Roger Allam
English actor
Picking tiny bits of glass out of long grass for Haringey council, 45 years ago.
What is the worst job you have done?
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Question
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Values & belief
Question
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Craft & work
Question
What does love feel like?
Relationships
Question
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Identity & self
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's long-running Q&A repeatedly asks this standing question, with minor tense variation.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
I shucked oysters for a day without the proper knife or gloves. I had to go to hospital as I’d ripped my hands up. I can’t recommend it as a career option.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 January 2019 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 229 →
Bruno Tonioli
Italian choreographer
I had to choreograph dancing cows for a commercial. I had to superimpose footage of dancing legs – some were mine – on to the cow. It was bonkers.
David Hasselhoff
American actor, singer, and television personality
Selling fire alarms at 18 or 19.
Adeel Akhtar
British actor
In Brooklyn, I was a dishwasher in a sandwich shop.
More from Melissa McCarthy
View profile →That in 2019 we’re still dealing with people hating people or people wanting to keep women down. That we haven’t evolved past that is a huge disappointment.
Gloria Steinem, because her whole life has been spent trying to help people.
That I have strong, happy girls.
There is an ease to it. It’s not all butterflies and sky rockets, it’s more like absolute comfort.
I wanted to make women’s clothing. I also said that I wanted to be an artist; I don’t think I ever said I wanted to be an actress, but I remember thinking that would be fun.
More on craft & work
- What do you consider your greatest achievement? 192 answers
- How do you know when a piece of work is finished? 67 answers
- What do you do when you feel creatively blocked or stuck? 66 answers
- How does a new work begin for you? 63 answers
- How much rewriting or revision do you do? 46 answers
- What is the part of your job that people would be surprised is most of your job? 41 answers
Also answered this
Dominic Cooper, Alison Steadman, Jack Whitehall, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Daryl McCormack
Search the directory for somebody in particular.
Explore further
- All craft & work questions
- The The Q&A questionnaire — 25 questions from the same format
- Explore the archive — by field, age, era, and subject