Dervla Kirwan: 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 Dervla Kirwan said elsewhere, not written here

A forensic scientist.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 October 2023 source ↗

Others on this question

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 ↗

Anna Paquin New Zealand actress

I already had a career when I was growing up.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 July 2019 source ↗

James Dyson British inventor and businessman

I had no idea whatsoever, and nor did anyone else. I thought I’d go to art school and see whether I liked it – and of course I did, and stayed.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 December 2021 source ↗

Nish Kumar British stand-up comedian and presenter

Something in comedy. It was either this or Jimi Hendrix.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 February 2019 source ↗