Every actor has the same fear – ie, you’re never going to work again.
What is your greatest fear?
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
Question
Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?
Failure & regret
Question
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Failure & regret
Question
What most recently made you cry?
Identity & self
Question
What scares you about getting older?
Time & hindsight
Question
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Failure & regret
Originally asked
Vanity Fair, to its interview subject, The Proust Questionnaire
The exact prompt is fixed in Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire and independently sustained in The Guardian's The Q&A over multiple decades.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
I’m quite scared of bats. I’m just seeing rats with wings – no, thanks.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 May 2025 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 256 →Those abduction situations where you’re packed in a bunker for 30 years.
Bryn Terfel
Welsh bass-baritone singer
I’ve been a strong advocate that all my five children should be great swimmers, so you can deduce what my fear is.
Being on my deathbed and realising I’d forgotten to treat each day as the miracle that it is.
More from Nikki Amuka-Bird
View profile →Lack of confidence masquerading as perfectionism.
Anyone whose party I said I’d go to and didn’t turn up. I can get quite socially anxious at times.
In a rehearsal just after graduating from drama college, I say my lines to an older actor. He pauses, turns to the director and says: “I’m sorry, but is she going to do it like that?”
Probably watching some poor abandoned cat or dog being nursed back to life by a stranger on YouTube.
Not being flexible enough to dance freely.
Being an actor is inherently embarrassing. You have to embrace it.
More on identity & self
- Which trait do you most dislike in yourself? 243 answers
- What did you want to be when you were growing up? 195 answers
- What most recently made you cry? 193 answers
- What is your idea of perfect happiness? 158 answers
- How would you describe yourself in three words? 111 answers
- What are you most proud of? 103 answers
Also answered this
Pauline McLynn, Frank McCourt, Joyce Carol Oates, Father John Misty, Rafael Nadal, Neil Patrick Harris
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- All identity & self questions
- The The Proust Questionnaire questionnaire — 5 questions from the same format
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