Toni Collette: What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy?

The question

What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

Asked in 52 of the 131 consecutive instalments of The Guardian's The Q&A harvested on 2026-08-29.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

Right now: Summer. Dusk. On my couch watching Australian Open tennis with my kids and dog. Doors wide open to a beautiful body of water. The first star of the night just appeared in the sky. Life is magical.

Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, March 2025 source ↗

Others on this question

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Tracey Ullman British and American actress

When I met my husband and had babies. They have made me happy ever since.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 March 2017 source ↗

Samuel L Jackson American actor

When I first got sober, in 1990.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 December 2011 source ↗

Jeanette Winterson Novelist and essayist

Happiness is planting the vegetables, sleeping with my girlfriend, running, doing my work, sitting by the fire with a book and a glass of wine... I need a reason to be unhappy, but do not need one to be quietly cheerful.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 December 2009 source ↗

Johnny Flynn British actor and musician

When I was about eight, by a river waiting for my dad to finish fishing, eating a Mars bar, drinking a can of Coke and listening to Beat It by Michael Jackson on my Walkman. I remember feeling I couldn’t be happier.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 April 2022 source ↗