Robert Sean Leonard
Dr. Underrated
WHY HIM He's the exasperated yin to Hugh Laurie's yang on Fox's House. But by bringing wit and a touch of mischief to the role of long-suffering oncologist Dr. James Wilson, the stage veteran elevates the character from the stock humorless foil.
IF ONLY HE COULD ELEVATE HIS FEET Leonard says he's offered the House writers half of his weekly pay to write him out of any episode: ''We'll break even. I get a nice 10 days off, they get half my salary.... I'm the laziest man who's ever lived.''
SO HE'S NOT JEALOUS OF HUGH LAURIE'S SPOTLIGHT? ''I'm very ambitious about certain things in life and work,'' says Leonard, who won a 2001 Tony for Tom Stoppard's The Invention of Love. ''But one of them is not being in 47 out of 52 scenes in an hour-long filmed television show. It's a tedious, grueling process. Ask whatever's left of Hugh Laurie, he'll tell you.''
RX FOR EXHAUSTION Leonard flees to his Manhattan apartment during House hiatuses. ''You know that moment in high school, if you're lucky enough to have it, where you're actually in the middle of making out with a girl and thinking, 'I can't believe I'm kissing her'? That's how I feel about New York all the time. I can't believe I can live here.''
