Lucy Lawless: What did you want to be when you were growing up?

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 Lucy Lawless said elsewhere, not written here

A criminal pathologist. Then I saw a show called Quincy ME and realised I just wanted to play one on TV.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 August 2025 source ↗

Others on this question

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Carol Vorderman

A fighter pilot.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 March 2026 source ↗

James Blunt Singer, songwriter and musician

A lawyer. I did work experience and was sent to the public gallery at the high court. The man in the dock was a 50-year-old accused of buggering a cat on the Metropolitan line. I decided to become a musician instead.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 November 2021 source ↗

Jeremy Deller English artist

More successful with girls.

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