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

The question

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.

Olivia Williams

British actress

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

My mother says I had a plan to be a farmer’s wife and a violinist, going to concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in my tractor.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 April 2022 source ↗

Others on this question

Joss Stone English singer, songwriter, and actress

A veterinarian, but I decided against it because it required too many years of schooling; I wasn’t great at school.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 April 2021 source ↗

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 ↗

Louis Walsh Irish music manager and television personality

I just wanted to work in music. I didn’t want a real job.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 September 2017 source ↗

Salman Rushdie Indian-British-American novelist

A writer, I’m sorry to say. Boring, I know, but true.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 July 2020 source ↗