Ann Patchett
American author
A writer. Always.
Identity & self
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
232 answers answered between 1930 and 2026 one of 25 in The Q&A
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.
On the record
Public figures who have answered a question like this elsewhere. Quoted from the source shown, not written for FLAPSS.
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Read by age
Any age
Before thirty 3
In their thirties 33
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In their fifties 50
In their sixties 43
Seventy and beyond 25
Alison Moyet
English singer
For a while I wanted to be a policewoman, but I didn’t have five O-levels.
Shaun Ryder
English singer
In 1975, I watched the film Stardust, and Adam Faith said, “I supply the birds, the pills and the pot.” And I thought, “I want that.”
Suzanne Vega
American singer-songwriter
An astronaut, a writer, a dancer.
Rachel Whiteread
English artist
First something medical, then, without any doubt, an artist.
Joanna Scanlan
British actress and writer
An actor or a nun.
Shirley Ballas
English ballroom dancer
Dancing was in my bones from when I started ballet at two.
Martin Kemp
English musician and actor
I wanted to play for Arsenal. When I have a kick-around with my boy, I still feel as if someone’s going to spot me.
Rick Astley
Singer, songwriter and radio presenter
When I was about 14 and got my first drum kit, I wanted to be a drummer in a band like the Police.
Steve Pemberton
British actor and comedian
What I am now, but with a better singing voice.
Kim Wilde
English pop singer
A pop star: I loved music from a very young age.
David Harewood
British actor and presenter
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.
Paterson Joseph
British actor and author
A private detective.
Jeremy Deller
English artist
More successful with girls.
Samuel West
British actor, theatre director, and narrator
A DJ. I still do.
Zoe Ball
British TV and radio personality
I only ever wanted to be Barbra Streisand. I probably still do.
Billy Porter
American actor and singer
The male Whitney Houston.
Julia Ormond
English actress
A mum, an airline stewardess or an artist.
Tracy-Ann Oberman
Actor and writer
An actress. My family thought it was ridiculous, it was like saying you wanted to be an astronaut.
Mary McCartney
English photographer and cookbook author
A nurse, because my grandmother was a midwife. I was named after her but never got to meet her.
1 answer from members
@aliabbasi
builder
A pilot