Dr. Lawrence Kutner was one of the new fellows hired by House at the end of the episode Games in Season 4. He was portrayed by actor Kal Penn. He was a specialist in sports medicine and rehabilitation.

In the Season 5 episode "Simple Explanation", Kutner was found dead in his apartment with a gunshot wound to the head. Police deemed his shooting a suicide, but House felt that his suicide made no sense and, despite all the evidence to the contrary, believed at first that Kutner had been murdered. However it was clear that Kutner was shot with a gun he owned which had his fingerprints on it.

During his season and a half on House M.D., Kutner became one of the most popular characters and at the time of his death appeared to be the brightest and most talented of the fellows in the field of diagnostic medicine, coming up with numerous good ideas and correct diagnoses during his tenure.

History

Lawrence Kutner was born Lawrence Baidwan in Fremont, California in 1981. His parents, Karamchand and Niki Baidwan, were shot during an armed robbery of their convenience store. The six-year-old Kutner was a witness to the shooting as he often worked at the store after school. After a couple of years in foster care, Julia and Richard Kutner adopted Lawrence and gave him their last name, although they encouraged him to explore his Hindu heritage. He showed an aptitude for science at an early age and his favorite Christmas present was a chemistry set that he received when he was ten. He showed great promise in high school, winning a Westinghouse Science award for an experiment involving dark matter. His adoptive parents mused that he showed a freethinking, inventive streak from a young age.

However, Kutner did have a dark side, bullying a boy named Johnathan, although it appeared to be more in the naure of social ostracism rather than physical violence. He apologized Johnathan after seeing the results of the bullying of one of his patients in "Joy to the World".

Before becoming a doctor, one of his jobs was selling men's fragrances in a department store. He admitted it was a miserable job, but he wasn't miserable doing it.

Kutner received a full scholarship to the University of California at Berkeley and graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Physics. He then attended and graduated the University of Tel Aviv Medical School in Israel and completed an internship and residency in Sports and Rehabilitation Medicine through the University of Colorado. Chris Taub recalled that "He wanted to be a doctor since seeing 'M.A.S.H.' as a kid. I think he modeled himself a little bit after Hawkeye Pierce."

Kutner's girlfriend Nicole Brewster remembered that Lawrence, being adopted and of Indian ancestry, always felt like an outsider. Despite this, she said he didn't resent it - instead, he felt the experience gained him added insight and perspective. This drew him to take atypical paths in his career and personal life. One such example is when he decided to break the world record for distance crawling. After a grueling 43 hours, he managed to crawl 20 miles, and earn himself a place in Guinness Book of World Records in 2002.

During his free time, Lawrence played water polo and swam competitively. He enjoyed science fiction and was a frequent participant in the Clarion Science Fiction Workshops. After being introduced to Star Trek, Lawrence agressively pursued a position in Klingon culture and reached the rank of Dakhar Master.