Jenna Coleman: 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 Jenna Coleman said elsewhere, not written here

I told my mum I wanted to be a swan.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 February 2019 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 195 →

Sarah Hadland

A missionary in Africa – I think that was Sunday school-based.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 December 2025 source ↗

Joanne Froggatt English actress

An actor – that’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. I went to stage school when I was 13.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 February 2019 source ↗

Toyah Willcox English singer-songwriter, actress and television presenter

A man. I have always fought against being gender specific. I just don’t like being identified as female: I’m a person.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 April 2019 source ↗

Chris Hoy British track cyclist, 1994–2013

Scotland’s rugby captain. My hero Gavin Hastings was captain when he came to our school for a training session when I was 10 or 11. I met him and was blown away.

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

More from Jenna Coleman

View profile →

Question When were you happiest? Time & hindsight

There was a moment in my early 20s when I’d finished Emmerdale and didn’t know what was next. I drove from LA to San Francisco listening to Tracy Chapman and it felt like one of those pure moments of uncomplicated joy.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 February 2019 source ↗