Lucy Lawless: As a child, what career or life did you imagine for yourself? — FLAPSS

The question

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

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.

LL

Lucy Lawless

Recorded 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

View all 197 →

Madhur Jaffrey Actress, cook, and TV host

A doctor, a painter, an actress.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 February 2021 source ↗

Mo Farah British track and field athlete

A mechanic when I was a little kid, and then, when I came to the UK, I wanted to play professional football.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 April 2019 source ↗

Shaznay Lewis English singer

An ambulance driver.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 June 2024 source ↗

Jim Kerr Scottish singer and songwriter

In the Beatles.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 October 2022 source ↗

More from Lucy Lawless

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Question What disappointment has stayed with you longest? Failure & regret

I suspect it hasn’t happened yet.

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

Question What would you most want to leave your children? Death & what remains

A great education.

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

Question What worries you about getting older? Time & hindsight

I don’t want to get into an early death spiral, when you’re scaling down your life unnecessarily because you’ve already been there or done that. I never want to stop adventuring.

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

Question How would you sum yourself up in three words? Identity & self

Insular, creative and mechanically minded.

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

Question What lesson has mattered most in your life? Time & hindsight

That there is time. I doggedly prioritise and pursue tasks, and the day seems to open out and everything does get done. Chill.

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

Question Which book do you still mean to read, and why has it stayed on your list? Taste & recommendation

Anything by Dostoevsky. I tried!

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

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