Niamh Cusack: As a child, what career or life did you imagine for yourself?

The question

As a child, what career or life did you imagine for yourself?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

This is a standing question in The Guardian's decades-long The Q&A and also recurs independently in career and life interviews.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Niamh Cusack

Irish actress

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

A saint. Then a ballerina.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 October 2021 source ↗

Others on this question

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Griff Rhys Jones British actor and comedian

An actor. Then I grew out of that and became one by default. Or sort of one: “Not really an actor”, said Michael Billington.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 December 2017 source ↗

Julia Ormond English actress

A mum, an airline stewardess or an artist.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 March 2021 source ↗

Viv Albertine Australian-born British musician and writer

I had no female role models growing up. I lived an incredibly sheltered life: there was no TV at home and we had no visitors. It wasn’t until rock and pop came into my life that I concocted myself as a role model.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 October 2020 source ↗

Zoe Ball British TV and radio personality

I only ever wanted to be Barbra Streisand. I probably still do.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 December 2020 source ↗