 He started work in the family hotel, though also participating in amateur theatricals in Scarborough.He was allowed by his family to become a drama student at RADA in 1925, where actor Claude Rains was one of his teachers.Laughton made his first professional appearance on 28 April 1926 at the Barnes Theatre, as Osip in the comedy "The Government Inspector", which he also appeared in at London's Gaiety Theatre in May.