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.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 March 2026 source ↗
I had no idea. When I was a week away from leaving school, a teacher said, “We’ve been talking in the staffroom and we all think you should be an actor.” I thought, “That’s exactly what I want.” The rest is history.
A saxophonist, but destiny chose another path for me, and I’m glad it happened that way.
To work in a dry cleaner’s.
In my teens, an accountant. In my 20s, either a rock star or a novelist.
Picking myself back up after very tricky times and trying again.
People have said, “I wish you would die.” That’s the stark truth of being in the public eye – people dehumanise you and say ghastly things.
Superiority. I shrink when I’m around people who act superior, whether it’s due to authority or intellect. I almost become mute.
On radio, I once said “anal” instead of “angel”.
Eager to learn.
The more you face shame and stare it in the eyes and talk about it, the less potent it is.
Martin Sheen, Ralph Ineson, Carol Vorderman, Shaun Ryder, David Gandy, John Malkovich
Search the directory for somebody in particular.