantastic lady therapist and I found it incredibly helpful," he added. "Truth is a bit scary, but I think everyone should have a go. I feel very much more at peace."
10. And finally, he's self-deprecating.
During another appearance on The Graham Norton Show, Laurie claimed that despite playing Dr. Gregory House for eight years, he had retained absolutely no medical knowledge or terminology. Hmm... do you believe him, or was he just being modest?

Do you have an all-time favorite Hugh Laurie role?