Richard Schiff: Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them?

The question

Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them?

Originally asked

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

The Guardian's Q&A repeatedly uses this prompt, sometimes dropping 'living' while retaining the same comparative judgment.

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

Richard Schiff

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

Martin Sheen, simply the kindest and most fun-loving person and serious activist I’ve ever known. If Jesus was alive today he’d point to Martin Sheen and say, “That’s what I was talking about.”

The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 April 2026 source ↗

Mentioned in this answer

Person Jesus not yet on FLAPSS
Person Martin Sheen

Others on this question

View all 407 →

Phoebe Dynevor

My mum [the actor, Sally Dynevor] in so many ways. She is the real definition of a superwoman to me.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 February 2024 source ↗

Zadie Smith Novelist and essayist

I feel almost certain I don't know them. It would be one of these types who dedicate their lives to the welfare of others, whereas the people I tend to know are people making stories out of the dramas of themselves.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, November 2016 source ↗

Cuba Gooding Jr American actor

President Obama: he was the first to accomplish something so great in our country as an African American.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 June 2012 source ↗

Noah Harari Israeli historian and philosopher

On a personal level, the friend who is a single mum raising two kids by herself during this Covid era. She is a real hero. If a historical personality, I choose Mikhail Gorbachev, who probably saved the world from world war three.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 October 2021 source ↗