Niamh Cusack: What did you want to be when you were growing up?

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.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded Niamh Cusack said elsewhere, not written here

A saint. Then a ballerina.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 October 2021 source ↗

Others on this question

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Kelly Hoppen

A travel agent.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 September 2024 source ↗

Floella Benjamin British actress, presenter, and peer

A teacher. Teachers can change lives.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 February 2017 source ↗

Martin Freeman English actor

I wanted to be a footballer and then a squash player – I was in with a chance because I was very good. But I fell out of love with that by 14 or 15 and joined a youth theatre.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 January 2019 source ↗

Riz Ahmed British actor and rapper

I wanted to perform in some way, but I didn’t think it was viable. Teachers told me I should be a barrister, because I was always arguing with them.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 April 2021 source ↗