Martin Freeman: 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 Martin Freeman said elsewhere, not written here

I wanted to be a footballer and then a squash player – I was in with a chance because I was very good. But I fell out of love with that by 14 or 15 and joined a youth theatre.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 January 2019 source ↗

Others on this question

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Isabelle Huppert French actress

I dreamed of being an artistic skater. And a nursery nurse.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 May 2018 source ↗

Toyah Willcox English singer-songwriter, actress and television presenter

A man. I have always fought against being gender specific. I just don’t like being identified as female: I’m a person.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 April 2019 source ↗

Andrew O'Hagan Scottish author

Most days, I wanted to be Albrecht in the classical ballet Giselle, dancing until I dropped dead.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 July 2026 source ↗

Robert Peston British journalist

Prime minister and brain surgeon.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 June 2018 source ↗

More from Martin Freeman

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Question What keeps you awake at night? Daily life

Thinking about all the worst possible things: losing people, dying, how am I going to die? All that sort of stuff. I stay awake thinking about furniture and shoes as well. It’s not all death.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 January 2019 source ↗