dr house

At first, the producers were looking for a "quintessentially American person" to play the role of House.[35] Bryan Singer in particular felt there was no way he was going to hire a non-American actor for the role.[9] At the time of the casting session, actor Hugh Laurie was in Namibia filming the movie Flight of the Phoenix. He assembled an audition tape in a hotel bathroom, the only place with enough light,[35] and apologized for its appearance[36] (which Singer compared to a "bin Laden video").[37] Laurie improvised, using an umbrella for a cane. Singer was very impressed by his performance and commented on how well the "American actor" was able to grasp the character.[9][38] Singer was not aware that Laurie was English, due to his convincing American accent. Laurie credits the accent to "a misspent youth [watching] too much TV and too many movies".[35] Although locally better-known actors such as Denis Leary, Rob Morrow, and Patrick Dempsey were considered for the part, Shore, Jacobs, and Attanasio were as impressed as Singer and cast Laurie as House.[39]

Laurie later revealed that he initially thought the show's central character was Dr. James Wilson. He assumed that House was a supporting part, due to the nature of the character, until he received the full script of the pilot episode.[40] Laurie, the son of a doctor, Ran Laurie, said he felt guilty for "being paid more to become a fake version of [his] own father".[35] From the start of season three, he was being paid $275,000 to $300,000 per episode, as much as three times what he had previously been making on the series.[41][42] By the show's fifth season, Laurie was earning around $400,000 per episode, making him one of the highest paid actors on network television
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_(TV_series)