The question

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.

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Others on this question

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Mathew Horne English actor
I wanted to be a prosthetic makeup artist after watching A Nightmare On Elm Street.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 December 2019 source ↗
Derek Sivers Founder of CD Baby; author of Anything You Want
14. I always played music until then, just like piano lessons. Viola, violin and clarinet as a kid. But at 14 I started playing guitar and I was like, “this is it. This is what I want”. I am so thankful that I had this single mission from the age of 14 till 29. For 15 years of my life I wanted nothing but to be a great musician.
Recorded Joe Ciccarone, podcast transcript, Built Not Born, 13 July 2022 source ↗
Romesh Ranganathan English actor and comedian
A comedian or rapper. You can tell by the way I’m dressed that I’m a frustrated rapper.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 31 August 2024 source ↗
Ann Dowd American actress
A surgeon. I studied pre-med in Holy Cross College for four years and then I went to acting school.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 January 2022 source ↗

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