Riz Ahmed: 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 Riz Ahmed said elsewhere, not written here

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.

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

Others on this question

View all 195 →

Johanna Konta British tennis player

When I was five, I wanted to be a cleaning lady; when I was nine, I wanted to be the world’s number one tennis player.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 June 2018 source ↗

Vick Hope British television and radio presenter

J-Lo, a foreign correspondent and, at uni, I assumed that someone would tap me on the shoulder and ask me to be in MI6, but it never happened.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 August 2022 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 ↗

Dawn O'Porter British writer, director, and television presenter

A drunk woman who threw epic dinner parties.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 August 2026 source ↗