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

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.

Hayley Atwell

British American actress

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

An adult, as quickly as possible. I wasn’t built for the psychological warfare of the playground.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 December 2018 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 197 →

Stockard Channing

A dress designer.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 August 2026 source ↗

Fay Ripley English actress, television presenter, cookbook author

Donny Osmond’s wife. Still do.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 November 2022 source ↗

Alice Munro My favorite writer is Alice Munro—all of her books. She’s a tremendous writer and has taught me so much about writing.

As a child, Munro was constantly telling herself stories. One of the first was “The Little Mermaid,” by Hans Christian Anderson, whose ending she couldn’t bear.

Recorded Andrea Walker, The New Yorker, 4 October 2008 source ↗

Yogi Berra Baseball catcher and manager; ten-time World Series winner with the New York Yankees

My ambition is to hit .400 and talk 1.000.

Recorded Wikiquote, Interview, Wikiquote, 2 November 2026 source ↗