An optically pumped GaN‐based vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) is demonstrated. Laser emission near 363 nm is observed at room temperature from the surface of a VCSEL structure optically pumped along a cleaved sample edge by focused light from a nitrogen laser. The VCSEL structure, which was grown on a sapphire substrate by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy, consists of a 10 μm GaN active region sandwiched between 30‐period Al0.40Ga0.60N–Al0.12Ga0.88N Bragg reflectors. At optical pump intensities above ∼2.0 MW/cm2, a narrow (<5 A) laser mode at 363.5 nm emerges from the GaN photoluminescence spectrum. This mode becomes the dominant feature of the spectrum at higher pump powers, and additional modes appear ∼1.3 nm above and below this mode at 362.1 nm and 364.8 nm. The ∼1.3 nm mode spacing corresponds closely with the 1.1 nm spacing predicted from an electromagnetics model of the VCSEL structure.