Michelle Dockery: 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 Michelle Dockery said elsewhere, not written here

Many things. I remember wanting to be a vet, a ballet dancer and a hairdresser.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 January 2020 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 195 →

John Malkovich American actor

A baseball pitcher.

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

Shirley MacLaine American actress and author

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

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

Jack Whitehall English comedian, actor, presenter and writer

I was hellbent on being a Thunderbird. I was devastated when my parents finally told me it was a fictional organisation. Ruined my 18th.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 April 2023 source ↗

Jess Phillips British politician

The prime minister.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 April 2018 source ↗

More from Michelle Dockery

View profile →

Question If you could edit your past, what would you change? Failure & regret

Several haircuts and my belly-button piercing.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 January 2020 source ↗

Question What has been your biggest disappointment? Failure & regret

Carrie and Aidan not ending up together.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 January 2020 source ↗

Question What most recently made you cry? Identity & self

Watching Big Little Lies season 2. Shailene Woodley made me bawl.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 January 2020 source ↗

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

A teacher at my secondary school. We used to write and sing songs about him. Sorry, Sir! You were a great teacher.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 January 2020 source ↗

Question What keeps you awake at night? Daily life

Most things really. I’m a night owl.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 January 2020 source ↗

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

A very nice holiday.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 January 2020 source ↗

More on identity & self

Also answered this

Sue Perkins, Isabelle Huppert, Roger Allam, Warwick Davis, Joanna Scanlan, Fay Ripley

Search the directory for somebody in particular.

Explore further

All identity & self questions
The The Q&A questionnaire — 25 questions from the same format
Explore the archive — by field, age, era, and subject

Report this answer