Armistead Maupin: What did you want to be when you were growing up?

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.

Recorded Armistead Maupin said elsewhere, not written here

Not a lawyer, which was what I told everyone, because my father wanted me to be one.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 August 2019 source ↗

Others on this question

Shinya Yamanaka Stem cell biologist; Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine, 2012

I was born in Osaka, Japan. It was 45 years ago. My father has a small factory in Osaka, and we lived next to his factory

Recorded Academy of Achievement interviewer, Academy of Achievement interview, 2008 source ↗

Jeremy Deller English artist

More successful with girls.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 June 2020 source ↗

Aidan Gillen Irish actor

A stuntman. Evel Knievel was an icon.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 May 2017 source ↗

Jo Nesbø Norwegian writer and musician

I wanted to play for Tottenham.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 April 2026 source ↗

As a kind man who told good stories.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 August 2019 source ↗

I would have come out earlier.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 August 2019 source ↗

The coming out letter I wrote in Tales Of The City – it seems to be the thing that’s going to last after I’m gone.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 August 2019 source ↗

My friend Ian McKellen, who has an extraordinary record as an actor and a gay activist.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 August 2019 source ↗

Search the directory for somebody in particular.