Shirley MacLaine: 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 Shirley MacLaine said elsewhere, not written here

At three, I knew I was too tall to be a ballerina, so that wasn’t going to happen.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 July 2017 source ↗

Others on this question

Griff Rhys Jones British actor and comedian

An actor. Then I grew out of that and became one by default. Or sort of one: “Not really an actor”, said Michael Billington.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 December 2017 source ↗

Paul O'Grady British comedian, actor and television presenter

To work in a dry cleaner’s.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 November 2021 source ↗

Rosanna Arquette American actress

A ballet dancer, and for a while I wanted to teach children with Down’s syndrome.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 August 2021 source ↗

I was a huge daydreamer and imagined myself as a successful general leading his troops into battle.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 March 2025 source ↗

To know whether democracy really will work in the future.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 July 2017 source ↗

The Nutcracker Suite pas de deux.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 July 2017 source ↗

The reviews of my latest film.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 July 2017 source ↗

Watching my two baby dogs play. They are rat terriers, rescue dogs.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 July 2017 source ↗

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