Martin Sheen: What did you want to be when you were growing up? — FLAPSS

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 Martin Sheen said elsewhere, not written here

Golfer, priest, police officer, teacher and, after going to the movies, actor.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 March 2017 source ↗

Others on this question

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Winston Churchill Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1940–1945 and 1951–1955; Member of Parliament 1900–1964

At the end he asked me if I would like to go into the Army. I thought it would be splendid to command an Army, so I said 'Yes' at once: and immediately I was taken at my word. ... I was told later that he had only come to the conclusion that I was not clever enough to go to the Bar. However that may be, the toy soldiers turned the current of my life.

Recorded Chapter of his autobiography, written at Chartwell in 1930, Winston S. Churchill, My Early Life (Thornton Butterworth, 1930), Project Gutenberg Canada, October 1930 source ↗

Emma Barnett British broadcaster and journalist

A fishmonger, then a surgeon.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 February 2021 source ↗

Kevin Pietersen English cricketer

A pilot or a ranger in the bush.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 June 2019 source ↗

I haven’t grown up.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 January 2024 source ↗

More from Martin Sheen

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Question What most recently made you cry? Identity & self

After the initial travel ban debacle, I wept with joy at all the good people who came out against this fascistic edict.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 March 2017 source ↗

Question How close have you come to death? Death & what remains

Making Apocalypse Now. I had a close call with a heart ailment due to anxiety, fear and physical abuse: I was not taking care of myself.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 March 2017 source ↗

Question What is the worst job you have done? Craft & work

That would have to be a film called Pickup On 101. It was a very interesting story, about a wandering musician and an old guy on his way back to his home town to spend his last days, but they made it into a pile of dishonest trash.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 March 2017 source ↗

Question Who most deserves an apology from you, and why? Failure & regret

My son Ramón was the victim of my wrath at a particular time that still withers me with disgrace.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 March 2017 source ↗

Question Aside from a property, what is the most expensive thing you have bought? Money & investment

Shares in The Way, which turned out to be the best movie I have done. Written and directed by my son Emilio, it’s a father-son story about the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 March 2017 source ↗

Question Which living person do you most admire, and why? Values & belief

My wife Janet: she is the most scrupulously honest human being I have ever encountered.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 March 2017 source ↗

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