Armistead Maupin: 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 Armistead Maupin said elsewhere, not written here

Not a lawyer, which was what I told everyone, because my father wanted me to be one.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 August 2019 source ↗

Others on this question

John Malkovich American actor

A baseball pitcher.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 March 2018 source ↗

Steve Pemberton British actor and comedian

What I am now, but with a better singing voice.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 May 2019 source ↗

Daphne Guinness British socialite

I wanted to be in the army or a spy in the intelligence service.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 July 2024 source ↗

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.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 July 2018 source ↗

As a kind man who told good stories.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 August 2019 source ↗

The coming out letter I wrote in Tales Of The City – it seems to be the thing that’s going to last after I’m gone.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 August 2019 source ↗

I would have come out earlier.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 August 2019 source ↗

My friend Ian McKellen, who has an extraordinary record as an actor and a gay activist.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 August 2019 source ↗

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